Graham Ball

Follow the Nazarene. Truth to power. Genealogy. Strictly my own views. Blades to triumph. @Geordiegraham2.bsky.social -Debate good - Sledge me = Blocked

[Graham Ball @Geordiegraham2]

X-xit

[Leor Sapir @LeorSapir]

Another Major Transgender Suicide Study Crumbles

A widely cited study published in the prestigious @NatureHumBehav claimed that “anti-transgender laws” encouraged teen suicide attempts.

A new methodological review dismantles that finding.

New from me in @cityjournal

[alexmassie @alexmassie]

Public spending in Britain is not allocated by need, which is why Scotland has spending 20% greater than a needs-based approach might decree. Lucky Scotland! There’s really no excuse for whining, chums.

[Daniel Francis MP @danfrancis02]

Please see my statement below following the presentation of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill to the House of Commons earlier today. 👇

[Susan Dalgety @DalgetySusan]

Will Lloyd’s piece about Makerfield is beautifully observed and written, but this is the passage that shamefully illustrates much of what is wrong with Britain today.

An illegal dump, on land partly owned by the King is left to fester because those in charge find it too difficult to fix it. In other words, working class communities do not matter any more.

All that matters are the luxury beliefs of a mediocre, middle class, self referential elite.

Lloyd writes:

“A few days earlier, I walked from Platt Bridge to Bickershaw to see a criminal waste dump. People were paranoid on the eastern edge of the constituency, and they had good reason to be. The dump had become a local attraction orbited by politicians and journalists; it never moved; the jagged heap was felt to have great symbolic weight.

At the end of 2024, 18-wheel lorries crashed down to the end of the road and illegally dumped enough waste there to cover eight acres.

The land was partly owned by the Duchy of Lancaster – that is to say, part of an extensive portfolio of properties and estates belonging to King Charles III. On the day I spoke to residents around the dump, I read on my phone that the same Duchy had paid the rent for the former prince Andrew’s children to live in London palaces. The residents I spoke to believed that if the King knew this was here, he would have already cleaned it up. (In reality, Channel 4 News reported in January that the Duchy “is, in effect, exempt from regulations and duties to clean the site on account of an ancient feudal legal framework dating back some 750 years”.) Twice in recent months the waste had caught fire.

I spoke to residents I shouldn’t name. They were depressed. They had strong ideas about who to blame for the dump. Their home was one of many in the area that was flooded in January 2025. They still lived in the chaotic aftermath of the deluge, with tools and pots of paint spread across their living and dining rooms. When they contacted the environmental protection agency about the dump, begged them to do something, they said they were told that “fears of potential violence” meant they couldn’t tackle the rubbish. Agents of the state feared the criminals more than they feared the residents.

What kind of country was it where the government was more scared of organised crime than voters? They were going to vote for Reform. The grimmer things became, the more you insisted on what you were.”

[Marco Foster @MarcoFoster_]

Joy Behar: “I’m so tired of Donald Trump, I can barely talk about him anymore. I am so sick of his stupidity, his dishonor, the way he talks about people, the way he presents himself to children, the way he curses and swears about people, the fact he’s so incompetent at what he does, the fact these Republicans stick by him no matter what. Why are Americans putting up with this?”

[Pippa Crerar @PippaCrerar]

EXCL: Nigel Farage has been trying to block Bank of England cryptocurrency plan that could be costly for billionaire bankrolling his party.

Reform UK leader has said Christopher Harborne wants nothing in exchange for millions donated to party and undeclared £5m personal gift to Farage revealed by Guardian.

But Farage used private meeting at Bank to urge governor to drop plans for state-run alternative to digital currency that has made his Thailand-based benefactor one of richest people in world.

Cracking tale from @tomburgis

https://t.co/o4ljHGx8fZ

[Andi🌹 @AndiAbides]

You'll know that my part of this case was settled, but the main Employment Tribunal is going ahead. Start next week. The case centres on the question whether being gender critical in the workplace is harassment or a human right. Please support if you can: https://t.co/MSwp8TmeJW

[Lucy Hunter Blackburn @LucyHunterB]

There's a general issue of some (truly ordinary) ideas being cold-shouldered on the book festival circuit. But the EIBF is doing a great job of showcasing what happens when a book festival becomes de facto government funded, in a wider way.

[Sam Taylor @staylorish]

1/ Coincidentally, I have just received an FOI response which sheds some light on this. Scot Gov has decided that day one of the new government was on 25th May, giving them until 2nd September to deliver on the first 100 days pledges.

[Sarrah Bellus @sarrah_bellus]

Ha ha ha ha the hydrogen peroxide only affected the edges I’m dying I’m dying 💀💀💀💀😂😂😂

[Kyle Whitmire @WarOnDumb]

An administration against windmills because the president says they kill birds is pouring hydrogen peroxide into a home for ducks and geese.

[Andrew Neil @afneil]

I’d rather Trump hadn’t started a war with befuddled war aims and with no idea how to finish it. This close-to-a-surrender document is probably the best he could hope for since Iran knows he’s desperate to scuttle off from the Gulf in good time for the mid-terms. It holds the aces.

[Prof. Mark Taubert @ProfMarkTaubert]

Statement from @RCPhysicians : The Bill would need substantive change.
- equitable access to high-quality end of life care for all patients
- robust safeguards to protect vulnerable individuals, including against coercion
- clear provisions allowing doctors to opt out of participation
- decisions informed by clinicians with appropriate expertise, including those who know the patient
- proper recognition of prognostic uncertainty in end of life care
- strong regulation and oversight of any assisted dying services and medicines.

[Lucy Hunter Blackburn @LucyHunterB]

Having made a comment about govt funding, I thought I should add the numbers. EIBF's Creative Scotland grant rose from £306k in 2024 to £680k this year (on best available data). Public funding from 11% in 2024 to 23% in 2025, and likely 25%+ now. Detail in 🧵under tweet below.

[Kellie-Jay Keen @ThePosieParker]

You do wonder whether Sadiq chose a woman with a cripplingly low IQ as his deputy on purpose.

[Sarah Phillimore @SVPhillimore]

Then either they crack on with changing the law or we keep taking them to court and win. If this really is the will of the people then so be it, but he and all the others seem quite reluctant to test that.

[Anonymous @YourAnonNews]

The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool had aging pipes, cracked concrete and filtration problems. Trump’s administration spent over $14 million but didn't fix the infrastructure. Now it’s covered in algae and they're dumping 12% hydrogen peroxide in it.

That’s the most perfect metaphor for modern Republican governance we've seen all year. Paint the surface. Ignore the problem. Try to fix the fuckup and blame somebody else.

[Yuan Yi Zhu @yuanyi_z]

I normally have a lot of time for @HansardSociety and for Matthew, but this seems like spin to me. If the House of Commons passes the assisted suicide bill which has been reintroduced at 3rd reading, it's law. There is absolutely no guarantee that it can be amended.

[Andrew Neil @afneil]

So you’ve gone from 8%, no caveats, to a range of 2% to 8% — which is quite a range!!
My own view is that Brexit has had an economic cost, certainly in the short-run, though probably at the lower end of your range.
However even that judgement is muddied by the short-run being complicated by the pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the absurd and costly pursuit, under Labour and the Tories, of net zero, which has given us the highest industrial energy costs in the world and hollowed out what was left of our heavy industries.
So it’s complicated.
But when politicians like you, Ed Davey and others baldly claimed Brexit is costing us £90bn a year (which is what 8% would mean), y’all need to be called out.

[For Women Scotland @ForWomenScot]

The Book Fest theme is “changing your mind” - they are making sure, however, that you will only hear from people who will change it in the approved way.

And they don't even have to write a book!