Blog

yner’s Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) as a politician who has been actively involved in tackling Islamophobia.

He chaired the Citizens’ UK Commission on Islam, which aimed to promote dialogue between Muslim and non-Muslim communities, and wrote a foreword to a controversial all-party parliamentary group’s report in 2018 that set out a definition of Islamophobia, which the Labour Party adopted.

The definition has been criticised for being so widely drawn that it curbs free speech, amounts to a de facto blasphemy law and stifles legitimate criticism of Islam as a religion….

Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, said: “The Government should drop its plans for such a deeply flawed definition of Islamophobia. Of course we should tackle anti-Muslim hate wherever it occurs, but this definition is a Trojan horse for a blasphemy law protecting Islam.

“Why do Labour MPs think it is acceptable to mock Christianity but not Islam? Time and again this Labour Government displays an Orwellian disregard for freedom of speech.”….

Paul Stott, co-author of a Policy Exchange report last week on extremism, said: “The Government is giving off worrying vibes – that it is potentially amenable to restrictions on ‘blasphemy’ and that its mind is made up in favour of a definition of Islamophobia. If so, that is terrible news for freedom of speech.”

Well, we were warned…

lliance, is the British taxpayer keeping them afloat?

Research by the Taxpayers’ Alliance reveals that Stonewall, the LGBTQ+ charity, managed to increase its funding from government sources last year by nearly £50,000 – up to £618,000, from £572,000, in 2023. This will go some way to make up for the now dwindling income it receives from Diversity Champions, its controversial ‘LGBTQ+ workplace inclusion’ scheme that has netted it millions from employers over the years.

The extent of Stonewall’s public funding is particularly shocking in light of its recent history. It has been among the fiercest advocates of gender self-identification and the use of puberty blockers for ‘trans’ children. It has mutated from a charity advocating for gay rights to a radical trans-activist group, pressuring institutions into adopting extreme positions on gender ideology. As a result of its controversial campaigning, it’s unsurprising perhaps that the BBC, the Department of Health, Ofsted and Ofcom, just to name a few, have now broken ties with the charity.

It’s a good thing government bodies are shaking off Stonewall, but we should never forget the damage it has inflicted on public policy in the UK and the influence it has wielded at the highest levels. The now-discredited Tavistock clinic pushed puberty blockers on to children based on guidelines that had Stonewall’s fingerprints all over them. In 2018, intense lobbying from Stonewall led Theresa May’s Tory administration to flirt with the idea of introducing gender self-identification. In fact, such was its influence on the government that Stonewall was able to use its Orwellian ‘Workplace Equality Index’ to ‘mark down’ government departments that failed to toe the line on some of its extreme positions. Infamously, using the word ‘mother’ instead of ‘parent who has given birth’ was enough to attract Stonewall’s ire.

It’s easy to look at the recent shifts in the corporate world, especially in the US, and think that the fight to get woke out of our institutions is over. But this would be a mistake. Stonewall has proved adept at maintaining government support despite the negative headlines, and despite the broader turn against DEI. Given Stonewall’s struggling finances (its deficit is more than £800,000), it’s pretty clear that taxpayers’ cash is just about the only thing keeping it afloat.

With Stonewall’s campaigning increasingly at odds with public opinion, now is the time to stop its public funding. Businesses have woken up, and it’s high time the UK’s public sector followed suit. It’s time to defund Stonewall once and for all.

The government hand-outs would suggest that Stonewall still have government support. That would be a gross misreading of the public mood.

esult of years of institutional cultivation from within the university and external actors. To be clear, my disappointment is with Columbia University, not the business school.

I have diligently completed Columbia’s mandatory anti-harassment training several times, and I am confident that Massad’s statements about Israel, Jews, and Zionism violate these very policies. Had I created such “pain for many and contributed to deep controversy," my dismissal would have been swift and justified. 

My post on Massad's appointment here:

Columbia University will offer a course on “Zionism” in spring 2025 taught by a professor who described terrorist attacks by Hamas against Israel as “awesome.”

Titled Palestinian-Israeli POLIT/SOC, the course covers “The History of the Jewish Enlightenment (Haskala) in 19th century Europe and the development of Zionism through the current peace process between the state of Israel and the Arab states and the Palestinian national movement.” It is intended to provide an overview of the “Zionist-Palestinian” conflict, according to the course description.

The professor assigned to teach the course is Joseph Massad, who also instructs Modern Arab Politics and Intellectual History at Columbia. Massad is known for writing an article for The Electronic Intifada the day after the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel, in which he described the event as “astounding,” “incredible,” and a “stunning victory.”

versity of Pharmacology was arrested in December for manufacturing and distributing methamphetamine, with investigators discovering he had used students to sell the drugs, Daily NK has learned.

“The community is shocked that a Hamhung University professor was making meth and involving students in its distribution,” a source in South Hamgyong province told Daily NK recently. “While people condemn the professor’s actions, they’re also criticizing the system that led to this situation.”

The professor, a man in his 50s identified only by the surname Kim, was arrested on campus by city police inspectors in mid-December and is currently under interrogation. His involvement came to light during an investigation into a drug ring that was broken up in Wonsan in November.

As authorities suspect this case extends beyond one professor’s corruption to involve multiple faculty members and students, the Supreme Procurator’s Office has launched a university-wide inspection. Their involvement stems from Hamhung University’s status as a “central university” despite its provincial location.

It's kind of appropriate that the professor is called Kim. We've been hearing for years now, not just about the widespread use of methamphetamine in North Korea, but also its manufacture for export, to boost the coffers of the regime. The Kim Jong-un crystal meth empire is, in a way, this story writ large. It starts at the top.

lling treatment she endured at the hands of the United… pic.twitter.com/g2rNv0o40g

— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) February 2, 2025

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Full text:

“I was hounded, day in, day out. Bullied, hounded, with protection from nobody.”

These are the words of Alice Nderitu, the UN’s former Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide. In a shocking article, she details the appalling treatment she endured at the hands of the United Nations—months of relentless pressure to label Israel’s actions against Hamas as “genocide.”

She even received death threats for refusing to comply: “They started sending me threats on my phone. And then they even started threatening me on the U.N. e-mail.”

One such e-mail read: “Filthy Zionist rat, you will burn in hell forever for supporting the rape and torture and murder of little kids by your bestial masters.”

Nderitu exposes the UN’s blatant bias against Israel: “It’s instructive that this never happened for any other war. Not for Ukraine, not for Sudan, not for D.R.C., not for Myanmar. The focus was always Israel.”

Her testimony, combined with the UN’s statements and actions since October 7, makes one thing clear: the United Nations is not a neutral body. It has abandoned its mandate of impartiality, taking a dangerous one-sided stance against Israel.

As Nderitu warns: “By taking one side, condemning it every day, you completely lose the essence of what the U.N. was created for.”

Because she refused to bow to pressure and intimidation, Alice Nderitu’s contract was not renewed.

Alice Nderitu was fired for telling the truth—a truth the UN simply does not want to hear.

A link to the article.

There was a Times article on Nderitu back in November:

An expert on genocide has left the United Nations amid claims that her contract was not renewed because she refused to apply the term to Israel’s war against Hamas.

Alice Wairimu Nderitu served a four-year term as a special adviser to the UN secretary-general on the prevention of genocide. Her departure on Tuesday was highlighted by the Wall Street Journal, which suggested that her contract was not being renewed because she had stood firm against pressure within the organisation to class Israel’s war against Hamas as a potential genocide.

tcomes of gender-affirming medical treatments.”

Dropping the "gender-affirming" label would be a good start.

How are things going at the DNC?

They are now stopping their elections because there hasn’t been a “non-binary” person elected.

So yeah. pic.twitter.com/LdWts5ofAy

— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) February 2, 2025

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

The tragic tale of a trans man – a woman – forced to endure a nightmare of personal agony and humiliation because she couldn't get the appropriate male underwear for when she was having a period. Told, at great length, in between stifled sobs, by the BBC:

A trans man said he locked himself away every month when he menstruated because he could not access trans-friendly underwear.

Jay-Harley Rees, 28, from Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, said there were not enough spaces where trans and non-binary people felt safe in small towns and rural areas.

He said he had to put on a "fake deeper voice and pretend to be a lad just to go to the shop"

What's that got to do with his underwear? Surely she's just saying that she found the whole act of pretending to be a man exhausting. So why do it? She's not a man – and of course she can be as butch and "unfeminine" as she wants as a woman. That's what people (used to) do. But…hey, trans…so the Beeb is all sympathy and tears. The only trans in the village.

Rhi Kemp-Davies, a non-binary therapist, said changing your appearance as a trans person to "pass" was often done to avoid violence.

Another sudden side-step. What? It's not even clear what's being said. The changing of appearance, surely, is what draws attention – though I'd take the threat of violence with more than a pinch of salt here, given the whole tone of the article. Has this person ever been attacked or suffered violence? I think we can take it that the answer is no, otherwise we'd be hearing about it – at great length.

Jay-Harley said he "would cry" and "lock myself away" every month when he menstruated because he had to wear female underwear to use sanitary products.

"I couldn't look at myself in the mirror, even though I would be wearing my suits – I knew what I had on underneath," he said.

"Every day was a battle to carry on."

He said his mental health and confidence would have been "so much better" if he had had guidance, support and underwear made for trans men.

I'm sorry, but….what??

After taking testosterone, he said: "I'm very lucky my periods have stopped, but they could come back, I won't know or have any warnings."

The sympathy: it has run out, disappeared, evaporated. 

ntal – Qatar, Al Jazeera's owner, was hosting HAMAS's spiritual guide Sheikh Yusuf al- Qaradawi, who had his own religious show "Al-Sharia wa al Haya" on the network. During the second intifada it did everything possible to increase the hate and inject its poison into millions of households in the Middle East.

Fast forward to today: the evidence that pours from HAMAS despicable "ceremonies" of hostages release indicates that Al Jazeera was involved in production of these grotesque spectacles where captives were forced to smile, wave, and sign papers.

Why? Because as the most watched Arab media outlet, it carefully shapes the narrative and the framing of the conflict for millions: HAMAS "won," Gaza's destruction was "justified," the hostages are "prisoners", political Islam is "triumphant." Meanwhile, Gazans criticizing HAMAS? Their voices are cut off air. I watched Arabic Al Jazeera every day this week. Gazans who wanted to honestly speak about their anger with HAMAS that started a war without consulting anyone and sacrificed their property and lives, were taken off the air. Channel's motto once was "An opinion and a different opinion". What a joke.

Qatar poses as "neutral mediator" while its media arm glorifies terrorism, omits HAMAS's brutality against both Israelis & Palestinians, and incites against Arab states seeking peace & development. Why many people in the Arab world do not know about the atrocities of 10/07 and doubt they ever happened? They watch Al-Jazeera.

This isn't journalism. This is a state-backed operation more dangerous than Russian propaganda networks (banned in the EU and the US). Al Jazeera doesn't just distort reality – it manufactures it.

Time to recognize: Al Jazeera isn't media. It's a weapon in Qatar's arsenal, aimed at regional stability and truth itself. The West shouldn't tolerate this hypocrisy any longer. It's time for a full stop.

A big friend of Ken Livingstone, Qaradawi, as I recall. 

Another Detroit panorama, this time from 1908. "Detroit, Michigan — general view to the west along Jefferson Boulevard and Fort Street." Looking over the Detroit River to Windsor, Ontario. 

[Photo: Shorpy/Detroit Publishing Company]

A composite of two 8×10 inch glass negatives, constituting one-sixth of a 12-exposure mega-panorama. As ever, click to see full size.