Author: Mick Hartley

s near suicidal as he struggled to come to terms with the horrifying predicament he was in – for which he initially blamed himself.

Finally, in 2022 he decided that his only hope for survival was to stop living as “Abby” and return to being “Ritchie”….

So when the NHS revealed that it planned to establish a service specifically for “individuals who choose to detransition”, Herron says he could not have been happier. “We definitely need this,” he says. “I cannot wait for the clinic to open. I would use the service straight away once it’s up and running."

The problem, as the article makes clear, is that there's a lack of expertise among doctors about detransitioning. There are plenty of clinicians, it seems, happy to dish out the hormones and encourage patients to embrace their exciting new gender identities, but not so many willing to face the consequences of these grotesquely irresponsible interventions.

On Herron’s part, he certainly has “no plans to undergo any more experimental surgery”. He is also conscious that some of the changes that detransitioners like him have undergone are irreversible. But he is optimistic the service will still be able to help him.

“I might be lucky to slow things down, but I do worry that things may be a bit too late for me because it’s been over a decade with no testosterone,” he says. “But maybe they can help me with my urology problems, the pain and the lack of sensation I have. And maybe they can advise me on the hormone side of things and curb the onset of osteoporosis and the emerging autoimmunity issues that I have.”

Jesus, what a mess.

eft: 40px”>JK Rowling and Elon Musk have been named in an online bullying lawsuit filed by an Olympic champion boxer embroiled in a gender eligibility row.

Imane Khelif, who won gold for Algeria in the women’s 66kg title, triggered heated debate when she was allowed to compete at the Paris Games despite failing a sex test last year.

On Tuesday night, Khelif’s lawyer, Nabil Boudi, revealed Rowling and Musk have both been named in a criminal complaint the boxer has filed with French authorities.

“JK Rowling and Elon Musk are named in the lawsuit, among others,” he told Variety.

He suggested Donald Trump would also be part of the investigation by the Paris prosecutor’s office. The lawsuit alleging Khelif suffered “aggravated cyber harassment” was filed against unknown persons.

Under French law, that grants the prosecution “the latitude to be able to investigate against all people,” according to Mr Boudi, including people who used pseudonyms online.

Both Rowling and Mr Musk have referred to Khelif as a man as they discussed the controversy over the boxer’s eligibility at the Olympics with their considerable online followings.

Mr Musk? Doesn't sound right somehow.

Will it all come out in court? We shall see. Could be a disastrous own goal for Khelif. Surely the IBA test results – showing his XY chromosomes – will have to feature.

riefly heckled Hunter.

Hunter, 55, had made a crude point, rather than an especially sophisticated gag, where he said a Channel 5 documentary containing a scene about an abusive wife herself accusing her husband of abuse made him think, “My God, it’s like being married to Israel.” There was audience laughter in response, but not from the couple on the front row, who shouted “not funny”.

The pair, who said they were from Israel, then endured their fellow audience members shouting expletives (“f— off” among them), and telling them to go – with slow-hand claps, boos and cries of “genocidal maniac”, “you’re not welcome” and “free Palestine” part of the toxic mix.

In the past I’ve had time for Hunter, a free-thinking outsider, who has lived in the UK since 1997. Amid a climate of censoriousness and offence-taking, his determination to tackle difficult subjects, without mincing his words, has usefully tested limits and galvanised debate. He’s no stranger to controversy: he was accused of anti-Semitism at the 2006 Fringe for Holocaust material and has attracted ire for alleged misogyny and his use of the ‘n word’, whether in show-titles, shows or a furore-attracting hosting of the Professional Footballers’ Association gala dinner in 2013.

But here he gave an object lesson in how not to pick on people in the front row. Instead of tolerating the couple’s joint heckle, he doubled down with a sinister air of beaming bellicosity: “I’ve been waiting for you all summer, where the f— you been?” He continued: “You can say it’s not funny to you, but if you say it to a room full of people who laughed, you look foolish.”

“Look at you making everyone love Israel even more,” he jeered, after the woman remonstrated with the audience.

“That tells me that I still got voltage,” he purred, with satisfaction, after the pair left, slowly (it turned out that the man was disabled, not that this caused a flicker of restraint in the host, who openly laughed at them). He then related a remark that his female partner had made at the time of the Holocaust controversy about accessing the Jewish Chronicle’s website: “Typical f—ing Jews, they won’t tell you anything unless you subscribe.” “It’s just a joke,” he added.

Added, from the JC:

Speaking to the JC, the Jewish man who wished to remain anonymous, said, “It was just a heckle because it wasn’t funny, it was poor, he was nervous and sweaty. He put on a bad set. When he told this joke about an abusive husband leaving the house but it was really the husband being abused by the wife, I just said: ‘That’s not funny’ and then he really started.”

So Hunter's line, “That tells me that I still got voltage", sounds like the whole episode was a welcome interruption for him – playing up to the audience antisemitism to rescue a gig that wasn't going well. Nasty. And a shame, because, like the Telegraph reviewer, I've usually found Hunter to be worthwhile. His BBC US road trip Songs of the South – a three-part look at the music of the Deep South – was great.

The real horror here though is surely the audience reaction. A "baying mob", said the Jewish man. Grim. Very grim.

urgeons to mechanics.

“We are not highly trained technicians,” Nazarian told me. “We are physicians with responsibility for the health and well-being of our patients. We can get input from other clinicians, but ultimately the responsibility for determining medical readiness lies with us. That means that we have to examine all the data and studies available to us. Furthermore, you can’t help people by ignoring the reasons they want to go under the knife. With every patient, I exercise discretion as a professional and determine whether the procedure they are seeking is in their ultimate best interest.” The idea that surgeons should defer heavily to the prior assessments of clinicians struck Nazarian as wrong. “You can’t outsource your professional judgement to other clinicians. It’s your responsibility as the last in a chain of treatment to ensure you are doing what is best for the patient now and in the long term.”

to give us the answer.”

Science has given us the answer, Andrew.

Every human who has ever existed knows the answer. Babies know the answer. Dogs know the answer. Chimpanzees know the answer.

You disregard women and you ignore fairness in order to satisfy the narcissism of a 50-year-old cheat.

Article here.

Petrillo competes in the women's T12 classification – for athletes with visual impairment – and won gold in the 100m, 200m and 400m events at the 2021 Italian Paralympic Championships….

Petrillo, who won 11 national titles as a male between 2015 and 2018, has said that she 'deserves this selection'.

"I have been waiting for this day for three years and in these past three years I have done everything possible to earn it," she told BBC.

"I deserve this selection and I want to thank the Italian Paralympic Federation and the Italian Paralympic Committee for having always believed in me, above all as a person as well as an athlete.

"The historic value of being the first transgender woman to compete at the Paralympics is an important symbol of inclusion."

Inclusion for him: exclusion for the women competing against him.

It's kind of perfect, after the riots, that the hero of Leicester Square – who tackled the man with the knife and very possibly saved the girl's life – was a bloke called Abdullah.

As if the floods weren't bad enough….

North Korean authorities have turned recent flooding into an opportunity for a massive propaganda campaign. Loudspeaker trucks and propaganda teams have been touring affected and unaffected regions daily, blasting praise for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and calling on people to take part in recovery efforts in the morning and evening. Accordingly, people complain of intense fatigue.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a Daily NK source in North Pyongan province reported recently that loudspeaker trucks and artistic propaganda teams had been fully mobilized and are fervently engaged in agitprop activities in flood-stricken border regions along the Yalu River, swollen from recent rains, and non-stricken areas per orders from provincial, city and county party committees.

“In Sinuiju now, loudspeaker trucks roam the streets from 6 a.m. blasting propaganda about the Supreme Leader’s history of love, and the voice of the broadcasters resound twice in the morning and twice in the afternoon, calling on people to come together for recovery efforts in the flood-stricken regions,” the source said, referring to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Artists from the North Pyongan Grand Theatre have formed several small agitprop troops engaged in daily activities at mudslide recovery sites such as railways, roads and rivers. Sinuiju Nakwon Machine Complex’s mobile artistic propaganda team has been urging support for recovery efforts with daily performances calling for the do-or-die accomplishment of the decisions of the 22nd Emergency Enlarged Meeting of the Political Bureau of the Eighth Central Committee.

People express frustration with the constant presence of loudspeaker trucks in their neighborhoods. They lament that these vehicles seem to be the only ones “having fun” in today’s environment. The incessant broadcasts, described as “sickening sounds,” plague the citizens from dawn to dusk.

The wonderful self-styled "punk of fado" – full name Susana Maria Alfonso de Aguiar – has died aged 69. Here's La Chanson d´Hélène, with Iggy Pop as a disembodied voice:

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ia-YbhCw7d4&w=550&h=309]

Or, more traditionally:

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcqHWfA1BuI&w=550&h=309]

sidency-stand-up-womens-sport/”>Telegraph:

Sebastian Coe has given his strongest indication yet that he intends on running to become the next president of the International Olympic Committee after vowing to protect women’s sport for as long as possible after the boxing eligibility controversy of the Paris Games.

Outgoing president Thomas Bach, widely derided for his handling of the boxing scandal that has plagued these Olympics, opened the door for Lord Coe to run when he conceded he was “no longer the best captain” to lead.

Bach, 70, had been expected to change the Olympic Charter to enable himself to continue governing beyond the IOC’s maximum 12-year term limit. But the German, buffeted by criticism over allowing two biologically male fighters to win Olympic gold medals in women’s boxing, made the surprise announcement he would step down next June, saying: “New times are calling for new leaders.”

Coe diverges from Bach in his protection of the female category in sport. Asked by Telegraph Sport for his views on the IOC’s stance, Coe, 67, said: “You have to have a clear policy. If you don’t, you get into difficult territory – and I think that’s what we’ve witnessed here. The reality is very simple: I have a responsibility to preserve the female category, and I will go on doing that until a successor decides otherwise or the science alters.”

Coe has a decent record of protecting women's sport as president of World Athletics.

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[Photo: Shorpy/Detroit Publishing Co.]

As ever, click on th image to see the full-size Shorpy original.