Getting the balance right

elantan

skint_spice said:

Sounds like a good plan, always nice to get away somewhere different.

might be a chance to try the new car out 🤣🤣🤣🤣

edinburgher

I would also strongly disagree with your view of Nicola Sturgeon @elantan but on balance, it's probably a good thing she will make way for fresh faces and new ideas. She is, as she has the grace to admit, a deeply polarising figure.

While individuals including yourself can reel off lists of calls you think she got wrong, the rest of us saw her as a level-headed and often right woman who filled all the available space in Scottish politics and just got on with it. There's a reason she still had an approval rating of 60% shortly before standing down and in my heart of hearts I don't think it's because Scots are idiots.

Sorry to diverge, always open to respectful discussion but have been feeling strangely protective of the FM this week 😀 Those who know me would say that I don't normally chat politics openly, it has taken me a bit of guts to comment.

elantan

your always welcome to comment Ed and we dont always have to agree     or even ever agree ( but we often do) 

I understand many did like her but I see the destruction and damage she has caused and I am so delighted she is leaving, it will give her time to answer all the questions the police have been asking her and her husband recently. P.S her approval rating sunk through the floor when she couldnt tell if a double rapist was a man  or woman, although I'm sure your probably aware of that. 

We deserve better, I just hope we get it. 

Although I will say this, atleast she ain't rishi or any of them, I just expected more and better from her. 

badmemory

Whilst I did not agree with her about the man/woman thing, in her defence did you see what happened to J K Rowling when she said she didn't want to share spaces with a "still physically" man.  All those young stars who made fortunes out of her dropped her like a hot cake.  They could just have stayed silent but they didn't.  She should have had a decent advisor who would have warned her of the consequences as I suspect it was a policy she was iffy about anyway & a bit along the lines of - I don't have time for this.

edinburgher

I'm not going to delve deeply into the trans debate as I feel it's being wrung out in public by bad faith actors to the detriment of all reasonable discussion.

Of course all women deserve safety and to feel safe but I can't see why a compassionate society can't find a way to make that work while respecting the rights of a tiny marginalised group who face higher rates of violence and even murder than the rest of the population (including women). 

As a man born a man who feels like a man, I don't have the perspective to see this fully from the point of view of a woman. As a rational person who has done a bit of reading about the science of the topic because it's confusing as hell, I don't think these things can always be boiled down to binary states/categorisations, no matter how comforting that might be. 

This will be my last comment on this topic, I think live and let live is my message

beanielou

I was fortunate enough to have met Nicola twice.
I found her to be warm caring & genuinely interested in things.
She called our wee foodbank a role model for others while obviously acknowledging there should be no need for them.
! agree with @edinburgher.

elantan

@badmemory I have seen the way JK Rowling has been treated rape and death threats, just like Johanna Cherry and many other women, so yes I have followed that.

@edinburgher
how many trans are killed in the UK a week Ed ? are you aware 3 women are killed every week due to male violence ?  it really shouldnt be a competition here but I think your missing some.relevent information. 

There are many reasons why people are trans I do suggest you read up on them, you may find it interesting or not. I would also state that in 1,000 years when they dig up our bones they will know if a person is a woman or a man, they will not know if a person is trans. 

I have a great deal of sympathy for the trans community and I believe we should support them and they should receive all the mental health support needed just like any other person experiencing mental health issues , if a person with body dysmorphia started saying they wanted their arm cut off as they don't feel it's right for them we would never cut it off for them, and yet we cut the breasts off of young women. 

But I will never believe that women ( and I shouldnt have to say this ) adult human females should ever have to give up their hard won rights like the right to feel safe and have women only spaces so that others can have theirs, the double rapist should have went straight to a male jail, the excuse they were in a segregated part of the jail does not wash with me, are there no segregated parts in male prisons ? 
I do think this was the straw that broke Nicola, I knew it would and stated such a long time ago, but it was by far only the tip of the iceberg of reasons why she had to go. 


now now beanie no politics from you please, you've had your say and you wanted no politics on your thread. 

edinburgher

I don't feel I'm missing any relevant information thanks el, I just feel we're having two different conversations. Anyway, no further comment from me as promised 👍

elantan

I have finally come into the 21st century and joined Audible .... So far I'm listening to Terry Pratchett's Masquerade, I have seen so many I am going to download ... 

I tend to listen to podcasts as I'm pottering about, and sadly dont read as much as I would like as Mr El likes the TV on before bed and that's my prime reading time... Audi books hopefully will solve that issue for me 

I am rather excited 

Karmacat

That's great that you've found it to be so viable as a media stream.  My hearing isn't what it could be, not relaxing at all for me