Tribunal Shenanigans...

'Sad though it is to have to say this, it seems to us to be likely that Mr Habib is, unfortunately, ill-equipped to cope with the nuances of social interaction in the workplace, and lacks the sort of social skills that might have eased tensions that arose around the mug incident.' 

Were there other clues? 

Mr Habib also tried to claim that his manager denying him five weeks annual leave to go back to Pakistan for a series of weddings, which he requested just a month into his employment, was race discrimination.

Aha! 

As well as the race discrimination claims, Mr Habib alleged that during his time at Currys he had been sexually harassed by a female co-worker. However, his allegations were dismissed as 'simply incredible'.

Tribunals are usually so gullible, he must have had a face only a mother could love. 

At the end of March, Mr Habib was dismissed by Currys and was not given an opportunity to appeal. His unfair dismissal claim was struck out because Mr Habib had not been employed long enough to make that claim. However, he was awarded three weeks' notice pay because there was no mention of a probation period in his notice and therefore he was entitled to one month's notice not one week.

The comedic value of a Pakitsni or Indian being in a dispute with Cuttys. of all stores, was not missed. 

Which Rights Do You Believe You’ve Lost, Then?

Last week’s supreme court ruling sent shock waves through the UK’s trans community. The unanimous judgment said the legal definition of a woman in the Equality Act 2010 did not include transgender women who hold gender recognition certificates (GRCs). That feeling was compounded when Kishwer Falkner, the chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, which is preparing new statutory guidance, said the judgment meant only biological women could use single-sex changing rooms and toilets.

And apparently this is going to cause issues for those men who have been posing as women for years.  

The fear is back. The fear I had when I first started my transition in 1979, that people will hurt me,” says Janey, who is 70. She has been living “happily and independently” as a woman for nearly half a century. Based in London, she still works in the mental health sector and is part of a large and accepting Irish family. She is also transgender. “I still go into the women’s toilets at work, but when I open the door there’s that little voice inside me: ‘Will someone shout at me?’,” she says.

What are you planning to do it there? If it's just 'use the toilet', it's unlikely. If it's to pose in front of the mirrors for a selfie to show how you're in a women's toilet like so many of the exhibitionist freakshows on Twitter and Instragram, then no.  

Janey’s colleagues don’t know she’s trans (Janey is not her real name).

Don't they? I wouldn't bet on that. 

It’s the fragility of rights that scares her. “Just look at what is happening in the US – what worries me in this country is that it’s all about trans people now, but this is the start of something. Rights can be knocked out in a second.”

You never had a right to invade female spaces. You're a man.  

Diana James, 66, a domestic abuse worker, says the supreme court judgment has been “a tremendous shock” to mature trans women in particular. “These are women just living their lives, coming up for retirement, pottering around their gardens, and suddenly their safety and security has been removed.”

What about the safety and security of women who don't want them in their spaces, Diana? 

In the intervening decades since her own transition in the mid-70s, James has witnessed “an incremental increase in rights and understanding” for trans people. “The path forward wasn’t rushed but in gentle increments, so some people who had concerns could discuss them.”

And have them belittled and ignored in favour of the utter madness that has become the trans rights movement? Gee, thanks awfully... 

Christine Burns, a retired activist and internationally recognised health adviser, charts “a fairly straight line of progress” towards the passing of the Gender Recognition Act in 2004, which allowed trans people to change gender on their birth certificate, marry to reflect their chosen identity and gave them privacy around their transition. That legislation “mattered so much to people” says Burns, while acknowledging that only a minority of the community have gone on to apply for a GRC.

Well, clearly it didn't matter as much as you thought. 

She points to another significant social shift in the mid-00s. “The oddity is that the Gender Recognition Act changed lives, but the emergence of social media made it possible for there to be a revolution in how trans people engaged with the world.”

And we saw how they engaged with the world and realised just what we were expected to invite into our private spaces. And a brave bunch of women went to the Supreme Court to put an end to it. 

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?

“I feel like I’m already a prisoner of my conscience.”

Good, then let's make it reality too:

Rock said he has spent two months in prison over similar protests, and felt “traumatised” by it, adding that he was worried he would “have a complete mental breakdown” if he were jailed again.

You're already unhinged. Hopefully this will tip you over the edge.

The defendants also mentioned the impact the campaign had had on their friend Xavier Gonzalez-Trimmer, who killed himself after spending time in prison over an Insulate Britain protest. Pritchard said: “He was a brave, gentle and caring human being who could see the future we were facing and was desperate to do something about it, and now he’s dead.”

Feel free to join him. 

And They're Right To Be...

The Guardian can reveal that the government’s upcoming land use strategy will not include a reduction in area used for animal agriculture in England.

Thus annoying all the right people. So, it seems the Tories can do something right after all! 

Climate groups have long been urging the government to take steps to reduce meat consumption, and are now accusing ministers of “worsening the cost of living crisis and continuing to lead us towards climate and ecological catastrophe”.

We aren't going to eat the bugs. Or your 'plant based' crap, either. Tough luck. 

Speaking at the Oxford farming conference, the agriculture minister, Mark Spencer, defended the government’s decision to have a hands-off approach when it came to telling landowners what to do.

...

He said meat produced in the UK was more sustainable than that from other countries, and said that, for example, beef from the UK would be better for the environment than imported beef from Mexico.

You frequently see eco-nutters pointing at carrots flown in from other countries on their hectoring Twitter feeds as 'utter nonsense!', so isn't it strange they don't take the same view about meat?  

Good, Since They Never Should Have Been Made In The First Place...

Sources told the Guardian that the home secretary has dropped a pledge to create the post of a migrants’ commissioner, who was due to be responsible for speaking up for migrants and for identifying systemic problems within the UK immigration system.

Another promise to increase the powers of the independent chief inspector of borders and immigration (ICIBI) has also been abandoned, as work on the post-Windrush reform programme is downgraded.

Officials have also discarded a commitment to run a series of reconciliation events that were due to be attended by senior Home Office staff and ministers during which members of the Windrush generation would have been invited to “articulate the impact of the scandal on their lives”.

None of these should ever have been accepted by a Conservative government. Particularly the last one, which smacks of some show trial demanded by Stalin. 

I guess if ministers want to read about how hard done by some migrants feel, they'll just have to log on to the 'Guardian' like everyone else in future... 

The former home secretary Priti Patel made a firm promise to introduce all 30 recommendations made by Williams in 2020...

Incoming governments aren't bound by decisions taken by the outgoing government.  

Never Mind, Dafydd, Better Luck Next Time...

Dafydd Roberts, defending, told the court: "It is clear alcohol was an inhibiting factor in relation to the offending. He no longer drinks any alcohol. His mental health was problematic during the course of this relationship. Since then he has improved his mental health significant (sic) and he feels in a far more stable position.

"There is a very distinct difference between the Louis Costes who appears before the court today and the one who behaved in the way he did. He has been slow to grow up but he is now showing elements that he is growing up and changing his ways."

Oh, right, well, I suppose that's just this side of plausi... 

A statement read out on Ms Jones' behalf said: "Before, I was a happy young mother who enjoyed spending time with her child and family. At the beginning of the relationship, we were happy and we got along like a house on fire.

"It wasn't long, after a couple of months or so, that it all began to go downhill. I got so stressed and anxious I would throw up."

But Costes interrupted, saying "this is all f***ing lies, I'm sick of this s*** - joke" while sat with his arms folded. He then began crying.

Whoops! 

Sentencing, Recorder Mark Ford KC said: "It is apparent to me that your remorse is rather limited and that you have sought throughout this case to minimise the nature of your conduct. You reacted with distain to what she said.

"I have no doubt that, at the time, the victim of your offending was terrified. You are a jealous, impulsive man unable to control yourself - as you demonstrated all too clearly before me."

I bet Dafydd has used that same argument every time. I wonder if he will again?