Gigi

“We have to take in nourishment, expel waste, and inhale enough oxygen to keep ourselves from dying. Everything else is optional.”

[Gigi @gigijin]

I’m counting… how many times am I gonna get the same alert again and again?
#severealert

[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.

[Gigi @gigijin]

@TfL Another 4 days have passed, and the only update I’ve seen is “due to ongoing response to a cyber security incident” which explains why the site is down, but if that's the level of response, it's no wonder the cybersecurity could be compromised in the first place.😓

[Gigi @gigijin]

@TfL when will the contactless page be back up and running? It’s been down for at least over a week, which is unacceptable given how many people need to access their Contactless accounts daily. Can you please provide an estimated time for when this will be resolved?

[Gigi @gigijin]

game changer

[Gigi @gigijin]

@wtf1official I had 5:55 and now i couldn’t go back to sleep after all these

[Gigi @gigijin]

Tough headwinds faced by Tesla shareholders.... 🫤

[derek guy @dieworkwear]

HOW TO BUY A GOOD CASHMERE SWEATER 🧵

I want to address this comment left by someone in response to my Brick Watch Company tweet. It also gets into something I've been wanting to talk about: how to buy a good cashmere sweater.

[Gigi @gigijin]

This is a heck of long word that I don’t even know how to pronounce in its entirety #Luxembourg #library #nationallibrary

[Gigi @gigijin]

Every day should be a reading day #shift #motionInToProgress #cxm

[James Bromley @jamesbromley]

Anyone remember Second Life? I was at an agency at the time, we created a presence for Interflora. In many ways the Metaverse doesn't seem to have progressed that far, even the graphics from Cyberdyne/Meta felt a little "lo-fi" from what I'd expect in 2022.

[Gigi @gigijin]

You don’t normally expect to see so many spelling mistakes in an app.... 😬 #whenQAFails

[Gigi @gigijin]

When you complained to an broadband provider about a service outage by googling their tel number and next thing you know you were targeted by their ad. A classic example of no signal orchestration across different touchpoints. #CDP #martech #contextual #adtech #failure

[Gigi @gigijin]

This has really taken customer experience to another level 👍 #Tesco #CustomerExperience #email

[Gigi @gigijin]

Another letter received from myself delivered by @futureme. Been using it since 2008 and finally become a paid member. Thanks for keeping the service running all these years!

[International Space Station @Space_Station]

Happy New Year! The station orbits the Earth at 17,500 miles per hour (28,000 kilometers per hour) enabling the crew to see 16 sunrises and sunsets each day.

[Gigi @gigijin]

@QingD I’ve always had pleasant shopping experience there so i’m quite happy with them lol

[Gigi @gigijin]

a handwritten card in a handwritten envelope with an actual stamp - #johnlewis is really taking #personalisation to another level! #pendulumIsSwingingBack #johnlewischristmasadvert #Christmas2020 #christmascard

[Gigi @gigijin]

My biggest podcast binge-listen of 2020 was The Pitch. Find out what show you couldn't stop streaming with Wrapped. #2020Wrapped https://t.co/yBGWvofyrt kudos to @joshmuccio @thepitchshow

[Gigi @gigijin]

https://t.co/l5M3jzlSeT