Out with the old

Hi,

So, how are things? Hopefully going well. For me, I’ve a day off as part of my nonworking hours. I feel very lucky to be able to afford every other Friday off. It certainly helps with my mood, resting up from a busy week, and I don’t lose the weekend to chores. Happy times indeed.

Difficult news

I think things at YATGB are going to take a bit of a hit as of this week. I’m not giving up exactly, but I think my blogging is going to take a knock.

Those do-gooder types with their grown-up politics, care for the less well off, and bloomin’ acceptance of people. Well, they’re only in bloody charge now! 😉 What’s even worse, is I’ve joined in *and* Rushcliffe (a rather wealthy borough in the country) has turned to Labour, in the first time in over fifty years.

Absolutely no thought for my Grumble of the Week around performative hate, cronyism, or just being…. well, pants at everything. Okay, the last lot were good at cruelty and talking rather than doing.

What am I going to write about now? 😁

I’ll be reduced to the usual loops of Chams Night Out, What I Bought This Week, Going Mental Again, and In Public One in a Blue Moon 😉

Oh, hang on: Cass Review, gender bigots, 30p Lee… It’s fine 😉

This time with less snark

Okay, so silliness aside, I am hopeful for the future. Yes, I don’t agree with everything the Labour party stand for, but given the choice of more of what the Conservatives offered; well, that’s no choice at all for me.

Perhaps like a bus service, a political party will get you mostly towards where you need to be, but not necessarily, completely.

My goodness, we have drifted so far away from how things were sixteen years ago. It wasn’t perfect back then, but weaponised political hatred of refugees, trans people, and a seeming ‘War on Benefits’ targeting less able bodied people… yeah, no thanks. Still, at least we didn’t have the riots like the last time eh? 🙂

The funny thing is, I live in an affluent borough out in the sticks. The countryside is beautiful, the parks are nice, crime is low, fancy houses, good schools, folk are kind, etc.

If I ignore the anti-trans guff (difficult if you watch/read any news), don’t go into Nottingham (boarded up shops, Council funding gone, etc), and I don’t have the vulgar temerity to be ill 😉 – oh, and don’t use the roads – then things look okay. Yeah, so if you pretty much stay at home and don’t go on the t’interwebs or watch telly 😜

Well, ‘okay’ provided you don’t mind the summer getting hellish and winter being surf’s up floodtastic. Oh and don’t look at your heating bill or the price rises in the shops.

So, Guardian reading, occasionally veggie, leccy car driving, gender bigot botherer, Labour voting, privileged straight white man (okay, not cis 🏳️‍⚧️) that I am, I’m not okay with I’m Alright Jack.

Maybe I’m a weirdo in that I think folk shouldn’t have to choose between eating or having the heating on; that kids should have a bed and not be hungry; that a Minimum Wage job means you need a benefit top up ‘cos your employer is a millionaire tight arse; and when someone is fleeing war or persecution, we should welcome them, just as they would help us, if the tables were turned.

It’s going to be a long road…. and most of those a covered in potholes 🙂

If anyone has access to an Empathy Ray Gun, I’ve got a list of billionaires sat on money that could make a difference. 🙂

So what might help?

So, like a lot of voters, I’d like to see improvements to public services – repairing the NHS, councils, schools, infrastructure, mental health services, etc.

I would welcome a grownup conversation about immigration – in that, I feel we need people to work, pay tax, and keep the balance of workers to retirees. If we’re letting folk in, either temporarily or to live here, then I feel we need to welcome them, support them, and make sure they’re looked after.

Nottingham has two universities and as such, we have a lot of young folk from all over the world. Throw that in with researchers and our communities of Afro Carribbean, South Asian, Polish (here & welcomed since WWII), and Far Asian people; we’re quite the melting pot. I think we’re a better city in terms of acceptance and culture because of this. Yeah, we have problems like all big cities do, but we get along in general.

As a Trans person (even if I’m genderfluid and not transitioning), and as a parent of a trans teen, I’d welcome a downshift in the toxicity and nonsense that trans rights displace anyone else’s.

When I listen to the firsthand, lived experiences of trans men, they talk openly and eloquently about their surprise at just how much this place is a man’s world. I really feel we’ve got a lot of learn as a society and how we treat people.

I feel it cuts the other way too: when I listen to trans women talk about losing male privileges, it supports the above comments. That and witnessing Everyday Sexism as well. I’ve had a few run ins with this, and I feel that’s despite being of ‘bloke shape’ and not having passing privilege… Well, unless the viewer is far away or has their eyes covered up 😉

I think I’ve written before about having to wait to speak (by being ignored), feeling threatened when out at night, and being patronised when parking. That’s on what, maybe over a hundred times out at a guess. The Ever Lovely Mrs J, my sister, my niece, and female colleagues obviously see it much more, and I think that’s not right.

Yeah, so backing off the transphobia *and* seeing a better conviction rate against predatory men – hint hint: no need to ‘dress up’, inappropriate touching, sexist language, and the rest happens at work, in the street, and it needs to stop. You can’t say anything these days Yeah? Well, maybe there’s some things you shouldn’t be saying.

I’m hoping to see a ban on Conversion Therapy to protect anyone who is LGBTQIA+. Protecting the Equality Act and getting the ECHR to be a watchdog, rather than a dog whistle would be great too. Likewise revaluating the Cass Review by listening to qualified experts, parents of trans kids, and – like duhhh – the actual trans community. I feel that would be a major step forward and will save lives and money.

Money? Yes, better to give people the help they need, rather than try and repair the mental health damage done by denying them who they need to be. I’m over 50 and I still feel ‘somewhere in the middle’ around my gender. Yes, I mostly appear as a bloke, but not always through choice. But appearance is just the cover of the book, not the content.

T Stuff

I’ve been cutting down on my anti-anxiety meds to ween myself of them. The good news is my worries have not come back. Yeah, Life & Stuff happens, but I no longer seem to go into panic mode over those things, or even silly worries that the Anxiety Goblin whispers.

Maybe dear old Nervous Norma(n) has skipped off to the underworld and is enjoying a lovely, gloomy not-summer holiday under a toadstool. Bless. 😉

Fingers crossed this spell of luck continues eh?

The Ever Lovely Mrs J and C2 are off for a few days next week, so Muggins here will be at home and keeping an eye on the hounds. I’m not really one for travel, and with me doggo sitting, I takes a whole load of faff off the table.

Plus, I might get a day out if I’m lucky.

L x