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Bob

@bobappleyard.me

reject states, markets and other gods embrace your neighbours, your families, your futures bi/pan he/him

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Caroline Russell@carolinerussell.bsky.social · yesterday

I’ve written to the Mayor of London: “I urge you now to work with councils across London to support their efforts to make sure the (EHRC) guidance cannot be used to diminish the everyday rights of 🏳️‍⚧️ trans Londoners and to seek the wider adoption of these approaches across our city.” [1/3]

Letter to the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan. Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) Code of Practice for Service providers, Public Functions and Associations I am writing following our conversation at Mayor’s Question Time (12 June 2026) where I raised concerns about the distress and anxiety trans Londoners tell me they are feeling following the publication of the revised Code of Practice for service providers and associations by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). You told me that your “priority is to ensure London remains a city where everyone, regardless of gender identity, can thrive, feel safe and belong.” [1] You'll be aware that this week, on 5 August 2026, the Government's updated EHRC Code of Practice comes into effect, following an order from the Minister for Women and Equalities. Trans led organisations, such as Trans Actual, have maintained that the Code remains unworkable; it does not protect trans people, it does not help service providers and it does not respect the UK’s human rights obligations. [2] Despite cross party condemnation, with 166 MPs signing Early Day Motion (EDM) 240, tabled by Nadia Whittome MP, in an effort to halt this discriminatory guidance, there has been no debate in Parliament. The government's own Equality Impact Assessment admits that this code of practice would have wide-ranging negative impacts on Trans people and that Trans women could face a "disproportionate risk of violence and sexual assault.” [3] page 2 I would like to know what work you and your Deputy Mayors have been doing, since we spoke about this in June, to prepare for the changes coming into effect on 5 August. Londoners need to know how you intend to uphold the rights of trans people and support service providers to remain trans inclusive. As an elected London politician, I am particularly concerned because London has the highest proportion of people in England whose gender identity differs from their sex assigned at birth. [4] These are people in our community, work colleagues, neighbours, friends and family members, who should be able to participate in public life without fear of being outed, harassed or discriminated against at work or in public when using a toilet or changing room. Lambeth Council recently announced that it would challenge the implementation of the Draft Code of Practice on Services, Public Functions and Associations. Councillors backed a motion condemning the draft code as “incoherent and self-contradictory, discriminatory, and impossible to implement in a reasonable and proportionate manner.” [5] The motion called on the council to protect LGBTQIA+ workers and service users by refusing to implement the guidelines should legal advice confirm that such a move would be lawful. When we spoke at MQT in June, you said “the GLA will continue to work closely with boroughs, service providers, community organisations and partners to ensure our services remain welcoming, safe and appropriate.” [6] I urge you now to work with councils across London to support their efforts to make sure the guidance cannot be used to diminish the everyday rights of trans Londoners and to seek the wider adoption of these approaches across our city. This is about Trans people's right to exist in society free from abuse, discrimination and segregation, with the autonomy to be who they know themselves to be. Yours sincerely, Caroline Russell AM Leader of the Green Group on the London AssemblyLetter to Mayor of London Sadiq Khan. Links to refs. All available at this link. https://www.london.gov.uk/caroline-russell-am-letter-mayor-ehrc-code-practice
Bob@bobappleyard.me · 3d ago

@jemgilbert.bsky.social regarding your end of the world episode, tolkien makes an interesting distinction here between "allegory" and "applicability," explicitly recognising interpretations of his work onto contemporaneous issues without binding it to them

Evan Bernick, a finite mode with a smol hooman and a lorg floof@evanbernick.bsky.social · 3d ago

so the cartoon is (1) a joke and (2) pretty accurate b/c Mordor is not supposed to elucidate some truth about specifically Germany but (3) it does not follow from that that his experience did not inform his writing. Here’s a sample of what he said, which is reasonably clear.

Tolkien’s foreword to the second edition of LotR: The real war does not resemble the legendary war in its process or its conclusion. If it had inspired or directed the development of the legend, then certainly the Ring would have been seized and used against Sauron; he would not have been annihilated but en- slaved, and Barad-dûr would not have been destroyed but occupied. Saruman, failing to get possession of the Ring, would in the confu- sion and treacheries of the time have found in Mordor the missing links in his own researches into Ring-lore, and before long he would have made a Great Ring of his own with which to challenge the self- styled Ruler of Middle-earth. In that conflict both sides would have held hobbits in hatred and contempt: they would not long have sur- vived even as slaves. Other arrangements could be devised according to the tastes or views of those who like allegory or topical reference. But I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done so since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence. I much prefer history, true or feigned, with its varied applicability to the thought and experience of readers. I think that many confuse 'ap- plicability' with 'allegory'; but the one resides in the freedom of the reader, and the other in the purposed domination of the author. An author cannot of course remain wholly unaffected by his experience, but the ways in which a story-germ uses the soil of ex- perience are extremely complex, and attempts to define the process are at best guesses from evidence that is inadequate and ambigu- ous. It is also false, though naturally attractive, when the lives of an author and critic have overlapped, to suppose that the movements of thought or the events of times common to both were necessarily the most powerful influences.
Gabby HC@scriblit.bsky.social · 3d ago

Yes lockdown was really tough for kids. Lots of those kids are teenagers now so maybe as a thank you our establishments could stop deliberately making even more things worse for them due to a weird systemic hatred of our own youth

Bob@bobappleyard.me · 2w ago

beyond the transphobia angle that's very ably covered here, the nhs is deeply bureaucratic and anti patient in many ways someone accidentally changed my name to laurence in the patient records and i was treated as if i were a kind of criminal for asking it to be corrected

Mallory Moore@sexabolition.blog · 2w ago

Fun update to this little story: Despite my GP having an arrangement with the NHS GIC where the GIC recommends treatment and the GP provides prescriptions (i.e. a shared care agreement), I got told on the phone that I have "never had a shared care agreement in place".

Bob@bobappleyard.me · 2w ago

first concert: muse last concert: femtanyl next concert: tesseract seen most: vnv nation not seen, would like to: nils frahm

Bela Lugosi's Dad 🏳️‍⚧️ 🇵🇸@belalugosisdad.bsky.social · 2w ago

What’s your concert history? First concert: Green Day Last concert: Bob Vylan Next concert: The Mountain Goats @themountaingoats.bsky.social Seen most: probably Spanner, Clayton Blizzard or QELD/Pavlov's House @bobbyqeld.bsky.social, cos Bristol Haven’t seen but want to: Arka'n Asrafokor

Gregor/Fisher@grogipher.bsky.social · 2w ago

Mahmood staying as Home Secretary tells us all we need to know; that the new boss is the same as the old boss, but with a different accent. Seems he's keen to keep the right wing, racist, reactionary policies as the core of his administration. Not good for us visible minorities.

Men in Blazers Media Network@meninblazers.bsky.social · 2w ago

Spain’s Nico Williams gave his mother, Maria, his World Cup winner’s medal after Sunday’s final ❤️💛 Nico's parents trekked some 2,000 miles across the Sahara from Ghana to Spain as refugees. Now, their son is a world champion 🥹

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