Why put tiny trans lobby above the rights of women?
IF the latest census is to be believed then the stands at West Ham should have the highest proportion of transgender fans in the Premier League.
As the club’s vice-chairman, I wasn’t aware of a huge influx of trans match-goers singing I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles.
But according to the latest stats, our home turf, the London Borough of Newham, has the highest percentage of trans people in England and Wales.
If you’re thinking this sounds rather unlikely in the Cockney heartlands then you wouldn’t be Pete Tong.
Because this week academics have seriously queried the findings by the Office for National Statistics, which produced the topline figure that 262,000 people identify as transgender in England and Wales.
That might not sound like a huge figure but in reality it’s likely to be even lower, thanks to the utterly confusing nature of the question.
Instead of simply asking people: “Are you transgender?”, the survey posed this head-scratcher: “Is the gender you identify with the same as your sex registered at birth?”
I’m not the only one to wager that many would simply fail to understand this question.
Michael Biggs, a professor of sociology at the University of Oxford, said this may be why Newham, where a significant percentage of residents speak English as a second language, topped the league table.
Once this was pointed out, the ONS admitted it was “possible” that respondents misinterpreted the question and vowed to investigate.
I can’t imagine how difficult it is to feel you were born in the wrong body and I have huge empathy for the discrimination trans people experience.
But even so, if the census is to be believed then just 0.4 per cent of the population — fewer than the number of people who work in Tesco — are having a disproportionate sway over our national discourse.
Indeed, last week Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said that 99.9 per cent of women “haven’t got a penis” — a crafty turn of phrase giving himself 0.1 per cent of room for manoeuvre.
If he remains on the fence any longer he might end up impaling himself.
Thankfully our Prime Minister has a more definitive answer.
Rishi Sunak said he takes a “different view” to the Labour leader, insisting on Thursday that 100 per cent of women do not have male genitalia.
But the fact the leaders of our country’s two biggest political parties are locked in this debate proves just how prominent the issue has become.
Tying ourselves in knots
Why? The trans lobby might be small — but it has a very loud voice.
Thanks to sustained campaigning from organisations such as Stonewall, it has been driving policy in our schools and hospitals and is policing our language.
How do trans groups make themselves heard more than the disabled community, which is made up of 10.5million people in England and Wales?
Many disabled people face a shortage in adequate housing and schooling and can struggle with basic access to the things non-disabled people take for granted.
It can also feel that women’s rights are being airbrushed out of existence, with the 0.4 per cent placed above the rights of the 50 per cent.
We are being asked to give up the very word “woman” in order to be more inclusive. Cancer Research UK tweeted last June that cervical screening was “relevant for everyone aged 25-64 with a cervix”.
But the charity does not use this “inclusive” language with male-specific afflictions.
Its campaign messages about prostate and testicular cancer address “men”, rather than “everyone with a prostate”.
The charity is putting this tiny proportion of people above natural-born women, when breast cancer is the leading cause of death in women under 50 in the UK.
There are lots of reasons why the movement towards gender-neutral language is problematic, but the biggest one is that gender inequality still exists.
Men still earn more than women, run most of the biggest companies, dominate politics — and commit most violent crime.
But when we are all tying ourselves in knots about which words to use, it is much harder to make change happen.
Harry’s game
AFTER weeks of uncertainty, Meghan Markle has finally confirmed she will not be attending the Coronation.
On the basis that one should never go where one is not wanted, I believe it’s the right decision.
In fact, Meghan would have had some gall to turn up after the amount of damage inflicted by her sniping from across the Pond.
But Harry has caused his fair share of hurt too – perhaps inflicting the biggest blows in his book Spare.
Given their obvious contempt for his family, I’m rather amazed that Harry is going.
Perhaps he has realised that blood is thicker than water.
Or maybe he knows that to stay relevant, he still needs his family connections.
Nurses lose to medics
JUNIOR doctors staged a four-day walkout this week, insisting their wages have fallen in real terms while inflation has rocketed.
But that’s true for the rest of us as well.
They argue that their pay has fallen by more than a quarter since 2008, which risks driving medics out of the profession when we need them more than ever.
They want a 35 per cent pay rise, which Health Secretary Steve Barclay says isn’t “fair or reasonable”.
According to their union, the British Medical Association, doctors were left with no option but to take industrial action.
But it seems seriously cruel to me, in a dispute over money, to willingly withhold skills that could save someone’s life.
And it’s ridiculous to ask for a 35 per cent hike when there’s a cost-of-living crisis for everyone, largely as a result of the war in Europe and Covid.
The truth is that a doctor’s salary is the gift that keeps on giving and the benefits of being a doctor last a lifetime.
Once you become a consultant you can earn more than £100,000 on average, which puts you in the top two per cent of earners. GP partners earn even more.
And this is without the 35 per cent pay rise they are demanding.
They are still on track to receive retirement income worth close to 75 per cent of their salaries – and guaranteed to rise with inflation by the taxpayer.
I understand that they feel they have no other option than to strike, but the taxpayer subsidises them to train and become a doctor in the first place at a cost of £163k per doctor. This is not repaid.
Meanwhile, many nurses – arguably as necessary and invaluable as doctors – are in line to get five per cent after the Unison union accepted the pay offer.
How will it look to them if doctors get 35 per cent?
Tat’s it
FOUR months ago Lottie Moss drunkenly had the word “lover” inked on her face.
Now the 25-year-old is having laser tattoo removal to get rid of it.
She hopes it will mark the beginning of a fresh chapter in her life.
Lottie says she was drunk when she had the inking. At the time she posted the warning: “Don’t drink alcohol, kids!”
Research says that 78 per cent of people with tattoos regret at least one of them.
I am guessing a facial inking would be the one they regret the most.
Thanks Mary for sparking the Sixties
SO farewell then to Dame Mary Quant – a woman who can lay as much claim as anyone to inventing the Sixties after introducing miniskirts to the world.
She died peacefully at home this week, aged 93.
Mary was responsible for an absolute fashion revolution.
She rescued young women who were being forced to dress like their mothers and gave them fashion choices for their generation.
She raised hemlines, turned women’s trousers and tights into wardrobe staples, and championed the bob haircut pioneered by her friend, the hairdresser Vidal Sassoon.
The word is over-used but she really was an icon of fashion and make-up.
We may not have realised it until now but she touched all of our lives.
Hanging offence by Joe?
JOE WICKS went from hero to zero this week when pictures emerged of him with his seven-month-old daughter Leni dangling from some monkey bars.
She hung on to the bars, seemingly showing off an impressive display of super-human baby strength as the proud dad looked on.
For some it stirred memories of Michael Jackson dangling his baby son Prince Michael II over a Berlin hotel balcony 21 years ago.
Jacko later admitted it was a terrible mistake, but Joe is defiant.
He posted further snaps of more of his kids doing exactly the same thing.
I doubt Leni was ever going to fall, but I worry about her ligaments.
Perhaps on reflection it wasn’t a wise thing to do.
Angela’s step back
IT is very noticeable that Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner hasn’t personally promoted the party’s controversial new ad campaign attacking Rishi Sunak.
One claimed Mr Sunak “doesn’t believe” adults convicted of sexually assaulting children should go to prison, as Labour attempted to highlight the Tories’ record on jailing offenders.
The accusation is that the PM is a paedophile sympathiser, which is categorically untrue and a disgusting accusation to make.
But that’s Labour all over – accusation politics, as they have no policies of their own to promote.
Angela may have claimed that Tories are scum but she won’t go as low as to put her name to these ads, and who can blame her?