Robert Punshon

[Sean Fitzgerald (Actual Justice Warrior) @IamSean90]

I saw a guy with no arms didn't hold the door for a lady, I called him an A-hole. When he said he had no arms, I was like "do no arms mean you can't apologize?" I said this because I'm a good person

[Emma Hilton @FondOfBeetles]

Tourette’s is not like being drunk and finally telling your boss he’s a dickhead.

Tourette’s is not like being a toddler who hasn’t yet learned it’s rude to call people fat or ugly, or who says a naughty word to provoke Mummy and Daddy.

Tourette’s is not like being a racist who feels empowered to use racial slurs.

Tourette’s is not secretly building up to finally blurt out something you’ve been desperate to get off your chest for days, a week, a lifetime.

Tourette’s is not like being a psychopath who sometimes lets a mask slip.

Too many people think that Tourette’s, just like in vino veritas or out of the mouths of babes, represents a hidden truth. It does not.

And PS: “involuntary” doesn’t mean that sound you make when you stand up, one you could bite your tongue and hold in. That’s a linguistic use.

In biology, “involuntary” is more like a heart beat - chemicals and electrical signals you have no control over, happening with Tourette’s not in the heart but in the brain.

[Tim Curry @NotTheTimCurry]

Well. There we go.

I’ve written a book and you can buy it today if you’d like.

I don’t talk about shagging your grandparents because i’m not that type of gal but I do discuss snorting an inordinate amount of nose candy - so something for everyone really.

Enjoy!

#Vagabond

[dominic dyer @domdyer70]

“It came to me that every time I lose a dog, they take a piece of my heart with them and every new dog who comes into my life gifts me with a piece of their heart. If I live long enough, all the components of my heart will be dog and I will become as generous and loving as they are”. - Diane Keaton ❤️

A great actress & advocate for animals she will be missed

[S Sebag Montefiore @simonmontefiore]

A few thoughts the morning after the fast.

I awake like many Jews all over the world with a strangely sorry feeling. Why is this Day of Atonement not like others? Then I remember.
This, Yom Kippur, is not one that the Jews of Britain will ever forget. As we were fasting on the most solemn day in the Jewish year, the terrible news arrived. I remember as a child the start of the Yom Kippur War when Egypt and Syria attacked Israel on this day 1973 – but that was a battle of states and armies. This was the coldblooded murder of ordinary British people, Melvin Cravitz and the brave security guard Adrian Daulby who gave his life to save many others and this could have been my synagogue. I want to pay tribute to the courageous security guard, the brave rabbi and to the Manchester chief constable and his armed police who acted so fast. I hope the Met would have been as quick ( I saw no police anywhere near my synagogue before the attack.)

I just wanted to thank the many friends who have written to me and other Jews last night and today. Your messages are so appreciated in this unsettling time. It is also entirely fitting that my Muslim friends, here and across the world, have been the kindest, my UK media acquaintances the most silent.
You might have noticed how angry Jewish people are. Usually mostly quiet. But what happened in Manchester was much predicted and entirely predictable and probably preventable. We warned it would end this way but we were ignored or shamed or gaslit. It could have been worse too. Our great security services have foiled many such plots. But let us hope this atrocity is a moment to reset our ways…
This was the inevitable result of two wild years of anti-Jewish racism and radicalism, dehumanizing antiJewish slogans and images, blood libels, calls for killing, support for terror, ‘globalizing intifada’ and ‘decolonize Israel now’, unleashed on the streets and media, barely policed either by actual policeman who have stood by nor by politicians who have swung between crowdpleasing Manichaean hyperbole and sensible, balanced reassurance; nor by the TV media anchors who have disgraced the noble vocation of journalism by rabid hostility, irresponsible exaggerations and actual mistakes that are never corrected; nor by the NHS doctors openly keening to kill Jews who are still working in hospitals despite the comments of Wes Streeting; and I don’t even need to mention the keyboard missionaries whose propagation of factual lies and vicious amplifications now include telling the suffering Gazans not to accept a peace deal that is on the table and will - we pray - bring peace and save many lives.

Today it is not a pretty sight seeing those same politicians, same anchors on Sky / BBC, same twitter missionaries pumping out self serving messages of sympathy, adopting their well-practised multicultural-community-in-danger faces - days after propagating easily-disprovable disinformation and wild Manichaean hyperbole. Of course they are not guilty of killing those people in Manchester; only the murderer and his accomplices are actually guilty.
But that is the point: the inciters congratulate themselves on being good people but take and show no responsibility for promoting bloodcurlding Manichaean credo of good and evil imposed on a faraway real war in which there is guilt and innocence on both sides. Here they have helped incite a whirlpool of hatred and they have contributed to an atmosphere that has of course proved lethal. It is other ordinary people whether here or there who play the price for their exciting transcendent parades of costfree, easy piety.
If one of them had said one thing that recognized that maybe their misuse of a thesaurus of emotive, hyperbolic Manicheanism had contributed to this vortex, I would respect them. But it is one of the distasteful characteristics of our time: many are rigidly convinced of their ironclad virtue, indeed sated and swollen with sanctimony – as they rush out their pro forma denunciations of antisemitism: the very definition of hypocrisy. That is why on X you might notice Jewish people saying ‘not now, thanks’ to the worst humbugs.

The protests started immediately and revealingly on October 7 and the line between acceptable criticism of the Israeli government and Israeli war (and yes there is much to criticise) immediately morphed into bloodcurdling calls for terror and a frenzy of anti-Jewish racism. The government, mayors and police were overwhelmed by a Manichean delirium or terrified of the aggression of these activists (or their electoral power in vulnerable constituencies) before sometimes making reassuring sensible comments. The result has been to say the least mixed messages.
Yesterday the intifada was indeed globalized and Britishized and Mancunianised. Words and bulletins have effects on real people in the street next door and far away too. They bleed, they die.
Last night, demonstrators celebrated the killing of British people in bloodthirsty fiestas in London and Manchester. It was heartening to see the PM, Foreign Secretary and Chancellor in synagogue last night: thank you.
To her credit Home Secretary Mahmood called these ghoulish celebrations “fundamentally unBritish” and recognized the problem ordering the celebrating demonstrators: “show some humanity”. Thank you Home Secretary. Such comments are two years overdue and it has taken murders to get British politicians to save those two phrases. The pro-Palestine demonstrations always contained decent people making just points but their tone was brazenly set by racists bigots and terrorist sympathizers who were indeed fundamentally unBritish in their calls for violence. The Home Secretary also said “I take my lead from the police” but that is the entire problem. You give the orders to the police. Thanks to confused guidance that has created a hierarchy of grievances, the fuddled police especially the Met have lost the ability to make moral decisions on law and order, terror and protest. Hence pro Palestinian demonstrators are permitted extra space to promote killing and antiJudaism that would never be permitted to any other cause and Jews exposed as no other ethnic minority would be. Time to redress that balance.
The government now needs to give explicit orders to the police to enforce laws against terror and hate in the streets that they have ceded to vicious activists. If that means police enforcing control of the streets,– as Italian and Germany police do every day. Everyone has the right to criticise Israeli government and its many faults as I do myself - just as they have the right to criticise Hamas and terrorism but these murders are the sign for responsible people, politicians and media to “dial down the rhetoric” as Conservative leader Badenoch said last night, that created “a climate of fear and aggression” for British Jews. “Get a grip,” demands Chief Rabbi.
Britain is a ship tossed helplessly on a storm partly of its own making, its own captain and crew (i dont just mean politicians but police and media too) often unsure and confused, its course, its British values is being tested. Now we have a chance: steady the ship before more lives are lost.

[J.K. Rowling @jk_rowling]

What the fuck has the UK become? This is totalitarianism. Utterly deplorable.

[J.K. Rowling @jk_rowling]

These women and girls are in desperate need of help. Where is the international effort to liberate them?

[J.K. Rowling @jk_rowling]

The Twilight of Nicola Sturgeon
My review of Frankly
https://t.co/2TBwrFEs2b

[J.K. Rowling @jk_rowling]

Congratulations to every single person on the left who’s been campaigning to destroy women’s and girls’ rights. Without you, there’d be no images like this.

[J.K. Rowling @jk_rowling]

This 'why do you care about a tiny fraction of the population?' line is, and always was, utterly ridiculous.

Gender ideology has undermined freedom of speech, scientific truth, gay rights, and women's and girls' safety, privacy and dignity. It's also caused irreparable physical damage to vulnerable kids.

Nobody voted for it, the vast majority of people disagree with it, yet it has been imposed, top down, by politicians, healthcare bodies, academia, sections of the media, celebrities and even the police. Its activists have threatened and enacted violence on those who've dared oppose it. People have been defamed and discriminated against for questioning it. Jobs have been lost and lives have been ruined, all for the crime of knowing that sex is real and matters.

When the smoke clears, it will be only too evident that this was never about a so-called vulnerable minority, notwithstanding the fact that some very vulnerable people have been harmed. The power dynamics underpinning our society have been reinforced, not dismantled. The loudest voices throughout this entire fiasco have been people insulated from consequences by their wealth and/or status. They aren't likely to find themselves locked in a prison cell with a 6'4" rapist who's decided his name's now Dolores. They don't need state-funded rape crisis centres, nor do they ever frequent high street changing rooms. They simper from talk show sofas about those nasty far-right bigots who don't want penises swinging around the girls' showers, secure in the knowledge that their private pool remains the safe place it always was.

Those who've benefited most from gender identity ideology are men, both trans-identified and not. Some have been rewarded for having a cross-dressing kink by access to all spaces previously reserved for women. Others have parlayed their delicious new victim status into an excuse to threaten, assault and harass women. Non-trans-identified leftybros have found a magnificent platform from which to display their own impeccably progressive credentials, by jeering and sneering at the needs of women and girls, all while patting themselves on the back for giving away rights that aren't theirs.

The actual victims in this mess have been women and children, especially the most vulnerable, gay people who've resisted the movement and paid a horrible price, and regular people working in environments where one misplaced pronoun could see you vilified or constructively dismissed. Do not tell me this is about a tiny minority. This movement has impacted society in disastrous ways, and if you had any sense, you'd be quietly deleting every trace of activist mantras, ad hominem attacks, false equivalence and circular arguments from your X feeds, because the day is fast approaching when you'll want to pretend you always saw through the craziness and never believed it for a second.

[Auschwitz Memorial @AuschwitzMuseum]

In the last few days, our account has lost over 20,000 followers.

We remain here for you - the remarkable online community that helps us keep the memory of Auschwitz alive. We remember together.

We appreciate your ongoing support. Help us reach more people with stories that must never be forgotten.

[🕷️HildegardP 🇺🇦 🇮🇱 @HildegardP]

„Man kann einen Toten nicht lebendig machen, indem man es auf ein Stück Papier schreibt“ - Helen Joyce.
Man kann einen Mann nicht zur Frau machen, indem man es auf ein Stück Papier schreibt oder indem man ihm Drogen gibt oder ihn operiert. #WomenRise #SelfIDHarms

[Auschwitz Memorial @AuschwitzMuseum]

October 7th in the history of Auschwitz marks the anniversary of the Sonderkommando revolt in 1944. Today, for the world, October 7th takes on a different meaning.

Exactly one year after the terrorist attack of Hamas on civilians in Israel, it's increasingly difficult to think about peace throughout the entire Middle East.

Stopping the spiral of violence, which has triggered a wave of human suffering, seems almost impossible. However, the first step and the foundation for reaching an agreement must be the unconditional release of all hostages who have been imprisoned for this entire year.

[PuNk and Stuff @PunKandStuff]

What day is it?

[Robert Punshon @robertpunshon]

@Glinner
So happy to see you so completely vindicated. It's taken too long and extracted a huge toll from you. Let's hope @HatTrickProd finally do right by you.

#FreeFatherTed
#GlinnerWasRight

[Graham Linehan @Glinner]

A few years ago I had an idea for a stage musical based on Father Ted, an idea I felt was equal to and respectful of the enduring affection many held for the residents of Craggy Island’s parochial house.

The story touched on themes that seemed big enough for a West End stage. Jimmy Mulville of Hat Trick Productions @HatTrickProd was excited by my pitch and accompanied me to Dublin to convince my old writing partner Arthur Mathews to embark with us on the project. We then enlisted Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy, who like Arthur, was one of my oldest friends and one whose development as a songwriter I had watched with delight over the previous three decades.

We began work on a script, encountering all the usual obstacles. Our first drafts were messy and overlong but soon we discovered the key to each character's story and it came alive.

Neil started delivering songs—each one better than the last. Through them, Ted revealed new, hilarious depths to his frustration and Mrs.Doyle had an absolute showstopper that I’m sure would have brought the audience to their feet.

All this to carry the audience merrily along to what I felt was the show's greatest strength, its ending. It was an ending that wrapped up the characters’ stories once and for all, and perhaps shook off some of the gloom associated with the show since Dermot Morgan’s tragic death only days after our final wrap party in 1998.

While we were working on the show, trans activists were busy trying to destroy my life.

I had noticed some years before that troubled children were placing themselves on an irreversible medical pathway that was deeply damaging to their health and peace of mind. In this, they were encouraged by legacy LGB organizations that had catastrophically lost their way. When I began speaking up about it, trans activists reacted as they always do, by contacting possible employers, smearing my name in propaganda outlets like Pink News, which would later come after JK Rowling when she entered the fray. The police were sent to my door multiple times. I was sued by a succession of activists, one of whom was a child predator and vexatious litigant.

But I felt that my colleagues, who were so close to me during all this, who saw the effect that the abuse was having on my life and my ability to make a living, would stand by my side.

That didn’t happen.

The last time I worked on the Father Ted musical. We presented the whole show to executive producer Sonia Friedman and her team. The story was almost there. The songs were exquisite. We'd even worked on a few rudimentary dance routines to give an idea of what audiences would see on stage. But then, I received a call to go to London and the Hat Trick offices. There I was told to remove my name from the show or it would not be made. Jimmy Mulville offered me £200,000 to do so. The money would have been incredibly useful as my other means of earning a living had largely disappeared.

But in the end, I refused for many reasons, not the least of which was that I did not want the legacy of Father Ted to be built on the ruined bodies of gay, autistic, abused and gender-nonconforming children.

Recently, my position in this debate has been vindicated by the findings of the #CassReport , which found that ‘trans healthcare’ in the UK has an inadequate evidence base, a toxic atmosphere within gender clinics that led to whistleblowers being vilified and smeared, and a rush to medicalize children without sufficient regard for the long-term consequences of such interventions.

Once at a meeting, Sonia Friedman, said to me “You’re on the wrong side of history.” I never received an apology from her. I would still appreciate one.

My beliefs—that biological sex is real and important, that women need single sex spaces for their safety and privacy, that their sports should be fair and finally that children should not be subjected to experimental medical protocols—are specifically protected in British law. Furthermore, polling shows that the same views are held by the majority of the British population. Mulville will not explain the problem he has with these views because he knows it will put him out of step with the majority of decent people in this country.

For too long now, Mulville has been sitting on a musical that would be a surefire hit. He is doing this for no other reason than to please the gender cultists on his staff and in the wider, captured media landscape. It’s pathetic, cruel and cowardly. If he doesn't want to make the show, he should get out of the way and let me do it.

Please share this message with your networks and use the hashtag #FreeFatherTed when you can. While it might not result in the return of my work, it will certainly make it more challenging for Mulville (and Friedman) to pretend they had nothing to do with a disgraceful act of preemptive cultural vandalism.

[Jane, Empress of the Known Universe (not GP)🏳️‍🌈 @blablafishcakes]

Yes - Rose Rickford nails it:

"And now, this week, suddenly it's "I would have said something, but both sides were so toxic". No. That's not why you didn't say anything. YOU DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING BECAUSE YOU WERE SCARED OF THE GENDER IDENTITY LOBBY. That's okay. They were, and are, extremely scary. But don't pretend now that you were scared of women like me. You weren't."

Bravo!

[Susan “The Actual Susan” McDonnell 🇮🇱🇬🇧 @sleeepysandy]

It wasn’t pre-war tension he escaped, it was the persecution of Jews. Yet the BBC manages not to mention Jews. This is an ongoing pattern of erasure of the terrible truth of the Holocaust. Please join me in complaining to the BBC, and escalate to the ECU. https://t.co/JzaMkv4mxb

[Robert Punshon @robertpunshon]

Absolutely abhorrent to not mention that he was a JEWISH refugee. Not once in the whole article.

[Cath Leng @leng_cath]

Spot the missing word

Glasgow Kindertransport refugee dies at 100 - BBC News https://t.co/sfhxWXmfvN

[Robert Punshon @robertpunshon]

@IBrasso @teaforpterosaur I thought it was the choice of font which was the issue. Truly unpleasant.