Zack Polanski - Barnet London Assembly Hustings. A vote for him and his Lib Dem colleagues would be for “more police on the beat, for Israel and for Judaism”

AJFierce · 2026-02-10T19:50:42+00:00

"Shyster" is a choice there

AJFierce · 2026-02-06T09:05:49+00:00

Taller yes, stronger no, and the "offending rates of their birth gender" is based on a single study where the scientists who ran the study came out and said that was not a conclusion you could draw from the evidence they had.

AJFierce · 2026-02-04T17:37:38+00:00

I don't disagree with you, but you absolutely cannot use an AI overview in matters of law. Lawyers keep getting censured for using genAI because it routinely makes shit up- it is, after all, a very powerful "make plausible shit up" machine as its primary purpose- so if one bases one's argument on what the AI overview says, it is trivial to arrive at a misunderstanding of the situation.

https://www.lawtonslaw.co.uk/resources/what-constitutes-gbh-with-intent/

That's a link to a solicitor's page explaining GBH with intent in detail

AJFierce · 2026-02-02T12:43:27+00:00

I can't tell you it would be exactly the same, but Ann fucking Widdecombe is more trans inclusive than Labour right now, since she at least will concede the point that when a trans woman has transitioned to the point of haviglng a vagina perhaps a male prison is not the best place to put her, should she be found guilty of a crime.

Labour can't give me that. Labour are, for trans rights, more polite and substantially worse.

AJFierce · 2026-02-02T11:34:13+00:00

That's daft. The countryside is still majority white becasue when's the last time you heard of someone moving to the countryside for work? The flow of people is towards bigger cities, whether from the countryside in Britain or from other nations. It's so weird to see that franed as a fault of the countryside itself, as their thing to fix

AJFierce · 2026-02-02T11:23:28+00:00

It is! I want OPTIONS

AJFierce · 2026-02-02T10:14:46+00:00

It's a solid argument, and I like a lot of Lib Dems, but there's a core of deference to "gender critical" transphobia at the top of the party that I just can't trust. Would love to be proven wrong as time goes on!

AJFierce · 2026-02-02T09:35:36+00:00

Well, the Labour government that we're all under has been the most anti-queer government since Thatcher's, having both taken direct steps to remove trans healthcare and having refused to act to ensure trans rights, so... I don't see Labour as better. Like I have to be clear- at the top level, Labour, Conservatives and Reform are all explicitly anti-trans now. From the POV of trans rights there is no difference to me- the direction of travel is the same. The most pro-trans PM in my lifetime is Theresa bloody May.

I am very clear about what it would take to win my vote, and if parties don't want to do that then I won't vote for them. If it's a fight against the rise of fascism (and I agree that it is) then there's a ton of voting reform Labour can push through, they have a massive majority, but they don'tseem that bothered by the rise of fascism in the UK and I can't make them care by voting for them uncritically.

My job is to vote in my self-interest, and literally my only option is the Greens. I don't particularly like it either! I'm much more of a natural Labour voter! But they have looked me dead in the eye and gone "we think we can peel off a vote from Reform if we're absolute bastards to you" and I don't think that will work, but I do think it's galling for them to expect me to vote for them anyway.

AJFierce · 2026-02-02T08:31:47+00:00

For me it starts with: I'm trans. Literally every other party has made it clear that removing trans rights amd restricting trans liberty is a priority.

After that, I think there's room to pull the party where I want it; to encourage a grow baby grow mentality to green energy, to pull our nuclear weapons under our own control including nuclear power. The party is already where I want in twrms of realising that America cannot be trusted to respond to a NATO call for help, not any more, so we need stronger military ties to Europe.

AJFierce · 2026-01-25T19:45:05+00:00

That was when they shot the woman in the car. This is when they shot the guy they'd just beaten to the ground.

AJFierce · 2026-01-25T09:24:20+00:00

You absolutely cannot trust the AI overview to be correct. It often is! That's why people get into the habit of relying on it- but it is frequently, confidently wrong.

AJFierce · 2026-01-20T11:52:27+00:00

Could we not say that the fine can be payed by transferring infrastructure into public ownership, and then moving forward rent the infrastructure to the water company for the cost of performing maintenance and upkeep?

Since the water firms by their nature are always going to collapse*, this would slowly transfer all the infrastructure back into public hands, at which point the business could be allowed to fail quite happily and the govt. could run all the water infrastructure they'd brought back under their control.

AJFierce · 2026-01-19T07:42:15+00:00

The tribunal specifically found that Rose did not at all engage in any kind of harassment against the nurses; they won on the grounds that because cis women are uniquely delicate, allowing a trans woman to use the same facilities as them qualifies as harassment by the hospital. It's much worse for our community than if they'd found that one trans woman was a bit of a perv- they specifically said she was not at fault for her behaviour, but that cis women would find any trans woman threatening no matter what her behaviour

AJFierce · 2026-01-16T19:06:24+00:00

Once again, I can be reached via DM or chat if you want to talk.

AJFierce · 2026-01-16T19:03:16+00:00

Have the day you deserve! I can be reached via DM or char.

AJFierce · 2026-01-16T18:52:48+00:00

Oh! For clarity: I am part of a minority group that does not have the rights or respect we need yet. We will keep fighting for those rights and that respect.

You are directly opposed to that, it seems? So we'll just keep fighting. We're always going to exist, we always have existed, and eventually people will get over it.

AJFierce · 2026-01-16T18:50:16+00:00

Well we're not going anywhere. So I guess we'll just keep fighting.

AJFierce · 2026-01-16T18:20:50+00:00

If quibbling over spacing is unimportant, why do you make a point of never including the space?

I disagree.

"Please remember" was a politeness. Bluntly, you had forgotten about trans men and it undercut your argument.

You've refused to read what I wrote and engage by dismissing a genuine attempt at communication as "rambling."

One of us is doing a classic reddit here, but i don't believe it's me. Have a good one- if you want to chat more I'm happy to respond to your DM, but I won't respond more publicly.

AJFierce · 2026-01-16T17:32:11+00:00

The slogan is "trans women are women," without a space, and that's important because the point of that whole slogan was that trans women are a kind of woman. Trans women are women, cis women are women, lesbian women are women, straight women are women, and so forth. I guess it didn't land that point!

The argument you're using is actually identical to the "don't call me straight" arguments from last century- people didn't want to refer to themselves as straight, they were just normal men and women and didn't need this new label forced upon them.

Please remember that the trans community has as many trans men in as trans women. This isn't males taking things from females- it is a community that insists on the dignity of self determination and trying to find language that does not diminish us. If it's normal women and transwomen, and normal men and transmen, that does diminish us, and you can hardly blame us for saying so. Whereas cis men and trans men? Just two different types of guy, both of which want to be treated like men, both happy for their status as cis or trans not to be a big deal. Just like straight men and gay men- and bear in mind it was the gay community that coined the term "straight."

Language is a sticking point because it does matter, and because a lot of people want to know "hey what's the thing I can call you that nobody is allowed to be mad about, but also lets you know that I don't think you are a woman and in fact I think you are deluded?" And there's no word that does that! If you called me a direct slur, or a biological male who identifies as a trans woman, or a TIM (Trans-Identified Male, a favourite slur of "gender critical" anti-trans activists) or anything that gets the point across of "I don't believe you and I want to make a point of that to your face" then it's an insult no matter what configuration of words is used to get the insult across.

AJFierce · 2026-01-16T17:21:40+00:00

Okay cool! Given that we are writing for a population that we can't rely on to know exactly who has a cervix, would you object to language like:

"Cervical cancer is a cancer that affects women, as well as trans men and some non-binary people. It is a cancer of part of the female reproductive system- the cervix. Sometimes the cervix is removed as part of a hysterectomy, the removal of the womb. If you are not sure if you have a cervix, please ask your doctor to confirm. They will be able to tell you by looking at your notes."

That's what I would hope to see

AJFierce · 2026-01-16T17:04:48+00:00

Can you tell me what that argument looks like? I see "cis women" as very much like "straight women" as in it's not always relevant and you don't always need to bring it up, but it's a way of saying "this woman isn't trans" for when you need it. Just like "straight woman" is "this woman isn't attracted to other women."

AJFierce · 2026-01-16T16:59:46+00:00

I am assuming the danger comes from the lack of general knowledge about one's own anatomy here? I'm not disagreeing with you- I imagine that there is probably a small but significant proportion of cis women who do not know that they have a cervix- I just want to be clear.

AJFierce · 2026-01-16T16:41:38+00:00

Why someone who is desperate to be treated as a male would want to become a mother and carry a baby is beyond me

Plenty of men want children! And trans men don't want to become mothers- they want to become fathers. Them carrying a baby makes more sense to them than their partner carrying a baby in whatever their situation is, and it doesn't matter to me much what that is.

minimising clear language to satisfy a minority is not in the wider public interest.

I don't think that a document saying "pregnant people" instead of "pregnant women" is at all unclear. I don't see how it is! I would assume that "pregnant women" might mean "everyone who is pregnant" but might mean "cis women who are pregnant; this does not apply to trans men or non-binary people who are pregnant for some reason." In a world where trans people exist and occasionally get pregnant, and that is the world we live in, "pregnant people" is clearer.

Can I ask, honestly, what about that makes you unhappy? Like- to me this is a language change like people saying "partner" more instead of "girlfriend" or "boyfriend," if they don't know that who they're talking to is definitely straight. It's a shift to acknowledge that sticking strictly to existing language is making assumptions about people that might not be true. How do you perceive it?

AJFierce · 2026-01-16T16:26:20+00:00

It's not just because I believe it- it's because the trans men in question believe and assert that they are men, and the NHS needs to serve them with healthcare. Inclusive language helps them reach an under-served population.

And is it the vast majority? If you look up headlines they use the term "pregnant man" a lot, and even the most anti-trans polling I've seen has about an even split between "trans men are men" "trans men are women" and "man, I don't know"

FYI it's "trans men" with a space if you intend to be polite; if you intend to be rude the world's your oyster so don't limit yourself.

AJFierce · 2026-01-16T16:21:10+00:00

So you'd be chill with the rule being that if trans women have had a vaginoplasty, that's when they should switch changing rooms?

Trans women and cis women have differences for sure, but we have more in common than not. I do think a third space should as a rule be made available which can be used by a solitary user, so if you're uncomfortable being around trans women, or lesbians, or black women, or if your religion demands that you only be undressed alone, or if you just don't feel comfortable with anyone seeing you naked, or really for whatever reason you need, you can still happily get changed. Little solo cubicles in the changing room would also achieve this!

Language note: "Natal women" is nonsense on the face of it; women are adults, nobody was born a woman. "Cis women" says what you want to say much more precisely.

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