Nice One, Suella!

Suella Braverman has made her first trip to Rwanda as home secretary amid criticism that the Guardian, other liberal newspapers and the BBC have been shut out from the publicly funded visit.

Ha ha ha ha ha! Consequences, eh? They're a bitch, aren't they?

Charity Freedom from Torture labelled it a “showboat trip” after it emerged that the Guardian, the BBC, the Daily Mirror, the Independent and the i newspaper were not invited.

Sonya Sceats, chief executive at Freedom from Torture, described the policy as a “cash-for-humans” scheme.“Following the outpouring of support for Gary Lineker and his compassionate stand on behalf of refugees, this government knows it is on the back foot and is once again ramping up the cruelty to distract from their own failures.”

I'm sure that's what you'd like to think. I bet you haven't asked anyone outside your own circle what they think though, have you?

The New Puritanism...

Looks remarkably like the old one, doesn't it?

How the media communicates about climate breakdown reflects and shapes how societies engage with the issue. Behind every picture that makes it into the news is a person mirroring and perpetuating how society thinks about climate breakdown.

That it's not always a terrible, terrible thing that we must expend precious resources on trying to change? 

Our new research, led by the University of Exeter...

Another uttely pointless bit of 'research' that could be axed if only we had a truly conservative government... 

...highlights a distinct problem with how the European media visually represents news of extreme heat.

I hate heatwaves personally. But some people love them. Go figure! 

News media can picture heatwave visuals differently, though. The Dutch outlet Algemeen Dagblad produced visual stories of the reality of living with extreme heat. When they pictured a young family, they weren’t queueing for an ice-cream on a benign sunny day, but at home in front of a fan, looking visibly uncomfortable.

Could be me! 

We want to be clear that this isn’t a call to the media to redact all images of people enjoying the beach on a hot day...

But you would if you thought you could get away with it, wouldn't you? 

Should've Gone To SpecSavers, 'Metro' Headline Writer...

Are they just gaslighting their entire readership?

Police boarded the train at Reading station in Berkshire and searched her, but no weapons were found. She was arrested and held for questioning.

At Reading magistrates’ court, Clifton, of Weybridge, Surrey, admitted religiously aggravated behaviour and being in breach of a criminal behaviour order. She was sentenced to 26 weeks in prison.

Which prison? It better not be a woman's prison... 

Sgt James Smith, of British Transport Police, said outside court: ‘Clifton’s disgusting and unprovoked actions on the train were completely unacceptable.

There's a few other things in this case that are 'completely unacceptable'... 

‘We take incidents of hate crime extremely seriously. Behaviour where someone is targeted because of who they are or made to feel uncomfortable will not be tolerated anywhere on the rail network.

I'm made to feel uncomfortable. Can you guess why? 

‘I am thankful to the courts for the sentenced imposed and hope it gives her time to reflect on her behaviour.’

There you go! That's what makes me - and hundreds of thousands of other women - uncomfortable. The official pretence that a man in a dress will be treated as a woman, and admitted to women's safe spaces, simply because that's what he claims to be.... 

A Crisis Of Descriptors...

Breitbart correctly outlines this bizarre case in their headline:

 

While over here, the newspapers are a bit more coy. The 'Daily Record' settles it with nationality:

While TeessideLive simply ignores it (and thus gives the impression 'she' kept it in a jar to wave at passers-by:

H/T: i.r. jackson via email

Odd Way Of Trying To Say...

...'illegal immigrant dies trying to enter the country illegally'. 

But it is the 'Guardian', I suppose.

The latest suspected tragedy emerged after 500 more migrants crossed the Channel during the day, taking the total so far this year to over 20,000 – more than double 2020’s 8,420 total.

The words 'tragedy' and 'migrants' grate on me. As does the naked appeal to emotion:

In the port of Dover, dozens of recent arrivals were brought to shore by RNLI lifeboats, reports claimed.

A young child holding a cuddly toy and wearing just one wellington boot was among the large numbers of people seen being brought ashore.

Awww, the poor mite! No, don't you dare question the parenting of those responsible for this journey, just give them a council house immediately! 

Amnesty International UK’s chief executive, Sacha Deshmukh, said: “We need to remember that these dangerous crossings are taking place because the government has provided no safe alternative for people to exercise their right to seek asylum here.

“If Priti Patel is truly concerned with tackling criminal gangs and their exploitation of people, she needs to set up safe asylum routes so people no longer need to depend on smugglers.”

That's like burglars getting together to form an organisation to claim that burglary has to take place because householders refuse to open their doors and give the burglars all their money...

How Witchhunts Can Start...

A horrified mother was left shaken after a man...

Ooh, flashed her? 

..."took pictures" of her and her children while they waited at the bus stop.

Wait, what? 

The 27-year-old had been warned by a fellow passenger that she had seen footage of the family on the man's phone, which he had just taken.

Both disgusted and frightened, the mother-of-four quickly hopped on the bus and took her children home before calling the police.

So...she didn't actually see this man take pictures of her, she was told this by another complete stranger? And this generated such a panic she fled? 

She explained: "The whole thing has completely shaken me up, to the point I don't really feel to safe (sic) to be out on my own with my kids.

"I was waiting for the bus with my kids in a push chair, the other two were at school, when a woman behind the guy involved started walking towards me.

"The woman stopped me and asked if I knew the man that was standing a bit further up the street, to which I said no.

"As she walked past, she'd seen him taking pictures/videos of me and the kids on his phone.

"I was so shocked, but I knew I couldn't confront him. I didn't know how he'd react and it could've put me and the kids in more danger. "

Note that phrasing: 'more danger'. As if she was in any to start with, unless she's from one of those tribes that believes he was stealing her soul... 

All that was going through my head was I've got to get them on the bus and get them home."

Someone you don't know tells you something you didn't see that in no way harms you and you have to run home?   

Determined to warn other families, the mother is now urging anyone with any information to contact the police.

Oh, FFS!  

"All I know is he had a bit of paper in his hand and a phone, it looked like he was looking at the paper and doing something on his phone.

But I wasn't paying too much attention to what he was doing where I was just making sure we got on the bus safely."

You know, I've often stood in the street taking video of a particular spot that would probably have contained images of people. What am I doing, trawling for victims? No. Scanning a Pokestop. 

Maybe that's what this man was doing. Maybe he was thinking of moving and taking images of the street to show his housebound partner. We don't know and we won't know. 

But now anyone doing any of those things - all quite legal - run the risk of being regarded as a potential criminal. 

All because of two women. And even before this witchhunt has got off the blocks, the next one has started its run, baton in hand, cheered on by the media.