"Let Me Through, I'm An Employment Tribunal Judge..."

"That's nice, madam, but this person needs a doctor..."

A factory worker who was sacked for attacking a colleague has won a disability discrimination claim after a tribunal ruled he was suffering from 'diabetic rage'.

Wait, that's a thing? Really? Well, I guess he had a doctor to prove his...

Oh, maybe not: 

At the tribunal, Mr Dytkowski was 'very frank' that he had sought but failed to get evidence from his clinicians which supported his view, explaining doctors 'could not say for sure'.

Yeah, I guess that doesn't matter though, because who needs medical experts?  

But Employment Judge Joanne Dunlop agreed with him and ruled that he was discriminated on grounds of his disability and unfairly dismissed.

'He is not a medical expert but, at least to some extent, we are entitled to treat him as an expert on his own condition and how he experiences the effects of it.'

/facepalm 

Here's Who You Were Clapping For, NHS Worshippers...

James Peter Farthing, 28, spoke to the 'teenager' on messaging service Kik - under the username 'olderc**k' - as well as on Snapchat.

The junior doctor, who worked for the NHS in Stockport, asked to see photographs of her body and shared an image of penis.

The account was actually being run by an undercover police officer and Farthing was later arrested for attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child.

Well, you know what they say about the Internet... 

However, today he walked free from Minshull Street Crown Court after being handed a suspended sentence.

Errr, OK, even for Minshull Street, that's excessively lenient. Are we that short iof doctors? 

Lawyers mitigating for Farthing, said he had been juggling working long hours during the pandemic, his wife's health condition and his training.

They said he had 'emotional struggles', had been watching pornography and smoking cannabis at the time - but that he was working to address his issues.

So a doctor thinks that the best way to cope with stress is smoke illegal drugs and watch obscene material? Boy, if this creature ever finishes its training, I hope someone oversees what prescriptions it writes! 

His supervisor - a consultant - and training programme director provided statements to the court.

Staff and patients 'all expressed shock' after Farthing was arrested, the court heard, as people thought he had a good 'moral compass'.

Mr Gurney said they 'stand by him' because they acknowledge his remorse.

People thought the world of Harold Shipman too... 

Bringing Back The One Drop Rule...

One of Britain’s greatest painters has fallen victim to woke culture, as art-lovers are being warned not to ‘idolise’ J. M. W. Turner because he once held a single share in a Jamaican business that used slave labour.

One share. One... 

During his lifetime, the artist was a liberal and an abolitionist, and his iconic painting The Slave Ship captured the horror of the trade in human lives. But a new exhibition of his work at Tate Britain comes with a warning that some of his pieces could be considered problematic.

To whom? To the real 'general public', or to the tiny but loud minority of woke activists? And if tenuous  slavery links weren't enough... 

The gallery’s director, Alex Farquharson, even warns that Turner’s depictions of steam power are linked to climate change.

*sighs* 

Mr Farquharson says: ‘We should not idolise Turner. His investment in 1805 in a Jamaican cattle ranch worked by enslaved labour suggests he had reset his own moral compass by 1840 when he painted Slave Ship as an indictment of the slave trade.’

The painting was inspired by the Zong massacre of 1781, in which a captain of a British ship ordered 133 slaves to be thrown overboard when drinking water ran low so he could claim insurance money.

Mr Farquharson describes The Slave Ship as salient today because ‘Black Lives Matter demands we confront histories of enslavement, exploitation and genocide whose legacies live on’, but says some critics ‘see its visual splendour as mitigating the horror of its subject’.

Probably the sort of 'experts' who fawn over modern 'art' like this... 

Michael Daley, the director of ArtWatch UK, said it was wrong to impose modern values on historical figures, adding: ‘The trouble is that everybody in the arts wants to play politics and not talk about art.’

Spot on, Mr Daley, and it suffers as a result. 

The episode could expose the Tate to allegations of hypocrisy – ancestors of founder Sir Henry Tate made their fortune from a sugar empire built on the slave trade.

Good. Let them be hoist by their own petard. 

And Would You Open Up Your Surgery For Them To Have It?

Covid vaccines have been a remarkable success, but if we are to enhance public safety and return to normality, we must build on that achievement.

Interesting you talk about 'coverage', because Janet Street Porter points out:

...the real scandal is happening at GP's surgeries all over the country. And I don't think money is the problem.

Waiting rooms lie empty, lines of freshly sanitised chairs sit without any occupants. Signs on external doors say 'do not enter without an appointment' - so the sick stay at home and potentially shorten their lives, forced to hang on to the phone waiting for ages or try and log on, remember their NHS number, password and navigate a complicated website.

It's easier for Michael Gove to enter a nightclub mask-less and make a complete tit of himself, than it is to meet your local GP face-to-face.

Seems they are only willing to do this now if they are weilding a needle like an eager Spanish DEFRA vet. 

GPs are holding 3.4million fewer face-to-face appointments a month compared with before the pandemic. The shocking figures reveal the scale of the shift towards consultations held remotely.

The Alzheimer’s Society said virtual appointments do not work for people with dementia, while Labour, which analysed the NHS England data, said the shift increased the risk of serious illness being misdiagnosed.

But who cares about serious illness when we have a version of the flu to worry about? 

This'll Go Down Well At Friday Prayers...

Teachers can help counteract the rise of the “incel” movement and the dangers of misogyny with school lessons on respect for women and healthy relationships, ministers believe.

Start with the mosques, shall we? 

A government source said that Gavin Williamson, the education secretary, expects teachers to be able to tackle the risks from incel culture through the relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) curriculum within schools.

Ah! No danger of shaking anyone's worldview then, since they probably don't let their children attend these anyway... 

It follows concerns sparked by Britain’s worst mass shooting in over a decade, in which Jake Davison, 22, killed five people including his mother and a toddler in Plymouth last week.After the attack, it emerged he had shown interest in the incel – or involuntary celibate – online culture fuelled by misogyny and abuse of women. Police are investigating whether this was a motive for the shootings.

Going to run up against the thorny issue then, that he didn't solely target women, aren't you? 

On Thursday, an inquest heard that he argued with his mother, for whom he expressed hatred online, before the killing spree.

He's dead, she's dead...how do they know?

But maybe I'm making light of a serious issue, and there's lots of Jake Davisons out there (thanks, GPs!)? Are the people who make a living off this sort of thing seeing a lot of cases? 

William Baldét, a Prevent coordinator and practitioner in countering violent extremism for 10 years, said: “I’ve not personally seen anyone coming through who was explicitly driven to violence by the incel community but we have seen an increase in people engaging with those subcultures. It may be because we are better at recognising it, it may be because of an increase, or both.”

Ah. And if he can't manufacture it... 

He added: “It’s clear that misogyny as a concept runs deep through a lot of extremist ideologies. Incel is different in that it’s built around a hatred of women and feeling of inferiority, rather than bringing about societal change, but there’s a related need to tackle misogyny across society. That should be part of the whole system, at every level, and not just framed trough (sic) counter-terrorism.”

Of course, he can. They always can, can't they? 

Inequality - It's For The Birds...

Feeding birds is hard-wired into our national psyche. The apocryphal Victorian “tuppence a bag” for seed for the Trafalgar Square pigeons has morphed into a national pastime, with an estimated 17m households spending £250m a year on more than 150,000 tonnes of bird feed – enough to feed the entire breeding population of the 10 most common feeder-using bird species year-round three times over.

Good for us, doing our bit gor nature! Strange to se a good news article in the 'Guardian', though? 

This was brought into sharp relief during the pandemic, with many of us discovering the joy of attracting birds to our own gardens after losing access to wildlife and wild spaces.

Oooh, I don't like where this is going. 'Joy'? We can't have that! 

So we know that bird-feeding can be good for humans, but what about for birds?

We could ask them? But...what could possibly be wrong with it? 

Blue tits, nuthatches and great-spotted woodpeckers have never had it so good. These species have something else in common though: they are all dominant species that can monopolise resources such as food and nesting sites.

Ah. Of course. No socialism to ensure sparrows and swallows go equally hungry! 

Marsh and willow tits, lesser-spotted woodpeckers, several migrant flycatchers and warblers have been slowly disappearing from the British landscape since the 1970s, as one woodland area after another has lost cherished members of its dawn chorus choir.

Look! It's even affecting migrants! No wonder the 'Guardian' is worried! 

Forced to develop strategies to survive, they have become more innovative and have diversified the ways they interact with the landscape. Unlike blue and great tits, the drabber and less obtrusive willow tits excavate their own nest holes, meaning they don’t have to wait until a natural cavity forms, which a more dominant species would probably take. This means they can occupy new sites, like young woodlands, which are unsuitable for their more imposing relatives. Similarly, the marsh tit collects and catches food and stores it for a rainy day – or a harsh winter. It is faster to find new food resources and has a stronger bill to deal with harder food items.

Hurrah! Innovation and adaptation saves the day...but wait. That can't be the answer, surely? 

But these fancy tactics are rendered null and void by bird feeders providing food 24/7; it is gobbled up by the dominant species, sending their numbers up, and increasing the threat to subordinate species.

See? It's all our fault, of course. Does the 'Guardian' have any suggestions? 

We badly need a better understanding of the consequences of bird feeding and, armed with this information, there is one clear piece of advice we can give for those concerned with bird populations. Where possible, improving habitat amount and quality in our gardens is a vastly more important gift to nature than any bird seed handouts.

That's if you have a garden. But what am I saying? Guardianistas always assume everyone lives like they do... 

How Are You Enjoying Reaping That Whirlwind, Universities..?

An academic who was sacked after calling a Right-wing commentator a 'house n***o' is suing the university which cut ties with her for...

Breach of contract? Unfair dismissal?

...discrimination against her belief in critical race theory and black radicalism.

Hahahahahaha! 

The case could see black radicalism - an academic movement which argues race is a social construct used to oppress minorities - made into a protected belief system, like religious belief.

Well, they can't say they never saw this coming, can they?  

Ms Khanom is being supported by Professor Kehinde Andrews, who branded Churchill a 'white supremacist', arguing the term 'house n***o' is not a 'racial slur' but a 'concept that come out (sic) of struggles for racial justice'.

Is there some grift involved, because there usually is? 

On an online fundraising page created to raise £5,000 to cover her legal costs, Ms Khanom claimed she was the victim of a 'network of alt-Right activists'.

Ah. There it is! 

She wrote: 'LBU's conduct towards me suggests that academics should be looking over their shoulder before they make statements about Israel and Palestine, or about critical race theory. That is why this case and LBU's role in it is not just about me and my reputation as an anti-racist.

'Fundamentally, this is an important issue of freedom of speech.'

Oh, you're not wrong there. But not the way you think.... 

Ms Khanom said the tweets were not sent by her, adding: 'No academic should find their contract terminated so publicly in the absence of a fair and thorough investigation.'

I don't recall you being so supportive of Maya Forstater or Dr Binoy Sobnack or Bo Winegard...maybe I missed the press releases? 

Stop Pandering To These Idiot Snowflakes!

Much of Dan Guthrie’s life has been haunted by...

A family tragedy? Escaping war and strife? Being caught up in a natural disaster like a tornado or earthquake?

...a disturbing mechanised figure resembling a tethered black slave boy, which is supposed to strike a bell hourly in the centre of Stroud.

*blinks* 

He first passed the automaton, which is known in clockmaking circles as a jacquemart, on his way to primary school in the 2000s and then secondary school – and now on his daily journey into work in the Cotswold town.

Has he not heard of Google Maps and their ability to find you an alternate route? Do all roads in Stroud lead past this automaton? 

“It is an offensive racist relic from the transatlantic slave trade, and the fact that it is still up in Stroud is a mystery to me.”

Oh, I can help you with that. It's because the world doesn't revolve around you.

...the debate about the clock’s future has become increasingly fraught since the town’s Conservative MP, Siobhan Baillie, criticised local anti-racists campaigning to have the divisive figure relocated. Baillie said “a certain minority of people with loud voices have an unquenchable desire to be constantly finding things to be outraged at” in a statement published in the local press and on her website last month.

Good lord, I think we might have found an actual real Conservative for once!  

Naturally, the usual suspects spring into action:

The founder of the group, Polly Stratton, a Stroud-based English teacher, says Baillie has poisoned the debate about the clock, which has been moved twice during its history and was last restored in 2004.

By expressing an opinion that the majority in the town probably have, Polly? 

“We didn’t look for this fight...

Oh, really? What, teaching doesn't keep you busy enough? 

... – all we are doing is raising awareness about a racist caricature that is having a traumatic effect on many people of colour in Stroud. Their views should be heard, not shouted down by someone with a public platform,” she says.

Like...you're trying to do to everyone else? 

“We’re not trying to hide it or tear it down. We want it on public display in a museum.”

To do that, wouldn't you have to tear it down? Or do you plan to build the museum around it? 

For an English teacher, you don't seem very bright. Or to appreciate what English words mean...

Baillie – who has spoken in parliament about the distress caused by anonymous racist and misogynistic social media trolls – has also worked with the Kick it Out charity, which campaigns against racism in football. But it firmly disagrees with her stance. “Whether it’s on the football pitch, online or in our town centres, we have to fight racism wherever we find it,” says Tony Burnett, the CEO of Kick it Out. “With that in mind, I would remind Ms Baillie that her work with Kick It Out on online anonymity does not give her a free pass to undermine anti-racist groups.”

What on earth gives this twerp the right to pronounce on this matter? Is the automaton depicted kicking a football? 

But It's Not 'Beyond Shocking' At All, Is It?

On Wednesday, a 14-year-old boy was arrested on suspicion of his murder and a second boy, also 14, was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to murder. Both are now in custody at an east London police station.

Detective Inspector John Marriott, of the Met's Specialist Crime Command, said: 'We believe that James confronted a group of youths causing a disturbance and was stabbed as a result.

'The brutality of this response is beyond shocking and our thoughts are with James' family who have been left devastated by their loss.'

But it's not at all 'beyond shocking'. Is it? It's inevitable, when thugs are allowed to do as they please without any fear of the police: 

Today, Mr Markham's wife, Candice, told the Mirror: 'The boys were walking around with metal poles. They were swinging them and shouting at my daughter.

'It's just disgusting. It's not the first time - you see them walking around and smashing bottles in the street.'

Indeed, they are apparently well known in the area. It didn't take the police long to sweep them up, did it?

Chief Superintendent Richard Tucker, responsible for local policing in Waltham Forest, said: 'The Met remains committed to tackling violence across London and I would like to reassure the community that we will do everything we can to track down those responsible for this attack.

'I understand the concern this incident will cause and I would like to reassure residents that you will continue to see additional officers in the area over the coming days.'

Perhaps if you'd come along to bolt the stable door before the horse galloped over that hill, there wouldn't be a grieving widow right now, and a family destroyed. The knife wielders of course bear the majority of the responsibility for that, but I cannot say, hand on heart, that the local police farce that has proven so utterly ineffective doesn't also bear some.  

Can you, Reader?

"Rules? Those Are For Other People..."

A father of three was sentenced to prison at a hearing described by campaigners as a return to secrecy in the family courts.

The 15-month suspended sentence was delivered anonymously despite firm rules to judges they should never give prison or suspended terms without naming the individual.

What do rules mean to the people who feel entitled to rule over us? 

The ruling came after the man repeatedly defied a judge's order to stop trying to make contact with his sons.

Ah! Just as with police the real crime here is not doing as you're told... 

Open justice campaigners criticised the decision and yesterday senior judges launched an inquiry into the suppression of the father's name.

The ruling by Judge Gillian Matthews QC appears to run directly against open justice rules established eight years ago that say no adult should be handed a prison sentence in the family courts without being publicly named.

A female judge? Weren't we always told we needed more of these to 'improve' the dispensation of justice? 

How's it going? 

Her sentence follows an earlier nine-month prison term imposed on the father in December 2019 after he snatched the three boys from their mother. The children were taken back from him by police who stopped his Mercedes on the M4.

At the 2019 sentencing, Judge Matthews did allow him to be publicly named.

Wait, what? So...he's already been identified? By the same judge? 

My flabber is well and truly ghasted...

It's Not Animals They Care About, Is It?

The Aspinall Foundation, which is fronted by Mrs Johnson, said it plans to transport a total of thirteen elephants - weighing 25 tonnes - more than 4,000 miles on a Boeing 747 to a secret location in Kenya in a 'ground-breaking step for this country and the conservation movement'.

The charity said it would work with anti-poaching teams to help ensure the long-term survival of the 13 animals - including three babies - once they reach one of two sites under consideration in southern Kenya.

Well, the Kenyan authorities must be overjoyed, surely? 

But Kenya's Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife said it 'noted with concern' the reports in the British media about what the charity has described as the first rewilding project of its kind.

'The ministry wants to state that neither them nor the Kenya Wildlife Service have been contacted or consulted on this matter,' the ministry said. 'Relocation and rehabilitation of an animal from a zoo is not easy and is an expensive affair.'

But how could they turn this down, aren't they short of elephants over there? 

Reader, they are not. 

Damian Aspinall, chairman of The Aspinall Foundation, told the Daily Telegraph: 'This is an incredibly exciting project and a genuine world-first. As with any conservation project of this magnitude, there are obviously big risks, but we consider them well worth it to get these magnificent beasts back into the wild where they belong.'

Yes, of course you do. Because it's not about the welfare of the animals at all, is it? 

And Next, She'll Warn Us That Water Is Wet...

The head of the schools watchdog in England has denounced a “militant” new brand of activism in school communities, which she warned was leading to confrontation within and outside the school gates and having a potentially limiting effect on education.

You've only just noticed? Where have you been for the last 10 years?

In some cases, she said, children and teachers were being subjected to abuse and even violence for being the wrong religion, race or ethnicity, and she said pupils should not be forced to support their peers’ campaigns for fear of being ostracised if they do not.

Too little, too late. Where were you when a schoolteacher was hounded out of his school for showing an image of a religious figure? 

Misjudging The Public Mood

Freddy McConnell fights a rearguard action for beleagured Stonewall in the 'Guardian', and this caught my eye in the closing paragraphs:

Instead of denigrating my trans sisters in the name of straw-man arguments about “male violence”, journalists at our national papers might pay more interest in trans lives; they could have reported on the recent death of Sophie Gwen Williams. Williams, a musician and artist from Northern Ireland, co-founded We Exist, an emergency healthcare fund for trans and gender-nonconforming people across the UK. She was said to be in despair about being on an NHS waiting list for several years. As those close to her put it in a memorial note: “Losing Sophie is a personal tragedy, but it’s also a public disgrace.”

Really? Tell it to these people, Freddy. I'm sure they'll agree with you that it's a tragedy.

Free Speech For Me, Never For Thee...

Mike Roper, the headteacher of Allerton Grange high school in Leeds, was forced to apologise after he claimed in an assembly that some people saw the flag as a “symbol of antisemitism”.

Video of the speech was posted online, going viral and prompting a backlash and protests, with extra police having to be posted outside the school.

'The flag' being the Palestinian flag, of course. If he'd said the same about the Union flag the 'Guardian' would probably be giving him a guest writer's spot...

The assembly was intended, the school said, to address tensions within its multiracial student community caused by the situation in Israel.

But instead the speech brought accusations of “blatant Islamophobia” and staff being instructed to help students into and out of school safely following the furious response.

In other words, teachers had to plan for the usual screeching outside the school gates from the usual mob. 

Similar disputes have occurred in schools across the UK since the latest deadly violence in Israel and Gaza, with questions raised over why children expressing support for Palestine are being accused of antisemitism and in some cases subjected to disciplinary action.

So they are being disciplined for expressing an opinion? 

No. Don't be silly. That only happens to the staff!

During a protest at Clapton girls’ academy in east London, students sat down and chanted “free Palestine”, refusing to return to lessons.

See? They weren't disciplined for having an opinion at all, but for their actions in refusing to attend school and learn something other than the tribal hatreds they undoubtedly learn at home, or at the local mosque. 

The Scottish Green MSP Ross Greer said: “Imagine being a Palestinian kid at this guy’s school, being told your national flag is inherently hateful. Absolutely outrageous.”

We get told ours is that all the time, usually by morons like you. We just laugh and shrug it off. 

The author and Cambridge University academic Priyamvada Gopal also reacted with dismay to the video.

Oh, well, this'll be good! 

She said: “Young people can be taught about the evils of antisemitism, and they can learn about the Palestinian flag and its importance to a people’s struggle for self-determination. We are all capable of holding more than one thought in our head at the same time, and students should not be patronised by pretending otherwise.”

There's no evidence you can manage even one, love. 

Daniel Kebede, a senior vice-president of the National Education Union, said schools should be a safe space that allowed young people to explore difficult subjects.

It should. But it should be the same for the staff, too. And it's not, is it? 

"Gissa Job!"

Hollywood figures are calling for...

Roast swan? A pet yak in their trailer every night? 

...more diversity in hair and makeup departments on sets, after Black actors came forward about their experiences of racism including being told there was no budget to cut hair of their type.

Oh...apparently, this is a thing now. Racist hairstyling. Who knew? 

Camille Friend, a top stylist who has worked on Black Panther, Tenet and Captain Marvel, said hair stylists who don’t know how to work with Black hair should not be working on film or TV sets.

Even if the show has no black actors? 

Friend also believes the actors’ union needs to make the necessary changes as they hold much of the power. “[The Screen Actors Guild] is a very powerful union and they have the power to change the rules for their actors of color,” she said.

“They can require Black actors to have a say in who is hired for hair and makeup departments, including barbers. This should be a requirement.”

Let me guess - one of those people they'd then insist on would be...you? 

He's A Shoo-In Then...

A leadership candidate for one of Britain's biggest trade unions has been suspended by Labour and allegedly reported to the police for a hate crime after he called for Priti Patel to be deported.

Heh! He'll probably win now!

How nice to see them hoist of the petard they've spent so long building... 

The fallout came as huge crowds cheered and applauded yesterday when two Indian men, initially detained by Border Force officials in an immigration van, were eventually released by police following a stand-off with hundreds of protesters.

No-one should really be surprised by this, should they? 

Gurinder Singh Josan, a member of Labour's ruling National Executive Committee who is also a Unite member, tweeted: 'Howard showing his true colours?

'I totally disagree on pretty much everything with Priti Patel but this is simply dog whistle racism against a woman of colour. Delete this now!'

Mr Beckett initially refused to back down, arguing that his tweet was 'about society being able to do without anyone who promotes racism'.

Which is clearly what you are doing, by the very standards you've demanded everyone else be hald to... 

A Home Office spokesperson said: 'The UK Government is tackling illegal immigration and the harm it causes, often to the most vulnerable people by removing those with no right to be in the UK.

'The operation in Glasgow was conducted in relation to suspected immigration offences and the two Indian nationals complied with officers at all times.

'The UK Government continues to tackle illegal migration in all its forms and our New Plan for Immigration will speed up the removal of those who have entered the UK illegally.'

If only we had a body of people in this country whose job it is to uphold the law! Instead, we have cowards in blue: 

A Police Scotland statement said Superintendent Mark Sutherland had decided to release the detained men 'in order to protect the safety, public health and wellbeing of those involved in the detention and subsequent protest'.

We'll see more of this now. When they come for the van transporting murderers and rapists to court, what will you say then, Sutherland? 

And The Answer Is....

..."Yes, she's the reason you're behaving like this and expecting to get away with it.":

Matthew Mawhinney, 29, became rowdy on the flight home from filming the second series of Netflix dating show Too Hot to Handle in the Caribbean on February 7.

The defendants became abusive after being repeatedly told to put facemasks on and being informed that the captain had decided they should not be served any more alcohol.

In a hearing at Uxbridge Magistrates' Court on Friday, prosecutor Christelle McCracken told the court that stewardesses Heather Wenn and Sophie Griffiths had been the target of most of the abuse.

When Ms Wenn told Mawhinney he would not be getting any more drinks, he told her: 'Go and f****** look up who my mum is – Baroness Scotland, I'm a gold card holder – go and get me a drink.'

Lovely!  

District Judge Deborah Wright said the three defendants behaved with a 'profound sense of entitlement without any regard for the crew or any of the other passengers on the flight'.

I wonder where they could possibly have got that from? 

Mohamed Reza Ally, for Johnson and Greenslade, said: 'They are aware that things are not going to be easy in relation to the publicity.

'This behaviour on any view is wholly out of character, and in my submission that should be born in mind.'

I guess you didn't learn any Latin in law school, then? Like 'In vino veritas'..?

Each defendant was fined £1,500, ordered to pay £500 each to Ms Wenn and Ms Griffiths, and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £150 and £85 costs for their abusive behaviour.

They were ordered to pay a further £100 for refusing to put on their masks when told to by the captain.

It's chickenfeed, to people like this.  

It's Like Killing Your Parents Then Demanding Clemency Because You're An Orphan...

But Megan, who has done more to turn people into this than the 'Guardian' itself? 

Britain has long had a reputation as a nation of curtain-twitchers, of course, but the pandemic has exacerbated these tendencies and lent them unearned moral authority. From the very beginning of the pandemic it has been a trope for tutting scolds to photograph strangers who are sitting in parks or queueing for coffee to shame them, without feeling the need to justify why they themselves were in the exact same space.

Which newspaper - OK, maybe the 'Independent' - has done more to enable 'tutting scolds' than this one? From the proper use of the latest terms and phrases to what you're supposed to eat and what you're not, to what TV characters you should love... 

When was it that we stopped believing, on the whole, that other people are essentially like us? By this I don’t mean believing that we all share specific traits, but rather extending the general assumption that the motivations of others are not utterly divergent from our own.

Was it when the 'Guardian' started telling us all that we were wrong and racist for not agreeing with them, perhaps, Megan?