Women Born In The 1980s

"Culture is more than cuisine or clothes. It's also customs which may be at odds with British values. We cannot be naïve and assume immigrants will automatically abandon ancestral ethnic hostilities at the border, or that all cultures are equally valid. They are not. I am struck for example, by the number of recent immigrants to the UK who hate Israel. That sentiment has no place here."

"I will not shut up. I will not be silenced by men who prioritise applause from Stonewall over the safety of women and girls. A rich, lefty, white male celebrity so blinded by ideology he can't see the optics of attacking the only black woman in government by calling publicly for my existence to end. Tennant is one of Labours celebrity supporters. This is an early example of what life will be like if they win."

"The law is confused because times have changed and words in law are being re-interpreted to meanings quite different from what legislators intended. Clarification is required. Not just to protect the privacy and dignity of women and girls, but also to protect those people with gender dysphoria for whom the law was set up to protect. These transpeople were going about their lives in peace, until predators started exploiting loopholes in the law by calling themselves trans with no evidence beyond their self-identification. Sex and gender, terms once used interchangeably in the law, now mean different things with significant implications. This is being exploited by all sorts of activist organisations, most notably Stonewall for their own agenda. That is why we are today pledging that, if we form a government [[w:2024 United Kingdom general election|after the [general] election]], we will clarify that sex in the law means biological sex and not new, redefined meanings of the word. The protection of women and girls' spaces is too important to allow the confusion to continue."

"[Predators exploitation of loopholes] We see it with men exposing themselves in bathrooms. We see it with people trying to access single-sex spaces such as women's prisons when they have been convicted for violence against women, and their victims are being forced to refer to them with female pronouns. That is not right. So we have to make sure that we can sweep all that away and when we do, life will get better for transgender people."

"It wasn't until predators started exploiting the loopholes that we are having to tighten this. It is the behaviour of people who are choosing to exploit rights given to transgender people — because the definition is very loose — that we are now having to look at what we can do in order to protect women and children who are the most vulnerable in those single-sex spaces. It is not easy, the ideal situation would have been if the predators had not chosen to exploit this loophole. [Badenoch "insisted she was not saying transgender people were predators."] But there are more people who are predators than there are people who are trans."

"I would be doing myself a great disservice if I do not do what I can to empower those who are less fortunate than I am; so that they can also have voices to share their bits of the knowledge pie"

"No single person has monopoly over knowledge, hence it is in my own interest to keep an open mind. To learn from the newborn baby and also from the aged woman on her death bed; from the billionaire and also from the street hawker."

"Although Alawis are overrepresented in the ruling elite, this does not translate into any alleviation of their generally deprived circumstances. Those with ties to the ruling family, whether through tribal or business dealings, are rich, while most Alawis live in underdeveloped villages. Unlike the Sunni underclass, which largely resided in rebel-held territory, Alawis—who cannot afford to emigrate, enroll in university to defer their service, or bribe their way out of military service (or into noncombat posts)—reside entirely in regime-held territory, where the draft is imposed and enforced through routine raids and at checkpoints."

"Liza went to Iraq for similar reasons. She intended to research the way Iraqis, and women in particular, were living after ISIS and in the shadow of sectarianism — not, as some online critics have said, to spy for the Israeli government."

"Liza believed from early adulthood that caring about the citizens of Israel also meant caring about the rights of Palestinians in Israel. Later, she turned her attention both professionally and personally to our Arab neighbors in their fight for freedom during the Arab Spring. But she didn’t want to merely view them vis-à-vis their relationship with Israel; she believed that the right thing to do was to try to understand our neighbors from inside their own societies, the way they experienced and understood themselves. She became fluent in Arabic, and she visited many countries most Israelis will never enter."

"The recruitment to Azerbaijan and Libya reveal the desperate pragmatism of Syrians who have been reduced to subsistence in a country ruined by war—a war whose end is nowhere in sight, and which will, in any case, be determined by outside powers that helped destroy the country. The two countries that intervened most decisively in Syria to advance their interests, Turkey and Russia, as well as those that stood by as Syria drowned in blood, place virtually no value on Syrian lives, but see them instead as pawns in their own geopolitical chess game. Syrians—former rebels, militia members, and ordinary civilians—are simply leaning into the part they’ve been assigned: as pawns. Refusing to accept this logic means they and their families go hungry."

"The [[w:Syrian civil war|[Syrian civil] war]] has transformed the Alawi community in numerous ways. The most profound and obvious one for a community numbering about two million people is the scale of loss of men of military age. The Syrian regime stopped releasing statistics regarding casualties in its ranks early in the war, but Gregory P. Waters, a researcher at Berkeley School of Law's Human Rights Center, estimates that tens of thousands of Alawi men have been killed fighting for the regime. Tens of thousands more have been gravely injured, sustaining disabilities that preclude them from participating in the labor force."

"Trump embodies unapologetic honesty."

"[P]erhaps Trump’s most striking "gangster" characteristic – and the one that has won him so many fans – is his bloody-minded focus. The reason we are mesmerised by the Hollywood gangster character – why we both fear him and deep down want to be him – is that he knows what he wants, and he goes out and gets it, not giving a damn about whatever or whoever stands in his way."

"Trump looks set to prove a pivotal figure. His unimpeded energy, and wars against the legal-industrial complex offer a glimpse of a style of leadership that is willing to take on the biases and inefficiencies of the system."

"[[Nigel Farage|[Nigel] Farage]] has been mocked for espousing unpopular views. But an insurgent, mildly reckless party may be needed to break the stalemate. Reform may even be groping towards an innovative way of doing politics, which might be dubbed "paradoxical populism". The challenges of the day require charismatic leaders who can bank voter goodwill from populist achievements, such as bringing down immigration, in order to drive through less attractive but necessary projects, such as administering tough medicine to the economy or fixing healthcare."

"Britain is equally terrified of free trade, lest it plunges us into a libertarian dystopia awash with cancerous meat and alcoholism. ... The new Brexit alcohol duty regime that links rates to specific alcohol strength outdoes Brussels in its convoluted paternalism."

"The question is why Brexit has spectacularly failed. Of course, the conventional Remainer wisdom is that it was doomed from the start. But this neglects the elephant in the room: as it turns out, Britain is terrified of freedom."

"Tory Brexiteers promised that leaving the EU would allow Britain to "take back control" of its waters, and enable our fishermen to feast on a "sea of opportunity"."

"The conventional attitude is that, if World War Three arose, it would be by accident. But we should entertain the possibility that autocratic leaders – tortured by the prospect of death in the event of their fall from power – will be willing to pursue survival strategies that, while irrational to us, appear deeply rational to them."

"There’s something slightly different about Truss. Perhaps because she wasn't in office long enough to go mad, there has been no period of roving in the existential wilderness."

"You've got to hand it to Liz Truss. It is customary for prime ministers to spend their retirement wasting into tragic figures."

"[H]e is a genuinely disturbing political figure, spinning his own universe of deception out of London’s dystopian hellscape."

"The mind boggles when it comes to Sadiq Khan. In many ways, he is a faceless phantom – a fascinatingly bland Labour apparatchik incapable of an original thought or phrase. And yet somehow he has managed to build himself into the consummate dictator-bureaucrat, London's own answer to Leonid Brezhnev or Raul Castro."

"It is time for the Leave camp to start saying the unsayable: the Tories have made such a hash of Brexit that the project is probably now unsalvageable."

"There is no point mincing words: Thatcherism and Reaganomics have been demolished by the very animal spirits of the free markets that, some 40 years ago, they unleashed in good faith. History has come full circle, with neoliberalism, like the mythical monster Ouroboros, devouring its own tail."

"Indeed, if Boris Johnson does the only thing he can feasibly do and resign, the big risk is that the Conservatives will tip back into civil war."

"This is why with a no-deal Brexit now "illegal" we are heading for a second referendum, and the Tory Party's obliteration. The problem with brilliant men in politics is that too often their brains go to their heads."

"Why haven't the ERG drilled into results from the recent local elections, which reveal Tories are haemorrhaging in “safe” areas from Essex to Somerset? The Brexiteers should use this evidence as a basis for arguing that it's no-deal or bust. Or they should do us all a favour, and defect to the Brexit Party."

"Leaver MPs grossly overestimate their opponents. Their centrist colleagues' masterplan for saving the Tories is little more than "suicide on autopilot" by an obsolete ruling class."

"Trump's leadership style also consternates my fellow millennials, who feel more comfortable with elegant underachievers than graceless bulldozers who "get the job done"."

"[T]he people who make up universities: students, researchers, teaching fellows, support staff, lecturers and professors. Brexit, and the associated drop in immigration, means that we are attracting less top talent at all levels than before leaving the EU. This is clear from the student numbers: roughly 40% fewer EU students applied to UK universities in 2021 than in 2020."

"But it's also true that if people want to have children, governments should remove the financial and practical blocks that often make it an impossible choice. So far, however, even extensive support hasn't put any rich country back on track to grow its population in the future. This means we must think about immigration as a solution, too, including tackling where resistance to immigration comes from – and how to have a nuanced and balanced debate without making racial concerns the focal point."

"There is a balance to be found between people getting to where they need to go in reasonable time and a safe travel speed. But "anti-motorist" policies aren't the real cause of traffic slowing down. There are simply too many cars on the road, resulting in jams and standstill traffic, and the obvious solution is to provide alternative, affordable options."

"Many of the arguments (and counter-arguments) made for reducing cars have centred on the environment. But the real reason that cities such as Amsterdam adopted a less car-centric approach in the mid-20th century had to do with a more immediate concern: children being killed by speeding cars. In 1971, more than 400 Dutch children died in traffic accidents. It was a parent group, Stop de Kindermoord (stop the child murder), angered by the large number of deaths that forced politicians to rethink the design of once car-dominated cities in favour of more inclusive urban planning. In 2021, 17 children across the Netherlands were killed in traffic accidents."

"Similarly, Brexit – and the wider tightening of immigration policy – has made it difficult to hire (and retain) international faculty members. This has ramifications for science collaboration and research. Building a research team is similar to building a top football team: you recruit the best players with the right skill set, expertise and training, regardless of nationality."

"I've personally learned that lies spread faster than truth. People have written entire blogs attacking my expertise and sharing clear falsehoods – such as the claim that I have no published scientific papers, or that I'm a global plant by the World Economic Forum or Gates Foundation, or that I am a philosopher rather than a scientist (because I have a DPhil from Oxford). It's easy to laugh at such obvious untruths, until it sinks in that this clickbait gets shared thousands of times. People believe it, and then they too share it. And there is no way to counter every single falsehood. These lies carry more weight among some internet communities than the fact that Edinburgh University evaluated my expertise and granted me a professorship."

"Giant slayers don’t waste weapons on ants...when God places his oil on you, you choose your battles. Choose your battles. It is not every battle you fight."

"Lions don’t respond to frogs."

"Yet trans activists have succeeded in campaigning for biological males who identify as female to be allowed into women’s sports, women’s hospital wards and women’s prisons, even when these trans women still have intact male genitalia. This is not acceptable, and presents a serious threat to women’s safety, as well as our sex-based rights."

"During the recent Tory leadership election, one of Boris Johnson’s emissaries struggled to defend his candidate’s erroneous claim about free trade under Gatt 24. After Barnett had conclusively exposed Johnson’s falsehood, he stuttered: "I don't believe he is incorrect." With deadpan scorn, she flashed back: "Because you don't believe facts?" To David Bull, a newly elected Brexit Party MEP who had complained on Twitter about his scandalous discovery that the journey to Strasbourg was quite long, she asked: "Did you not look up how you might get to the European parliament?" "Weirdly," he admitted, "it did not really cross my mind.""

"I can see why so many politicians are in for a shock when they come on Barnett's show. The cool ease with which she can segue from convivial to confrontational is quite unnerving."

"[Barnett suffered a herniated disc four months after giving birth] I'd had a c-section and two and a half years of IVF and heavy steroids. I wasn't physically good going into the pregnancy or coming out of it. It was an unholy situation and one day I picked up my daughter and it went. It was agony trying to breastfeed, do the school run with my older son, hold my baby daughter through gritted teeth and put the car seat in. So I've also been doing months of physio, exercise and Pilates."

"But I didn't want to move on. Not for a long while. I had formed a relationship with our baby, daring to map out a little of our future together. But beyond medical forms, conversations with my stunned and deeply saddened husband, my texts to people about our loss and my memories of such a bond, there was nothing else to show the whole episode happened. Like millions of women before me, the baby lived within me and died within me. My body and mind were the keeper and witness."

"[On suffering from endometriosis] My body's been such an instrument of torture."

"I personally found the first few months of motherhood discombobulating, knackering, joyous, emotional, frustrating and quite frankly odd."

"Beginning IVF can be like walking into a high-stakes casino. From the moment you first place a bet, submitting those first bloods or semen samples, you are hooked. Excitement, hope, long odds and croupiers in white coats keep you coming back for more. A tweak of meds here, a change of diet there, the rush of the pregnancy test after weeks of needles and pills, and then the massive low of the single blue line. It all leaves you vowing you will never, ever gamble again."

"My grandmother escaped the Nazis from Wiener Neustadt in Austria and found sanctuary as a housemaid in this country. My husband's grandmother survived unspeakable torture in Auschwitz. In Europe. A two-hour flight from here. I've been. He won't. He can't bear to. Our grandmothers, who read us bedtime stories safe in our beds in this country, this happened to them – people I met and loved. Only two weeks ago, I opened Twitter on my phone and saw "Jewish privilege" trending. Do you know how that feels? Do you how frightening that is? I have had my fair share of abuse online, much of it sexist or politically charged. But the one form of hate that always stops me in my tracks and makes me feel angry and sad and burned? Antisemitism."

"My experience of periods is extreme because of my endometriosis. But while most women don't have a specific condition, they still often feel grim at that time of the month, require painkillers, need to access the loo more often and may suffer headaches, backache, sweatier brows and the squits."

"The bogus presumptions about menstruating women are tragically not confined to the history books — namely that we are weak, dirty, unhinged, less than and just different. At the heart of this lingering stigma is the idea that we are unequal to our male counterparts. Women then ingest these views and appropriate them as our own, inflicting wounds on ourselves and other women — and girls — around us. And by keeping periods unmentionable, women become unwitting accomplices in perpetuating these myths."