dianeG

#pronoun: not the cat’s mother; Northern bird #boomer v.II; argumentative if provoked

[J.K. Rowling @jk_rowling]

I'm seeing quite a bit of comment about this, so I want to make a couple of points.

I'm not owed eternal agreement from any actor who once played a character I created. The idea is as ludicrous as me checking with the boss I had when I was twenty-one for what opinions I should hold these days.

Emma Watson and her co-stars have every right to embrace gender identity ideology. Such beliefs are legally protected, and I wouldn't want to see any of them threatened with loss of work, or violence, or death, because of them.

However, Emma and Dan in particular have both made it clear over the last few years that they think our former professional association gives them a particular right - nay, obligation - to critique me and my views in public. Years after they finished acting in Potter, they continue to assume the role of de facto spokespeople for the world I created.

When you've known people since they were ten years old it's hard to shake a certain protectiveness. Until quite recently, I hadn't managed to throw off the memory of children who needed to be gently coaxed through their dialogue in a big scary film studio. For the past few years, I've repeatedly declined invitations from journalists to comment on Emma specifically, most notably on the Witch Trials of JK Rowling. Ironically, I told the producers that I didn't want her to be hounded as the result of anything I said.

The television presenter in the attached clip highlights Emma's 'all witches' speech, and in truth, that was a turning point for me, but it had a postscript that hurt far more than the speech itself. Emma asked someone to pass on a handwritten note from her to me, which contained the single sentence 'I'm so sorry for what you're going through' (she has my phone number). This was back when the death, rape and torture threats against me were at their peak, at a time when my personal security measures had had to be tightened considerably and I was constantly worried for my family's safety. Emma had just publicly poured more petrol on the flames, yet thought a one line expression of concern from her would reassure me of her fundamental sympathy and kindness.

Like other people who've never experienced adult life uncushioned by wealth and fame, Emma has so little experience of real life she's ignorant of how ignorant she is. She'll never need a homeless shelter. She's never going to be placed on a mixed sex public hospital ward. I'd be astounded if she's been in a high street changing room since childhood. Her 'public bathroom' is single occupancy and comes with a security man standing guard outside the door. Has she had to strip off in a newly mixed-sex changing room at a council-run swimming pool? Is she ever likely to need a state-run rape crisis centre that refuses to guarantee an all-female service? To find herself sharing a prison cell with a male rapist who's identified into the women's prison?

I wasn't a multimillionaire at fourteen. I lived in poverty while writing the book that made Emma famous. I therefore understand from my own life experience what the trashing of women's rights in which Emma has so enthusiastically participated means to women and girls without her privileges.

The greatest irony here is that, had Emma not decided in her most recent interview to declare that she loves and treasures me - a change of tack I suspect she's adopted because she's noticed full-throated condemnation of me is no longer quite as fashionable as it was - I might never have been this honest.

Adults can't expect to cosy up to an activist movement that regularly calls for a friend's assassination, then assert their right to the former friend's love, as though the friend was in fact their mother. Emma is rightly free to disagree with me and indeed to discuss her feelings about me in public - but I have the same right, and I've finally decided to exercise it.

[dianeG @deghunter]

@MarinaPurkiss @Keir_Starmer Sorry Marina but until you see with your own eyes what's happening in the old Lancashire mill towns and unless you start feeling marginalised in your own country then your post is meaninglessness and hippy metropolitan liberal

[dianeG @deghunter]

@WWWheesht Sanity has prevailed! Congratulations and thank you 🙏

[Women Won’t Wheesht @WWWheesht]

Press Statement – For Women Scotland

Today, the Supreme Court has confirmed what women across the country already knew. Sex matters.

This is a landmark victory, not just for For Women Scotland, but for every woman who has been told to sit down, shut up, and make way.

The Court has recognised that women's rights must be based on biological sex, not on self-declared identity.

This ruling restores legal clarity and reaffirms the purpose of the protections written into the Equality Act.

This win protects all women, including trans-identifying females, by ensuring maternity rights, women-only spaces, and female-focused services are grounded in reality.

It puts a clear boundary around what it means to be female in law and pushes back against a men’s rights movement that has tried to colonise womanhood.

We thank the brave women who fought this case and the thousands who stood behind them. This is your victory. But the fight isn’t over. We will keep pushing until sex-based rights are not only protected—but respected.

#WomenWontWheesht

[dianeG @deghunter]

@JeffBezos Michael Fassbender- awesome actor, definitely shaken not stirred. Probably wouldn't want it tho 😄

[dianeG @deghunter]

@JeremyVineOn5 Michael Fassbender

[dianeG @deghunter]

@007 Michael Fassbender would make a brilliant #JamesBond such a versatile actor. Just saying

[dianeG @deghunter]

From somewhere near a windy moor, happy birthday #KateBush

[Carol Vorderman @carolvorders]

Boris Johnson makes an utter mockery of our democracy once again.
Charlotte Owen will receive money for life, be able to affect the laws and rights of British people, and all because????
Well we won't know will we, as there are injunctions in place.
What a country we've become 🖤

[Raven Cozens-Hardy @RaveCozensHardy]

Does the person who took out the super Charlotte Owen injunction know her Wikipedia page has been altered?

[Jeremy Corbyn @jeremycorbyn]

75 years ago, our NHS was founded on the principle of free, public & universal healthcare.
Tributes ring hollow without solidarity for striking workers and opposition to privatisation.
Today, let’s vow to end the corporate takeover and restore a fully-funded & fully-public NHS.

[J.K. Rowling @jk_rowling]

Going to have to pass, @joshuaddsilva. Last time I sucked something that tiny it got stuck between my front teeth. #irritating

[Bobby Don Welch @Bobby_Don_Welch]

What a great story, huh? From a friend. ❤️❤️❤️

Yesterday I adopted the oldest, and sorest shelter dog. I'll never forget his eyes. When I went into the cage he didn't even bother to look, he knew I wouldn't even see him.
Curling around the corner He'd accepted his fate. The volunteer said to me many times... Are you sure this one? Are you sure? YES! This is my dog.
He opened the cage and 3 animals fell on me. I ran towards him, suddenly he looked at me as if he saw an angel... I hugged him and told him that now he'll be happy again.
Then he sleeps in my lap... probably the first peaceful sleep he ever had.
Give it a life. Give it a hug. They need us.
From a dad who saved a soul📷
[Shared]

[dianeG @deghunter]

@AskNationwide well unlike many on here I'm pleased to say I received my £100 payment yesterday so thank you Nationwide, much appreciated! And how do I order a replacement debit card as chip not working on current card?

[Marina Purkiss @MarinaPurkiss]

Wonder what we’d be like as a country…

If people were as invested in those who sit on the green chairs in parliament

As they are in who sits on the This Morning sofa…

[dianeG @deghunter]

Well that's my @UKLabour party membership since 2015 cancelled. Appalling treatment of a former party leader @jeremycorbyn by the young pretender @Keir_Starmer . I lent him my vote once and regretted it ever since

[Led By Donkeys @ByDonkeys]

We've found Michelle Mone's yacht

[Notpla @notpla]

Can’t believe we just won Prince William's £1,000,000 @EarthshotPrize , in the category 'Build a Waste-Free World'!