JK Rowling will stand the test of time
Her seriousness and her sincerity are big factors in her success
Lgbt
Tuesday
Wednesday
How self-ID helped bring down Nicola Sturgeon
The most astute and sure-footed politician in Britain stumbled on self-ID
Monday
Sam Smith and the embarrassing terribleness of LGBTQIA+ culture
The singer embodies the embarrassing terribleness of LGBTQIA+ culture
Friday
Pride comes before a fall
The corporate and sporting worlds are all over the rainbow people now only because the battles are won
Wednesday
Harry Styles's behind is the only draw: My Policeman reviewed
My Policeman is a forbidden love drama starring both Harry Styles – whose bid for movie stardom continues apace – and his naked bottom. The bottom is good. Ten out of ten for the bottom, particularly during a scene in Venice when the light from the window casts it in a golden, buttery glow. But otherwise, this is an average, meek and soporific endeavour which hits quite a few bum notes of the kind that aren’t ideal. It is based on the novel by Bethan Roberts, which in turn was inspired by the romantic life of E.M. Forster, who had a long-term relationship with a married policeman who suffers a
The rise and fall of Tammy Faye
Tammy Faye Bakker was a chirpy, perky televangelist noted for her lavish mascara and her barrel-stave eyelashes. She once conducted an interview on her PTL (Praise the Lord) chat show for which she remains revered among gays. It was in 1985 and she was talking to Steve Pieters, a soft-spoken church pastor with a soup-strainer moustache. He had Aids, a disease that killed Rock Hudson that year and was scything through Reagan’s America. Tammy wanted to know all about Steve’s faith, his health and his orientation. ‘Have you given women a fair try?’, she asked rather naively. The pastor told his story and the interview deepened into an extraordinary confessional.
Saturday
Is sanity returning to the trans debate?
At last, Mermaids, the UK charity for, in their own words, ‘gender variant and transgender children’ is under the spotlight. Following investigations by the Telegraph and Mail newspapers, as well as demands from critics concerned about child safeguarding, the Charity Commission has launched a regulatory compliance case and have said that they have written to the organisation’s trustees. The investigations found that Mermaids has been offering breast binders to girls reportedly as young as 13, and despite children saying their parents opposed the practice. Binding can often cause breathing difficulties, back pain and broken ribs. It was also uncovered that kids have been ‘congratulated’ online for identifying as transgender by
Thursday
Why are so many young women buying into polyamory?
Stability is the one thing that throuples and polycules can never provide
Saturday
The pleasures of doing nothing
The stigma of gayness has eroded like the dunes
Saturday
When will the West start to deal with Africa on its own terms?
The continent is only now beginning to assert its influence on the world stage
Monday
Our shifting definition of shame
We are very happy to utilize the heavy weaponry of shame if it is in what we regard as the right cause
Wednesday
Zelensky’s homophobia row reveals a divided Ukraine
The country is hesitant on values western Europe holds dear
Sunday
Monkeypox, Covid and the trouble with our species
There is already a familiar culture war over the origins of this apparently species-leaping virus
Thursday
Ricky Gervais is no 'transphobe'
Why did his jokes about trans people cause such outrage?
Saturday
Disney vs DeSantis
DeSantis has the juju of the antagonistic disruptor
Thursday
A glimpse of the real Patricia Highsmith through her diaries and notebooks
Patricia Highsmith: Her Diaries and Notebooks: 1941-1995 by Patricia Highsmith reviewed
Thursday
Trudeau's troubles with LGBT+ acronyms
Questions are being asked as to whether headbutting a keyboard now constitutes a sexuality
Friday
Is Kemi Badenoch’s leaked audio a set-up?
The headline reads, ‘UK Equalities Minister Goes on Anti-LGBTQ Rant in Leaked Audio’. Oh dear, I thought. As a lesbian and a harsh critic of the Tory government, I wondered what had been said. I scoured the piece in Vice, expecting something along the lines of ‘pervert’ and ‘unnatural’ and something about how we will be marrying our vacuum cleaners next. But it was all rather tame and boring. Badenoch said: It’s now, you know like, it’s not even about sexuality now, it’s now like the whole transgender movement, where, OK well we’ve got gay marriage and civil partnerships, so what are transsexuals looking for? … So now it’s not just
Sunday
How the gender debate is dividing Germany
Pronoun politics can be something of a minefield. But if you think the gender debate is confusing, spare a thought for our German cousins. The quirks of the language make it hard to avoid causing offence, even for those determined to tread carefully. German, as with French and Spanish, has different noun endings for masculine and feminine words. For example, eine Ärztin specifically refers to a female doctor and ein Arzt to a male doctor. The masculine form is used most frequently and as a sort of gender catch-all. And it’s here that the issue arises. The language has, to be fair, adapted to cater for modern sensitivities. In modern
Thursday
Floods you with fascinating facts: Trees A Crowd reviewed
Listening to Trees A Crowd, a podcast exploring the ‘56(ish) native trees of the British Isles’, solved one of childhood’s great mysteries for me. Why, when you plant a pip from one type of apple, does it grow into a completely different type of apple tree? The answer — one kind of apple tree will typically cross-pollinate with another variety to pass on a different set of genes — is less interesting than the next bit. Which is that if you do plant, say, a Braeburn seed, and it takes, you’re likely to end up with crab apples. The reason, as explained on the podcast, is that the wild crab
