JAN MOIR: Why JK Rowling SHOULDN’T forgive the weaselly band-wagon jumpers she made famous
JK Rowling has said she will not forgive Harry Potter stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, who criticized her and ‘joined a movement to erode women’s hard-won rights’ during the early stages of the toxic trans debates .
Nor will she accept any apology they might be prepared to make now that the Cass Review has been published – confirming her views on what she calls ‘the catastrophe of childhood transition’.
Good for JK – why on earth should she have to be nice to these mini-tyrants, forever desperate to burnish their woke credentials at her expense?
“There are all kinds of courage,” as Professor Dumbledore once said. “It takes a lot of courage to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.”
At least the Cass Review is a vindication of JK Rowling and finally common sense
Radcliffe and Watson and even Rupert Grint owe their entire careers to the creative genius of JK Rowling. You might have hoped that this would earn her, if not their eternal gratitude, then at least a little respect. But not a bit of it.
The spineless bandwagon jumpers did not hesitate to cast Rowling aside when she expressed her belief – widely held by the British public – that sex is real and has consequences, not least that women’s lives are fundamentally shaped by being a woman.
We can all respect and support transgender people who live a life that feels authentic and comfortable to them, was her general sentiment. But not to the point where more is lost than gained. When the welfare of children, the safety of women, the rights of women, the sanctity of female sport and the safe space for all women are threatened and eroded by vocal pressure groups pushing for trans rights above all rights. Then and now, Rowling’s beliefs were popular, thoughtful, non-transphobic, and admirable. Surely she deserved the support of her former protégés?
Are you joking? Radcliffe released a statement (“transgender women are women”) and piously apologized to any Harry Potter fans who felt “their experience of the books has been tainted or diminished” by her stance. How incredibly infuriating that little beeping sound.
Then Hermione Granger actress Emma Watson was equally dismissive of Rowling’s views. “Trans people are who they say they are and deserve to live their lives without being constantly questioned or told they are not who they say they are,” she tweeted on her Twitter account.
JK Rowling says she won’t forgive Harry Potter stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, who criticized her trans stance
Ron Weasley actor Rupert Grint followed him. “I stand firmly with the trans community and echo the sentiments expressed by many of my peers. Trans women are women. Trans men are men. We should all have the right to live with love and without judgment.”
But who actually judged here? It’s not that these influential young actors don’t have the right to express their opinions – of course they do. But why would you feel like they had to intervene – uninvited! – about the beliefs of the woman who gave them their career? The publication of the Cass Report this week has changed everything – and thank God for that.
The study, which looked mainly at gender identity services for under-18s, found that children in Britain have been left behind by a lack of research and ‘remarkably weak’ evidence on medical interventions in gender care.
We all know what that means; the terrible, bleak reality of too many ruined young bodies, too many troubled lives destroyed by parents, adults, teachers, deluded Harry Potter celebrities, madmen and countless people in organizations like the BBC and The Guardian newspaper who push this flawed ideology with all its might. resources supported their hearts.
And in doing so, he insidiously supported the transition of minors, encouraging young women to cut off their breasts and young boys to take puberty-blocking hormones. Children too young to drink, smoke or vote were encouraged to make far-reaching, irreversible decisions about their sexuality and physical appearance. It was a kind of madness. And it’s far from over, despite the screeching of U-turns from the progressive left.
Look at Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting, wallowing in the post-Cass sheep dip of his very personal conversion therapy.
Faster than you can say ‘upcoming election’, Mr Streeting has dramatically attempted to purge himself of his previously hardline stance on gender, admitting it was a mistake to insist that ‘all trans women are women’.
Still, his big mea culpa doesn’t make it all right. It does not make him or his brutal views okay, nor does it improve those who used their platforms to applaud gender treatments that destroyed lives forever.
Several transgender people were invited to respond to the news. BBC Radio 4’s PM program featured Amelia Hansford, a transgender journalist for PinkNews. “It won’t hold back trans people who really need this care,” she said — and I hope it doesn’t.
But only when they are adults, old enough to make an informed decision for themselves or at least undergo a rigorous psychological assessment in children’s gender clinics. BBC News had Hallie Clarke say she knew she was trans from a young age because she had ‘a Hannah Montana cake and a blonde wig’. And now she feels ‘underexposed’ by the Cass Review.
Outspoken trans woman India Willoughby tweeted herself furiously, proclaiming her belief that the Cass Review is an “ideologically driven” report that ignores evidence and seeks to “ban transition.”
I don’t think that’s true. And I don’t think anyone wants that, on either side of the argument. But I’m tired of the militant trans lobby that promotes the belief that “psychologically” believing you are a woman automatically makes you a woman.
Because being a woman isn’t just a thought — and it’s insulting to many of us that biological males who think wearing a wig, having breasts, and a Hannah Montana birthday cake is all it takes are arguing.
The reality is of course much more complex, but at least the Cass Review is finally a vindication of JK Rowling and common sense. No apology necessary.
Do we still want Bridget?
Bridget Jones is back – should we be happy? Filming for the fourth book, Mad About The Boy, started ten years ago.
Renee Zellweger and Hugh Grant have signed on to reprise their roles, with a release date set for early next year. We meet Bridget in her fifties, a widowed mother of two, who still doesn’t know how to boil an egg without setting the kitchen on fire.
Darling Mark Darcy – played by Colin Firth in the earlier films – has gone to the great courtroom in the sky, so no more clever brooding from him.
What I wonder is: has Bridget, the hapless patron saint of idiocy and failed relationships, overstayed her welcome? What seemed cute and funny in the 1990s is now just plain boring.
Beanie Babies, grunge, crop tops, scrunchies and Hugh Grant being arrested for engaging in lewd conduct in a public place? That’s not all that funny anymore. Except Hugh, of course. That will never stop being hilarious.
Brooklyn’s ‘birthday love letter’, as sweet as a donut
Never underestimate the power of needlework. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has opened up about the ‘freedom apron’ she made for her daughter while imprisoned in Iran.
What a beautiful thing it is, an embroidered testament to the human spirit. She also talked about the joy she found in sewing and knitting during her six years in captivity.
Contemplative, meditative, practical and useful skills rarely come into their own. I learned to sew and knit in primary school – and in later years I was grateful, even though I hated it at the time.
Sewing has not been on the national curriculum since 1995; Is there still room for that now? Or would today’s little boys and girls find it demeaning and want to play Minecraft instead?
Try to see the good in your people, Paula
Is it because I’m a Christian? The moral superiority of Paula Vennells, who chose to believe that 800 sub-postmasters were ‘seduced’ by piles of cash lying in their workplace, continues to gasp.
Mrs. Vennells could not or would not see the obvious: that the Horizon software was to blame, not the hundreds and hundreds of good people who worked for the Post Office.
Despite being a church-going Christian worshiper who believes in moral goodness, she quickly believed in the widespread and deliberate wickedness of her staff. Why is she behaving like this? Only Paula and her God can know.
Joe Wicks says a diet of Ultra-processed foods could be responsible for the rise in ADHD diagnoses.
Does he have a point? Certainly, poor nutrition and energy crashes must play a role in young people’s focus and mental application. The sugar highs from constant ingestion of Sunny Delight, Wagon Wheels, lollipops, candies, Turkey Twizzlers and the rest can only have a detrimental effect. Yet there is a suspicion that too many parents feel that getting an ADHD diagnosis is both a convenient excuse and the solution to their problems with Junior – when this is just the beginning of the problem.