EFTA-EEA brexit in a few tweets
- EFTA is an intergovernmental, not supranational structure, one of the two independent, separate jurisdictions implementing the EEA Agreement.
- EEA Agreement is not an EU treaty. It’s a separate body of international law and own legal order.
I have struggled with what I am about to say for some time. But I am now at the place where for my own conscience I have to say it. I now disassociate myself from Brexit and believe that because of what Brexit has morphed into, we need to press the pause button and reassess.
I think
@metpoliceuk
have lost the plot. I just found a large hold-all with a woman’s handbag, clothes and personal items in. Scattered all over the road. Walked to Charring Cross Police station where the PCSO behind the counter was really irritated that I had brought it in.
Poland prepares accept 4-5m Ukrainians (including their pets).
No issues over Covid tests, funds, ID - just “come as you are”.
Poland is an amazing country full of amazingly generous people.
If
@metpoliceuk
need to have the basics of why in such circumstances handing in the bag and contents is the right to do, then is has lost what little sense it had left.
You’re the police. Do your damn job.
I loved
@jk_rowling
’s books. They were entrance points for really important conversations on ethics and morality with my children.
Then I loved the films too: superb Christmas viewing.
Today, I just love JK Rowling for being JK Rowling and speaking out against stupidity.
What has tipped me over the edge is the advert today comparing Merkel, a women who grew up under communism, to Hitler.
The advert, which I refuse to retweet, is racist, xeneoohobic and nauseating. I detest it, and
“Why bring it to us”? “What do you want us to do with it”? “Have you checked it”?
Somewhere in central London is a woman whose just had her bag nicked, probably can’t get home and is panicking. It’s dark, late and the police regard me trying to help as an inconvenience.
I wish to make clear the following:
1. This is NOT the Brexit I voted for. This is shaming to the UK, dangerous and immature. I am appalled.
2. The EU are a fact of life and inevitable partners. Seeking to sabotage the EU also sabotages UK interests.
3. We need a new PM.
Downing St has tonight said explicitly that EU governments which oppose a Brexit delay will be rewarded by Boris Johnson, and that if the EU approves a delay Johnson will do his damnedest to sabotage the functioning of the EU, pending Brexit. This is the most explosive...
It is less than a week since the Met Police settled my claim against them for its failings in the way they dealt with the attempts of a notorious transrights activist to have me arrested, and less than 24 hrs since the same activist had
@CF_Farrow
arrested by
@SurreyPolice
.
@Bren4Bassetlaw
Hello
@Bren4Bassetlaw
: Tory barrister here.
The tweet is misleading. He advocates for sentences to death to be commuted to custodial sentences. For free.
Tory party policy was at the time, and still is opposed to the death sentence.
What exactly did he do wrong?
But this is not working. We are a global joke. When our “burn it all down” phase of Bannonite politcs is past, and the US return to sanity, we will feel national shame for our conduct over Brexit. We will have smashed the dream and alienated friends.
Two points for the pronoun police having hissy-fits over
@RFU
decision to make women’s rugby single sex.
I speak as a former player, referee, coach, and a lawyer.
(1) yes, obviously there are size / strength differentials between men. This is irrelevant to this conversation.
During the referendum campaign I refused to distribute the Banks/Farage literature because their Brexit was always rooted in lazy racism.
The oddity is whilst they hark back to our defeat of fascism in the Second World War, they are almost fascists.
So, all you outraged, rainbow-flag waiving pronoun types, stop gaslighting my sport and start doing some critical thinking instead of following the flock and bleeting like sheep, screaming “transphobia” - we don’t care. We are being rational. You aren’t.
Look at the evidence.
Approximately two years ago I was offering legal advice and support to two women being sued by a notorious and abusive transrights activist. This resulted in me also being targeted by the same person and I was contemplating issuing proceedings accordingly.
We will have squandered the greatest opportunity for national reinvention since the retreat from empire because we hid sucked-in to demagoguery, allowed Brexit to become a revolution and in so doing fucked it.
I’m sorry. It’s time to press pause and think again.
OK, everyone. I think it’s time I told my Boris Johnson story. It’s a story about the time as foreign secretary where Johnson committed a straightforward resigning offence, got caught out, then got away with it.
Thread.
I say, as a committed Brexiter, someone who campaigned for Brexit for over 20 years, if “no-deal” Brexit is the only Brexit on offer, then it’s time to stop Brexit to prevent a catastrophe even worse than remaining in the EU on current terms.
As a coach, referee and former player, I am telling you it is insane to allow males to play against women, and levels of testosterone mean diddly squat in terms of biological advantage. The science tells us this.
Secondly the decision wasn’t ‘transphobic”. Trans men can STILL play in men’s rugby. Because THEY assume the risk themselves. They don’t pose a risk to others.
That cannot be said about transwomen. They are a risk to women playing opposite who have no choice but to self-exclude
I have, genuinely, sought to avoid inflaming matters. I have shown tolerance and patience. I have twice entered into agreements with this person in the hope of de-escalating matters. Twice they have unilaterally breached the agreement.
It’s therefore time to try something new.
We’re Hitler around today. I suspect they would be Mosely, the polite face of British far-right racist thuggery.
So, to my German friends I say ich tut mir leid, est ist schieße, Aber es sollte niemals so sein.
I desperately wanted Brexit to work. Sorry.
@DreyfusJames
One of the issues you’ve not touched on is “toxic affirmation” where people cocoon themselves inside a world where nothing is challenged, everything is affirmed without question, which simply breeds narcissism within a group already suffering from high levels of narcissism.
Finally, if you think that now the evidence is out there, insurance companies faced with claims from women injured by transwomen won’t be saying “but you exposed her to unnecessary and unreasonable risk” and refuse to cover the claim, you’re naive.
We are told Transwomen don’t use men’s toilets as they don’t feel safe. And people should feel safe. So Transwomen should use women’s toilets so they feel safe. But when women say they don’t want that, as they won’t feel safe - safety suddenly becomes bigotry and transphobia.
As a former rugby player, coach and ref, it staggers me men were ever allowed to play against women in any sport where strength and power are an advantage.
Also, “biological woman”? What other kind of woman is there?
Women are adult human females. Women is a biological term.
I raised the case of a woman badly injured by a collision with a transwoman (male) player during a football match in Sheffield & Hallamshire Women’s Football League. Allowing biological males to play football against women & girls is unfair & unsafe. FA must act.
@fairplaywomen
@edleonklinger
There really are not any words. Whatever the wrongs that Israel is perceived, or has actually done, no provocation can justify this barbarity. One almost thinks the degree of the barbarity was designed to provoke the rage, which Hamas now use to scapegoat Israel.
I have also been sued by the same activist, who had to discontinue the claim when told by a High Court that it would be struck out.
I am fairly robust, but I am at the end of my willingness to tolerate this conduct.
It is oppressive, coordinated, deliberate, and vexatious.
Since May 2019, when I offered pro bono support to
@CF_Farrow
to deal with an ex parte High Court injunction, I have been subjected to 18 complaints to my Inn, at least 7 complaints to my regulator, and three police investigations - all dismissed.
Once there is a definitive determination that the document is privileged, and that anyone publishing it is also breaching my privilege, I will of course have to consider bringing further proceedings against anyone else who has been unwise enough to publish it.
Now, imagine the scrum half isn’t a small scrum half, but a lump of a gender dysphoric or autogynoyphilic second row, 6’3”, 19 stone and hard as nails.
You really think he should be playing women’s rugby against women who have up to half his strength and power?
Really?
In January 2021, a well-known transrights activists tweeted that I’d been reported to the police (by them), that the police wanted to interview me, had previously warned me about my conduct, and that my wife had misled them as to my whereabouts during a police visit to our home.
As a social psychologist, I understand why using women’s sports to argue against transgender rights works. But it is tough to imagine a more morally bankrupt position: “I’m going to make you sit in a gender that doesn’t fit you so my daughter can win her soccer game.”
I wantto say a huge thank you to
@jk_rowling
, because about 20 yrs ago, as a young parent to an infant son, her books opened up routes to conversations about really important issues: right v wrong, living ethically, loyalty, honesty, and how deal with with fears.
Further to this will be other meetings with lawyers to discuss both civil and criminal options, as well as related meetings with the Police and others with investigatory powers. Evidence has been compiled and will now, albeit reluctantly, be passed over.
@oflynnsocial
@Bren4Bassetlaw
It’s worse. It’s cynical, opportunistic, puerile, misleading and morally bankrupt. Seeking the global ban on the death penalty is one aspect of our foreign policy we can genuinely be proud of. Starmer is upholding that tradition - and good for him for doing so.
Lone male police officer stops a woman on the street: woman told to kick up a fuss and resist.
Man walks into woman’s changing room: women told to shut up and accept it.
This course of conduct has targeted me, and briefly my wife, and my children. The person behind it is known, and I am now putting in place a number of measures to protect myself from this conduct. This starts with a meeting with my regulator and Inn. Both are understanding.
So (as an example) a small scrum half may have 20% less power / strength than a prop / winger.
But if the scrum half is male, put him in women’s rugby, and he’s likely to be up to 50% more powerful than the woman opposite him. See World Rugby data.
Anyway, I’ve attempted to be reasonable with the solicitor, and she’s refused to accept she has done anything wrong.
So last week I issued high court proceedings against her, for breach of confidence and misuse of private information.
Yet today my regulator (the Bar Standards Board) confirms that is has dismissed ANOTHER two professional complaints against me by THE SAME transrights activist, and an anonymous ‘Mrs Lal’ (who is according to a High Court judge, associated with the activist).
On the evening of 23rd June 2016, I was in London watching history unfold. About 10pm I called an old freind
@eurorealist
in Brussels at a "celebration" he was attending. We agreed Leave had won - just - and the sensible thing was to now find a brexit vision which worked for all.
The complaint here was that I tweeted a picture of fruitcake in a tweet highlighting behaviour which I regarded (and still regard) as unhinged. Apparently, this person found the fruitcake reference offensive and decided to make a police complaint.
This is by my estimation, the 4th or 5th complaint to
@barstandards
by the activist (all dismissed), which follows two or three other complaints by associates of the activist, and 16 complaints to my Inn of Court (also all dismissed).
@JolyonMaugham
Jo, I’ve played rugby for 30(ish) years, I’ve coached juniors and women squads and I’ve refereed rugby for a while too.
Let me tell you, as a player, coach and ref, you’re talking shit.
This decision is legally insane. It’s also dangerous.
Wake up. Not “woke up”!
And that is the reason we are here. Because of the unreasonable behaviour of a small section of the winning side who have done all possible to alienate over half the country. And they succeeded.
They deserve everything they will not now get.
As did legal proceedings, which concluded today with the Met Police agreeing to pay me a significant sum of money as a consequence of their officer stating I was not being honest in saying there was no police visit, then there was no police visit.
This has cost the tax payer significant cash and wasted police time because a thin-skinned bully who dishes it out, can’t take pushback and runs to the police, who have to jump through hoops because the complaint, who routinely claims to be “robust”, claims victim status.
Added to this is YET ANOTHER attempt last week to have criminal proceedings brought against me (also dismissed), this time the complaint brought by the associate of the Activist who I also suspect was behind the dismissed “Mrs Lal” complaint to my regulator.
I don’t know what a lesbian looks like (beyond the tropes / stereotypes), but I do know what abusive, disproportionate, lacking in common sense policing looks like.
And this is it.
I could come to despise the police because of lunacy like this.
Strength / power differentials are usually position specific. A prop will have more push/pull power than a scrum half, who will have more explosive acceleration power. A centre / winger in between the two.
Same dynamic in men and Women’s rugby.
SOMEWHERE IN GUILDFORD
“Hello, Surrey Police”
“I’ve just been burgled”
“You have household insurance?”
“Yes”
“Good - sort it out with them”
“What? You’re not sending a police officer to catch the burglar?!?!?”
“No - we’re busy fighting misgendering”
@SurreyPolice
I think this behaviour toward
@jk_rowling
is disgraceful. That a “theologian” in a position of authority did this shows how far we have fallen.
Clearly JK is an ‘uppity’ woman who needs to pipe down and accept lectures from men on the extent of women’s rights.
I am 53, can speak three languages, have three academic degrees, can play four musical instruments. I can drive a tractor, use a chainsaw, shoot competently, butcher and cook most meats. I hitch-hiked across Europe at 16.
Yet I still can’t put a duvet cover on a duvet.
I wish the attacks on Starmer’s pre-DPP career would stop.
I’m not going to vote Labour, but the idea that bad people who did bad things shouldn’t be entitled to legal representation is wrong. Without representation, how do we know the right person got convicted?
@BarristerSecret
@oflynnsocial
@Bren4Bassetlaw
Thanks. It’s embarrassing to see MPs from my own party not understand our own policies on human rights - such as our long-standing opposition to the death sentence globally. Starmer was literally advocating for Tory policy. And good for him for doing so pro bono.
For the record, the document doesn’t contain anything I am the slightest bit concerned about, but it’s the principle - people should be able to rely on privilege when discussing litigation, and for anyone, but especially a solicitor, to breach it, is disgraceful.
This tweet offends me because I am a father of a daughter, and because what this shows is that gender ideology is based on coercion and emotional blackmail.
It says, literally, the role of girls is to validate men. Men’s feelings trump the rights of women and girls.
I have asked the solicitor to apologise and pay damages. She refused saying she acted in the public interest because of the contents of the transcript justified it being exposed. Except (1) it didn’t and (2) there is no public interest defence available for breach of privilege.
Yesterday I got suspended for tweeting this “hatespeech”.
I tweet it again.
I expect, very soon, to have my account deleted for retweeting a biological truth.
I stand by what I said. You cannot change your biological sex just cos you change your legal gender. Please RT
The solicitor, unbelievably, then also leaked details of our correspondence to the same TRA who AGAIN used it to target me for abuse on Twitter.
This is a solicitor being warned of a law suit for leaking private information then leaking the letter containing the warning!
It is deeply worrying that a solicitor doesn’t understand the very basics of how privilege works, doesn’t understand there is no public interest defence available and thinks it’s acceptable to behave like this, and acts with such cavalier disregard for the rights of others.
Of to court we went and as I said would happen, the judge said the document was “almost certainly privileged” and that even if it wasn’t he didn’t think it amounted to harassment. The claim was in effect struck out.
This Brexit is a fraud. A disgrace. A betrayal of what was a wonderfully purposeful and virtuous policy that could have allowed the U.K. to reinvent itself and aid Europe to do the same. Sadly we’re being taken over from within by the Farage fifth column.
Hey
@Twitter
1. A woman is an adult human female.
2. Women doesn’t have a penis.
3. A lesbian is a woman whose sexuality is same-sex, not same “gender” attraction.
4. Transwomen are biologically male. Transmen are biologically female.
5. Intersex is not third sex.
It’s frankly also mad that someone told by a high court judge that a document is “almost certainly privileged” then publishes it in full and continues, repeatedly to publish it selectively. It’s massively inflammatory and basically sticking two-fingers up to the judge. Not wise.
Women will NEVER be free and equal if they grow up believing subliminally that their role is, at its heart, to validate men.
This tweet is basically about as anti-women as you can possibly be, but it is hidden within the “be kind” message.
The judge gave an excellent summary of legal privilege to the TRA explaining the difference between legal advice privilege and litigation privilege, and repeated the “nonsense” I had previously told the TRA in correspondence. If only the TRA had listened to an actual lawyer…..
Further the email accusing me of dishonesty was unjustified (I had been telling the truth), the officer concerned apologised (as did the Met) for misreading (in haste) a confusing entry on a log.
I received a fulsome apology from the Met, and disciplinary proceedings followed.
The notion that Remainers were not willing to compromise is not true in my experience. But being told to accept that 52% of the votes equals 100% of the say is NOT compromise, it's being vanquished.
There was a window where a softer-brexit could have saved Brexit.
Women must, as an absolute inviolable right, have the power to politely refuse to integrate male people into places which are theirs, and set-up for their safety, security and dignity (such as sport).
To preserve women’s rights is not being anti-trans. It’s is being pro-women.
Stupidly, and in full knowledge the judge viewed the document as almost certainly privileged (and therefore should not be in the control of the TRA), the TRA then published it in its entirety, and selectively, ALSO breaching my privilege, privacy and confidentiality.
I pointed out the claim was relying on evidence that was privileged and the court would not permit into evidence and even if it did, it didn’t evidence the harassment the TRA alleged. Predictably the TRA, who identifies as “a lawyer”, said my point was nonsense.
The barman’s position that “no-one cares” was rubbish. Our Queen was loved and respected. She will be missed. She deserved, after 70 years of service, 30 seconds of recognition from young people in a pub.
And she got it.
God bless her majesty. God save the King.
This (frankly inexplicable) act was not only a breach of our privacy and confidentiality, it breached our litigation privilege as well.
Predictably, now in control of the transcript, the TRA issued an entirely hopeless high court action against me relying on the transcript.
A subsequent investigation showed the following:
There was no visit to my home. Neither I nor my wife were spoken to, I wasn’t “warned”, and there was no investigation. The tweeter was told to stop picking fights on Twitter then moaning to the police about getting pushback.
So, my message to my daughter is this (as she knows): do not compromise yourself. You already suffer unfair prejudice as a result of your sex. Do not allow yourself to suffer further prejudice just to validate men. Assert and expect respect - and allow your no to remain a no.
She left shortly after joining. But, some weeks later, and in an act which to this day I cannot fathom, the solicitor gave a transcript of the entire conversation to the VERY PERSON we were discussing, the person targeting me and the two women in the group, and who had sued her!
A little thought exercise because both “sex” and “race” are protected characteristics, and both are based on genetics.
Imagine a scene 25 yrs from now when the Race Recognition Act has been passed into law.
This “be kind” message is the same message used when horny males utter “if you loved me, you have sex with me”, or “please don’t leave me, I need you”. It’s manipulative, coercive and utterly wrong.
Fascinating conversation at the cricket this PM. Gay mate, theatre mate, his wife (from Dublin) and another female friend (a midwife).
Conversation turns to trans issue. Gay mate says “it’s time to admit that 90%+ of us think this is all **** but are too afraid to say so”
Obviously I contacted the police (several times) who were supremely disinterested until one officer (finally) rang me back and confirmed I was not under any investigation and there was no record of any phone call to “warn” me. I wasn’t wanted for interview either - matter closed.
I am a Tory, but if I lived in Canterbury, I’d vote for
@RosieDuffield1
I am asking people I know in Canterbury to vote for her.
This issue is way bigger than party politics. We need voices like hers in Parliament on this issue.
More power to Rosie Duffield.
@HenryTribe
@eddieizzard
@RuthDavidsonPC
@TimesRadio
He's right, women have indeed been fighting for our rights for centuries - sadly so far this one is not all that different from the last.
Our rights, our bodies, our spaces...
Transwomen are not women. They are male. Even with the legal fiction of a GRC, they remain biologically male. Until this truth is understood as neutral fact, not bigotry, society will be like Sturgeon in this video - suffering collective cognitive dissonance.
Does Scotland’s First Minister believe all trans women are women?
Scottish Gov has just implemented an effective ban on trans prisoners who’ve committed sexual & violent crimes against women being moved to a women-only prison.
@itvnews
I replied (via Twitter) that I had no idea what this person was talking about: I’d never been “warned” by the police, or even spoken to by them, that there had been no visit to my home and so my wife had never spoken to either, let alone misled then.
Campaigner Kellie-Jay Keen and James Max clash over the issue of 'sex-based rights' and JK Rowling's 'trans-row'.
James: "I am slightly staggered by your views."
Campaigner Kellie-Jay Keen: "What? That biological sex exists."
@thejamesmax
One of the women set up a group chat where we could discuss legal advice received and share information relevant to both live and contemplated proceedings. Another member was a solicitor offering advice. The conversation was self-evidently confidential and litigation privileged.
The tweeter was adamant, and thought this was a “gotcha” - that a police officer was accusing a Barrister of being dishonest, and…… etc
I warned the tweeter to be cautious, that the police were mistaken and the attempts to malign me might backfire.