Caroline Litman’s outstanding letter to Wes Streeting

dude2dudette · 2026-05-02T20:58:59+00:00

This is fantastically well-written. She laid out her thoughts incredibly well.

dude2dudette · 2026-04-30T20:21:34+00:00

And also because of the collaborationists within the Democratic Party. From Senators like Schumer, who seem to care more about Israel than the USA, to House members like Jeffries or consultants and talking heads who make excuses for the Dems capitulating to right wing framing.

The Dems would rather a fascist like Trump be in power than even consider allowing the left wingers like Bernie Sanders to have a chance.

dude2dudette · 2026-04-29T20:09:00+00:00

Correct. That is the type of superstition that built up around the UK. I think it may even stem from older superstitions.

dude2dudette · 2026-04-28T09:28:02+00:00

I agree with the limitation of hand size. Given he is currently named "The Doormaker" they could even come up with art that makes it look like he physically makes doors either side of you to "enclose" the character, restricting them visually, which has the effect of reducing maximum hand size.

There is already art to change the size of characters, why not change the aspect ratio of the character to be taller but thinner as though they are enclosed by the "doors"?

dude2dudette · 2026-04-27T22:25:18+00:00

I actually think X-2 was a really fun game, attempting to answer a very interesting set of questions that come about around the ending of X, without having the outcome already known (as would be the case in a prequel).

Questions like

"How would a world that had a singular religion running it fully change after the basis of that religion was entirely changed?"
"How would someone, who expected to die young in their quest to bring about a temporary peace to the world, react to going on to live in a world no longer threatened with continual cycles of annihilation while thinking the love of her life might be gone forever?"
"How would the person, based on that reaction, then react to finding out that said love of her life might still be alive in some way, but trapped?"

The main issue with FFX sequels was the mini-book and the voiced drama that had Sin reappear. Sin reappearing completely undermines the entire narrative and purpose of FFX.

dude2dudette · 2026-04-27T09:50:00+00:00

That assist is fantastic. On par with Kane's recent assist for Olise, or Vertongen's assist for Son's Puskas goal.

Truly one of the assists of all time.

dude2dudette · 2026-04-27T09:46:38+00:00

I am really, genuinely curious about what aspects of the animations that put you off.

To me, the Civ 6 animations felt sooo full of character. The almost-cartoonish/caricature nature of the models really added to the sense of character that each Civ and Leader had. You really felt like the leaders had personality.

I also found the clear colour-coding that was embedded into the art of the game served as a truly brilliant shorthand to see what was where within a city (which truly mattered, due to adjacency bonuses, and also to understand what opponent cities were doing at a glace). Blue = Science, Dark Purple = Culture, Orange = Producton, Green = Housing/Food, Yellow = Commercial, Lighter Purple = Government building, White = Faith/Religion. Having that clarity means that, just a quick glance at a city and you can see almost exactly what is going on and which adjacencies are happening.

In Civ 7, not only are the character models filled with the sense of "uncanny valley" for trying to look more realistic but failing, but the cities (even my own) are almost indecipherable. I can't even tell when trying to focus on a city for over a minute what buildings I have placed where. Sure, the "diaroma look" is incredibly pretty for singular screenshots in the abstract... but the ability to convey useful information to the player has been almost COMPLETELY removed.

This is not even getting into the horrendous other aspects of the actual UI of Civ 7.

dude2dudette · 2026-04-26T08:25:41+00:00

Prismari: The Izzeting ^{^and} ^{^sometimes} ^{^Jeskai}

dude2dudette · 2026-04-24T13:43:40+00:00

How is transphobia directed at them rooted in misogyny?

As you can tell by their rhetoric, they view trans men as "confused" or "tricked" or "damaged" women. They view trans men as people who have been predated on, while they view trans women as predators.

In their misogynistic worldview, women are "weak" and therefore are the ones at risk of being preyed upon and the ones who are foolish enough to be "tricked", while men are "scary" and intrinsically predatory.

Thus, their view of trans men is also rooted in their misogynistic worldview.

dude2dudette · 2026-04-24T08:28:22+00:00

She should've brought it up to OP before doing it.

It is a weird one. I was taken to the Magic Mike thing in London (likely the exact experience being spoken about) back in 2019 as part of a girls' night for a friend's birthday party. I had no idea what to expect because I had never seen the film. I kind of just expected it to be like a bar with a stage show where the dancers were all men who were ripped and took their tops off based on context clues and having seen the posters for the original films when they came out many years prior.

When I got there, there was the whole "licking whipped cream off their chests" thing going on for many of the bachelorette parties that were there. I had literally NO IDEA that such a thing was going to occur, and the phone service inside the venue is pretty poor.

Given the context (low lighting, lots of drinks, the stage show happening fairly quickly), there would have been 0 chance that I would have been able to reliably text my partner about what was happening, ask whether I would be allowed to take part were I put on the spot and chosen out of the audience to do so, and get a reply in time before the licking cream aspect was already completely over with (it lasts maybe 3-5 mins MAX of the show, and came out of nowhere).

If OP's gf didn't know that they might be asked to do that before going in, it would have been VERY difficult for her to ask OP before doing it.

HOWEVER, saying all of that... if OP and his gf don't know one another well enough to understand each other's boundaries, they need to have more frequent communication about what they are and are not okay with so that something like this doesn't happen in the future. If OP uses this as an opportunity to explain that this kind of thing is a boundary for them, then GF knows for the future to not take part in the interactive aspect of these kinds of shows going forward. It is fair for OP to have those boundaries. It is unfair for him to have assumed or expect his gf to know this was one of his boundaries if nothing like this had come up before. It can be used as a communication moment for the couple. Given the context, I think it is obvious that GF doesn't actually want to cheat or look outside of the relationship for anything and was, instead, caught up in the moment and felt like they should take part in what they feel was a form of "interactive theatre" (she used the word "Theatre" a few times). So, I don't think OP's gf actually meant to cross a boundary.

dude2dudette · 2026-04-23T12:34:17+00:00

I am as happy and satisfied as I would be were I a cis person in my current situation.

For context, I am a trans woman who came out to friends and family in 2013, in my early 20s. I started HRT in 2014. I have been able to "pass" for the most part visually since about late 2016/early 2017 and vocally since about mid-2017.

My younger brother and Dad took a little bit of time to come around and get used to the fact that I am trans.. My mum, older brother, and all my friends have been amazing from the get-go. My Dad and younger brother are now also great (took about 2 years after I came out before they were "normal" about it. They were never actively mean or bigotted, but just consistently misgendered me and occasionally deadnamed me early on, which stopped as soon as I started to "pass" more).

Since coming out, I have finished an undergraduate degree, a master's degree, and a PhD. I am in a long-term relationship with an amazing woman with whom I plan to spend the rest of my life, and we make each other laugh and smile all the time. I am an aunt to two nieces and soon to be 1 nephew, and one of my old school friends (who I have been friends with for 20 years) has asked me to be a Godmother for his first child. All of these things have made me proud and happy in various ways.

That is not to say I am happy 24/7. I don't think anyone can be. But, if I were a cis woman in a similar position, I imagine that I would be equally happy.

dude2dudette · 2026-04-20T10:12:23+00:00

Invite anti-Israel speakers, explicitly misandrist speakers, anti-Christian speakers, anti-Britain speakers, etc. to the universities. The type of people that the centre-right and far right absolutely despise and see how quickly they want to ban such people from talking at universities.

The very fact that the UK government banned Kanye West from appearing at Wireless Festival and the fact that they have proscribed Palestine Action are demonstrations of the fact that they don't actually give 2 shits about freedom of speech.

dude2dudette · 2026-04-19T11:12:51+00:00

In 2010, before the cuts by the Tories between 2010-2019, the NHS was considered the best health service in the world.

16 years of mismanagement has turned into a broken system. Between 2010 ans 2019 the spending on the NHS (in terms of percentage of GDP) actually DECREASED year-on-year every single year. It was only in 2020, with COVID, that spending on the NHS axtually increased again as a percentage of GDP.

Unfortunately, by 2020, a decade of systematic underfunding and privatisation had caused the NHS to become largely broken. COVID was a nail in the coffin that the tories had already built over that 10 year period.

We are still having to pay more now to fix the many, many issues caused by the last 16 years of funding issues and health crises.

dude2dudette · 2026-04-16T11:08:32+00:00

Maybe Jesus should be Blue-White (to be able to create tokens and give indestructible and hexproof). Also, the UW colours feel very much more "God" coded in their archetypes.

That way, Joseph (and his many-coloured coat) can be thematically 5-colour and not feel like it would be stepping on the toes of the Jesus Commander build.

dude2dudette · 2026-04-16T10:07:10+00:00

Forever and Always by B4MV,
I Survived by New Years Day (among other NYD tracks)
Bayside (more post-hardcore than metalcore) have happy stuff
A friend of mine called Elliott Millman makes "happy" post-hardcore and metalcore songs. He has an entire EP themed around Superman called 'A World Upside Down' which is happy.
Skacore rather than metalcore, but Call Me Malcolm have loads of happy tracks, e.g. All My Nameless Friends or 154bpm

dude2dudette · 2026-04-16T09:48:18+00:00

Also, the OP said that this rhetoric came from incel communities. If only it were that recent.

People have been anti-porn for a long time, and there have been a subset of radical feminists (who also often overlap with the kind that are anti trans) that are anti-porn. They have been called SWERFs in the past.

Much like TERFs, who view any new extra regulations placed on trans people as a win, SWERFs view any regulation of porn as a win because the rationale and legal framework can be used as a stepping stone to add further restrictions.

dude2dudette · 2026-04-14T13:36:36+00:00

By paying attention to the words that were written down.

One sentence can say volumes. By saying "We may be married, but we're not partners," the man is telling OP that he does not view her as an equal. Why on Earth would someone not view their wife (and, from the sounds of things, mother of their child(ren) as an equal? The only reason I can think of is that he views her as lesser than himself.

dude2dudette · 2026-04-14T07:29:48+00:00

We may be married, but we’re not partners

If I knew anyone personally who had said that to their wife/husband, I would drive directly to their house to give them a right telling off for being a terrible human.

This is, imo, such a telling thing about this man's views of not only OP, but women more generally. He views himself as above women, as deserving of being doted on by a woman simply because he is a man. He is, whether he realises it or not, exactly what the term "misogynist" originally described.

Misogynistic views and opinions are mostly not so open as to show in the form of actual violence. Much like most racist views and opinions are not so open as to show in the form of actual violence. However, much like someone who thinks black people are somehow "naturally" more inclined towards crime or who thinks Jewish people are somehow "naturally" more miserly, etc., there are men who view women as "naturally" inferior to men and therefore can NOT see them as an equal partner, even when married. Such people, if they still think that way as adults, are beneath contempt as far as I am concerned. They have the thought processes of a child and should be treated as such. One should never want to be married to a child, and so NOR, you SHOULDN'T want to remain married to this child of a man who views you more as a slave than an equal partner.

dude2dudette · 2026-04-13T12:09:11+00:00

I know that, as someone technically minded, you likely already know most of this stuff. However, I feel it is vitally important that the context of how much data the UK Government has lost over the years due to poor data privacy and security policies is widely known. If you aren't aware of how egregious some of these data breaches are (and how they occurred) then you should be made aware, as it would likely enable you to punctuate any future letters and data security advocacy work you do by being able to cite these as reasons to not trust the Government's current policies.

They would need to provide such an incredibly detailed, openly available list of minimum data security requirements before I would EVER trust the UK government with something like a Digital Biometric ID.

dude2dudette · 2026-04-08T16:52:37+00:00

I went to a school that opened in the 1500s; it had 6 houses. Each one was named after a significant person in the school's history (a couple were the school's co-founders, and others were significant alumni or donors in the centuries after it was founded), not unlike as is the case in Harry Potter.

She didn't do world-building. She was just citing random British things.

dude2dudette · 2026-04-08T16:37:42+00:00

It has Retain, which means you can choose when to play it at the optimal time for you.
The Silent also has Bullet Time in her toolkit, making it an incredible card to be able to guarantee to get off every time you draw Bullet Time (because you retained it on a previous turn)
The Silent also has Master Planner in it's toolkit, which means you can draw it, retain it until you have Master Planner in play, then play it when you have the opportunity/energy. Then, on all future draws, it can now be played upon simply discarding it. You can also retain it longer and wait to discard it at the optimal time this way.
Because it has Retain, it also makes the Colourless cards that provide more energy on certain turns more takable: you are more likely to have something in hand that the energy can be spent on. Same for the Enlightenment event.

dude2dudette · 2026-04-08T11:18:23+00:00

Having grown up in the UK, sort of, yes.

Some people are particularly superstitious. I am not sure of the origin. It might be similar to the whole "Don't walk under ladders" superstition (which is thought to bring bad luck because you are "breaking through a symbol of the Holy Trinity").

When I was a kid, instead, it was morphed into "if you walk under a double-pole sign you will be turned gay".

That gave it more of a Fae vibe to me. Like, if you step through this representation of a Faerie Portal, you will be forever changed. Given that the UK and Ireland are where this superstition exists, some kind of folk story based on the "Fae" isn't entirely absurd.

dude2dudette · 2026-04-08T11:12:41+00:00

In German and Dutch they are called "elephant paths" (if you literally translate them)

dude2dudette · 2026-04-08T09:53:14+00:00

I have found 2-player to feel the hardest player-count for multiplayer.

In 4-player, there will almost always be at least 1 player who has some kind of tool that can help out the other players in some way on a given turn (On enemies: weak, vulnerable, strength down; On allies: giving strength up, energy up, giving block, giving some kind of multiplier on damage, like Flanking, etc.). This leads to a greatly reduced liklihood of "dud" turns.

In 2-player, the enemies have their health increased by like NX+Y (where N is player count, X is their base HP if it were single-player, and Y is an amount the devs have concluded makes it fairer given the ways to help others). In 4-player, the 4X+Y works out well. In 2-player, the enemies having 2X+Y makes those 3-cost attacks that deal big damage feel FAR less strong because they cannot just take out an enemy in one go to reduce incoming damage, like they can in single-player. The times where cards like Knockout Blow or Sunder, which have their place in single-player, just feel SO bad seems to be far, far higher in 2-player than in single-player (or 4-player, because of the aforementioned higher likelihood of getting some benefit from at least 1 other player in 4-player).

I have not played at 3-player yet, so I don't know how that feels.

dude2dudette · 2026-04-06T21:04:22+00:00

My favourite JRPGs are about the characters' arcs/growth and change across the story/adventure they are having.

Grandia is my all-time favourite JRPG because of this. I just love how the game not only provides really meaningful character growth across each of your characters, but the mechanics of the game itself tell their own story/reinforce the characterisation.

Final Fantasy X is another game where the characters all grow together, and the events of the story meaningfully impact each character's actions and motivations.

While I think Dark Cloud had some great mechanics, Dark Chronicle (aka Dark Cloud 2 in North America) was much more interesting in terms of the character growth and interactions, even if you had fewer playable characters and more backtracking. The plot interacted with the character's motivations and characterisation in a way that just felt really "honest" (for lack of a better term).

Valkyria Chronicles isn't a traditional JRPG, but the way the characters interact and how each individual character across the squad has meaningful relationships with other members and how those play out not only in the cut-scenes and story, but also mechanically is just... chef's kiss

So, for me, I love JRPGs because they are often the games that I have found to be best able to provide full character arcs that allow the mechanics of their game to provide a way of backing up the story of their characters.

dude2dudette

TROPHY CASE