Author: genderdesk

Crowsnest’s obsession with women editing Wikipedia

~ genderdesk ~ Leave a comment

Over at Sucks, Crowsnest has been stalking Jesswade88’s edits and giving a blow by blow description of how appalling he finds her.  He is now up to 5 pages.  Really.

Five pages of rants. He doesn’t like the sources, he doesn’t like the way she rewords them – has he heard of plagiarism?  Of course you have to paraphrase sources. And he doesn’t like the way every sentence in a paragraph starts with the word “she”.

Something tells me if the sentences all started with “he”, there would be no five pages of rants

So who is this Jess person that Crowsnest finds so indigestible?

Dr. Jess Wade is a British physicist who also writes Wikipedia articles about … ruh roh….women. Imagine that. A scientist who wants to write Wikipedia articles.  And not about Pokeman either, she writes about science.

Last summer she was featured in the Wikimedia blog. And she had some interesting things to say about notability requirements for the early career scientists like herself:

I get really sad when my pages get nominated for deletion—not because of the time investment, but because the people I’m creating are genuinely brilliant and don’t deserve to have their notability questioned. The notability criteria are a bit time-expired: academics are usually only deemed worthy if they are a Professor at an impressive university, have a high number of citations, or have won an internationally recognized prize.

Whilst that’s all well-and-good, it doesn’t take into account the amount of public engagement early career scientists are doing—they aren’t just sitting in their labs but writing books, newspaper articles, and doing TED talks. The notability criteria for early career faculty who are significant public figures hasn’t been written yet.

If you spend any amount of time at AfD or pontificating on the subject,  take a few minutes to read what an actual Wikipedian- scientist says about it.

And this is what Crowsnest is working himself into a frenzy over?

Let’s pick someone else and stalk a few of their edits, and see what we come up with. Here is someone called Hell in a Bucket. https://xtools.wmflabs.org/pages/en.wikipedia.org/Hell_in_a_Bucket

Their last article was Casimiro Barela. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casimiro_Barela?action=history This is what it looked like after the first six edits. Three sentences, three refs, but “Hispanic” and “Spanish” are not even capitalized. Is this the type of person who should be editing Wikipedia?  And try to find the information given in those refs. According to the article, “He served in both the Colorado Territory legislature and the legislature of the State.” But the source doesn’t say that.  It only says he served “40 years in the Colorado State Legislature.” but once the information gets into Wikipedia, it is only “almost 40 years.”

So let’s pick a different article, Historic Arkansas Riverwalk. After five edits by Mr. Hell in a Bucket, this is what it looked like:

The Historic Arkansas River Project is a voter approved city beautifiction project in Pueblo, Colorado, It is a multi-acreage project taht is intended to be an economic catalyst for the area by attracting tourism and new businesses.[1]The project features a man made waterway that is accessible to the public free of charge. It is a celbration of the original path or the Arkansas River which was a major factor in Pueblo becoming a city. The San Antonio Riverwalk is considered the inspiration for it’s creation.[2]

Phase Three

Since 1995 there have been two phases completed on the project. The third phase started in 2009 and currently hosts plans for ” two hotels are contemplated, one of them billed as the hippest hostelry ever. And, adjacent to that, add a couple of humongous restaurant complexes. Adjacent to HARP itself, an old warehouse, the Ice House, could become a mixed-use development…..Professional Bull Riders Inc. headquarters, also due to include a spacious restaurant, entertainment and exhibits.” [3]

Professional Bull Riders

In 2008 the P.B.R. moved it’s new corporate headquarters to 101 Riverwalk Way.[4]

Is it just me, or is this totally unintelligible, outside of the obvious spelling and punctuation errors.

I would be curious as to how our Mr. Crowsnest would critique that. Or if he would critique it at all. More likely, someone like this will get a free pass, as well as lot of discrete help from the Good Old Boys club.

Of course this Jess Wade has some interesting friends, too. She has been running editing events with someone named Alice White. Shall we see what this Dr Alice White @HistorianAlice person has been re-tweeting?  Brace yourselves. Because I think we’re going to need one of those Code of Conduct thingies in here. Oh dear.  Library collections are not what they used to be.

Note: And no, you may *not* post “joe job” comments impersonating CN. Did you really think I wouldn’t check?

 

 

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More Lessig

~ genderdesk ~ Leave a comment

New occasions teach new duties; Time makes ancient good uncouth;
They must upward still, and onward, who would keep abreast of Truth
— James Russell Lowell

Is Lawrence Lessig still relevant?

A fixture in the Open Source world, Lessing was last seen running for president, endorsed by Jimbo.

Now he has a book out, Fidelity & Constraint: How the Supreme Court Has Read the American Constitution, part of the Inalienable Rights book series, whatever that is.

Whatever it is, he has scored a review at New York Journal of Books (red link), not to be confused with the The New York Review of Books  or The New York Times Book Review. and certainty not the London Review of Books. But a review is a review. Anyhow, he already has a Wikipedia article, so he won’t need this review to establish notability, not that anyone would haggle over whether the publication is prestigious enough. The guy is male, which is enough to establish notability in itself, without a challenge, assuming someone cares enough to write the article.

So what about the book?

It’s about the Supreme Court.

“Lessig writes that the Court sometimes reflects its fidelity by ignoring the actual text or its infidelity by adhering to the text. It’s enough to make one’s mind spin.”

The reviewer then helpfully quotes Brandeis, the “sunlight as a disinfectant” justice: “Time works changes, brings into existence new conditions and purposes. Therefore, a principle, to be vital, must be capable of wider application than the mischief which gave it birth.”

Okay, but then we are left with this thought, again from Lessing, “When we can no longer locate the pulse of principled constitutional change in a Court, maybe we will again find it in the people. If so, then this passing may ultimately be for the good.”  Cue the tikki-torch marches.

Which reminds me of the old standby “Once to every man and nation.” It is an abolitionist hymn, someone must write an article about it.

“Once to every man and nation.”

An interesting pedigree.  The tune is the Celtic or more specifically Welsh folk tune “Ebenezer,” also called “Ton-y-botel”. It was probably not “found in a bottle” as the folklore surrounding the name would have it. The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology credits it to Thomas John Williams (red link), an insurance salesman who also played the organ; apparently one of his gigs was  Ebenezer Chapel, Rhos, Pontardawe . The tune was also found in the New English Hymnal as ‘Who is this with garments gory,” with words by Bishop A. Cleveland Coxe (1818-96), based on a passage in Isaiah about trampling grapes in the vineyard.

Maria White Lowell

The newer lyrics are from a 1845 poem by James Russell Lowell, a protest against the war with Mexico, in opposition to adding more pro-slavery states to the union.  In 1896, W. Garrett Horder selected 16 of the lines for the hymn.  And all this time I thought it was a Reformation hymn.

At this point someone ought to mention Lowell’s wife Maria White, who Wikipedia tells us “was a member of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society and persuaded her husband to become an abolitionist.” and tragically died at the age of 32 from tuberculosis.

“Truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne…”

Martin Luther King loved to quote this song.

Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide,
In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil side…

Yet that scaffold sways the future, and, behind the dim unknown, Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above his own.”

The big name British groups do this hymn much too slow, so here are some high school students from Fountainview Academy in Canada.

And you *must* see this. I will try to embed, but you can always copy/paste the URL into a new address bar.

This gave me the chills.

Notre Dame de Metz pipe organ

Listen first, then if you are still trying to figure out how they do all the fingering and foot pedals so perfectly, read the description of Notre Dame de Metz virtual pipe organ.

The church is Église Notre Dame de l’Assomption, Metz in France; its the organ is by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll. The Notre Dame organ is said to be famous in music circles.  The French Wikipedia is not remiss, but not a word on English Wikipedia, or on the fairly extensive German wiki list of Cavaillé-Coll organs.

LOL Jesuits again.

And yes, Commons has a photo.

 

A Dolmetsch box

~ genderdesk ~ 2 Comments

Down a rabbit hole….

What are the chances of this: stumbling on this Ebay scraper page by accident, and discovering that two entries for recorders have the same bizarre notation.  They have both been edited on Ebay too, so something happened.

Vintage carved wooden recorder. Good tone. I found it in a Dolmetsch box. But I have doubts that it is actually a Dolmetsch. Based on the gentleman that once owned it, I’d estimate it’s age somewhere between 50 and 70 years. Appears in good condition with some wear evident around the mouthpiece.

On the page itself you can find links to Ebay sales for everything from a 24 carat gold flute mouthpiece for $4,695.00 to an entire gold flute for around 15 grand.  And all of these fancy flutes come from …the Netherlands!!!

 

Imagine that, the Dutch streets are paved with golden flutes, but they don’t have a pot to piss in. (see “wildplassen” hashtag) Peter Paul Ekker, a spokesperson for the deputy mayor: “Obviously it should be equal and everyone will agree it can be done better, but what are the costs, is there space, and is it worth it?” Is it worth it, heh.  Business as usual, in the gold-flute-lined streets of Amsterdam.  And still no Wikipedia article for this, or Geerte Piening, although they did add Zeikwijf to the Plaskrul article.

Not everything comes from the Netherlands of course, you can order an antique “H.F.Meyer Hannover” flute from Boise for a mere $625.  I kind of like it.

But back to the “Dolmetsch box”.

The thing looks kind of creepy, no?  It says it is made of wood, but it looks like bone.  Sort of like a femur, actually.

But this is a red herring, the Dolmetsch box was never about this, it was only there to send us down this Dolmetsch rabbit hole.

Dolmetsch (Eugène Arnold Dolmetsch,  1858 – 1940) was an instrument maker from Haselmere, south west of London.  Wikipedia has little interesting informaton about him, other than the names of his female relatives.

Moving on to an article in the Guardian, Arnold Dolmetsch had a reputation for being a sandals-and-beard sort of dude who looked like a druid, for being part of the arts and crafts movement, and for his instruments being recommended by George Bernard Shaw – there are numerous anecdotes about him with literary figures of the day (see this blog).

But most of all, Dolmetsch is credited with reviving the recorder as an instrument.  I’m not sure if that’s good or bad, or if the recorder even qualifies as a musical instrument, but it is entirely true that there are a lot of them out there, and that children are sometimes encouraged to try them, and that his name was stamped on them. So this is all his fault. His family dynasty also maintains a legendary music website https://www.dolmetsch.com/ that uses Sibelius Scorch to access.

According to Wikipedia, “His 1915 book The Interpretation of the Music of the XVIIth and XVIIIth Centuries was a milestone in the development of ‘authentic performances‘ of early music. ”  The book is a red link of course, but it is all over. Internet Archive has it. There are others. You can buy used copies, some more cheaply than others, and with a multitude of different covers. The book had all the great gossip about performance practice, for example, what did Mozart think of a particular type of ornamentation.

But where are the women?

After wading through three ex-wives and and some offspring, we find his daughter, Cecile Dolmetsch was a viol player, and his third wife Mabel Johnston /Mabel Dolmetsch was a noted player of the bass viol, as well as an author who wrote Dances of England and France 1450 – 1600, published by Routledge and Paul, 1949.

This must be the daughter in this 1928 video. Or maybe the other daughter Nathalie Dolmetsch, who became a leading member of the Viola da Gamba Society (red link). Full story of the video here.

Mabel Dolmetsch

Mabel Dolmetsch (1874–1963), was Arnold’s third wife, 16 years his junior, who had started taking violin lessons from him in 1896 and, within a year, had become part of the concert-giving “family”, mostly performing on the violone or the viola da gamba. At the same time, she worked as Arnold’s instrument-building assistant, as she’d been learning wood-working, on the quiet.

Mabel Dolmetsch’s most well-known book,  Dances of England and France 1450 – 1600, is not available, even in google books snippet view, although someone has obviously scanned it, so don’t bother to try to quote it for Wikipedia. There are plenty of used copies on 4mazon though. (Not gonna link, they will spam me with ads.)

She also wrote a few other books, including a memoir about her famous husband.

Personal and family life

Mabel Johnston /Mabel Dolmetsch was born the thirteenth child in a family of fourteen. Her brother was Harry Johnston (Wikipedia blue link). Thanks to her brother’s Wikipedia article, we know that her parents were John Brookes Johnstone, a Scottish insurance broker, and Esther Laetitia Hamilton, background and occupation unknown. She had four children with Arnold Dolmetsch: Cecile Dolmetsch (obit), Nathalie Dolmetsch (The Viola Da Gamba), Rudolph Dolmetsch (online) (national portrait gallery) , Carl Dolmetsch (bio) (obit)

Some sources

There is a family tree here with some biographical data: Dolmetsch history page: https://www.dolmetsch.com/historypage.htm

In French: https://www.dolmetsch.com/Dolworksfrench.htm https://data.bnf.fr/en/14857582/mabel_dolmetsch/

In German: https://www.sophie-drinker-institut.de/dolmetsch-familie

List of ref: https://www.dolmetsch.com/historypage.htm

Mabel Johnston’s recordings in connection with her work with the revival of the Irish harp may be historically interesting, but they are scratchy and hard to listen to.

Here is harpist Alisa Sadikova. (If you can’t open it, copy/paste to a new address bar)

And if you would like an encore, a Mozart concerto for harp and flute.

Lori Holland

~ genderdesk ~ Leave a comment

For the ploughman lads they are gay well lads,
They are false and deceiving 0,
They’ll gang awa’, they’ll sail awa’,
And they’ll leave their lasses greetin’, 0.

[The Scotswomen must be breathing a sigh of relief today, see “Scottish politics: another one bites the dust“.  Time for a little Scottish folk music.]

Lori Holland (1932 – ) is an American singer and was part of the urban folk music revival of the 1950s, predating the likes of Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Mary Travers, and Carolyn Hester.  She was born in the Bronx in New York City.  She was introduced to folk music as a result of attending square dances at City College and folk music events, where she met others interested in the folk music scene, including her husband David, a singer/guitar player.  She started performing at parties and folk gatherings and was featured on the “Folkmusic Festival” on station WNYC. Her son Danny Holland played acoustic guitar on her CD “The women she became”.

She recorded two albums, Scottish Folksongs for Women (1958) and Irish Folk Songs for Women, Vol. 2 (1960).  Her signature song was “Didn’t I dance?”, which became an urban folk standard, and was recorded by other artists. “Didn’t I dance” was published on her 2004 CD “The women I became”.   Sing Out magazine printed her songs.

As of 2008, she was still performing occasionally and could be seen at the  Hurdy Gurdy Folk Club in New Jersey. In 2008 she appeared at the New York Pinewoods Folk Music Club sponsored by the Folk Music Society of New York.  In 2010, she appeared at the Borderline Folk Music Club’s free party in New City, part of the New York greater metropolitan area.  In 2017 her publicist reported to a fan forum that she was no longer performing publicly, although still singing once in a while.

Discography

Collections

cover - the best of american folk & blues cover o love is teasin cover - our singing heritage

Other recordings and covers

Printed music

  • cover - 124 Folk Songs As Recorded On Folkways Records By Famous Folk Song Singers124 Folk Songs as Sung and Recorded on Folkways Records, publisher: Robbins Music Corporation (1965). Color pictorial trade paperback, 4to, 128pp., includes instructions for folk guitar, chord chart for guitar, chord chart for 5-string banjo. Lori Holland: “I Know Where I’m Going”, “Mrs. McGrath”, “Maid Going to Comber (Next Market Day)”

Websites

~~~~

So what about those Scottish folksongs….

“Scottish Folksongs for Women”, recorded in 1958, is a collection of songs that were traditionally sung by women, although anyone can sing them.  The album includes love laments, songs where a woman is the central figure, and lullabies. The album has been reproduced by the Smithsonian Folkways and is available on their website. The liner notes can also be downloaded from the Smithsonian website; they are actual folksongs from Scotland and the notes will tell you who they were collected from.

From the album, below: Lori Holland’s “When I Was Noo but Sweet Sixteen”, sometimes known as “Peggy On the Banks of the Spey”.

When I was noo but sweet sixteen,
In beauty just a-bloomin’, 0,
0, little, little did I think
At nineteen I’d be greetin‘, 0.

For the ploughman lads they are gay well lads,
They are false and deceiving 0,
They’ll gang awa’, they’ll sail awa’,
And they’ll leave their lasses greetin’, 0.

If I’d a kent what I do ken,
And done my mother’s biddin’, 0,
I would not be at your firside,
Cryin’: Hishie ba, ma bairnie, 0.

0, Hishie ba, for I’m your ma,
But the Lord knows where’s your daddie, 0,
But I’ll take good care and I’ll be aware
Of the young men in the gloamin”, 0.

When I was noo but sweet sixteen,
In beauty just a-bloomin, 0,
0, little, little did I think
At nineteen I’d be greetin’, 0.

If you’re in the mood for an encore, try “Mormond Braes”, you can download the lyrics here.

Note: someone like this should have a Wikipedia article, it is a part of our heritage that is fast disappearing. But where are the people publishing the interviews and the books and the “encyclopedia of women in folk” etc etc, to provide enough “reliable sources” to keep these articles from mass deletions by people who can’t stand to see women recognized?

Gregor Murray

~ genderdesk ~ Leave a comment

Gregor Murray or Gregor Fisher Murrey (May 14, 1987 – ) is a Scottish politician and an Independent councillor from Ward 6 (North East district) of Dundee in Scotland. This Dundee City Council district covers the areas of Mill O’Mains, Claverhouse, Fintry, and Whitfield.   Murray was elected as a member of the Scottish National Party (SNP) in 2012 and again in 2016.

Murray was born in the Fintry area of Dundee, and attended secondary school at Braeview Academy.  Murray attended University of Dundee and received an MA in International Relations and Politics in 2008, and an MLitt in European Politics in 2010.  Murray was employed in IT, then as a journalism researcher, then from 2007 to 2013 worked for Shona Robison, MSP for the Dundee East district and the Cabinet Secretary who promoted a 40% female quota in boardrooms,  and for Joe FitzPatrick the Dundee West district MSP for the SNP, and the Government’s chief whip.

On the Dundee City council, Murray was the convener of the Children and Families Service Committee.

Murray’s stated gender is “Plural (neutral)”. According to mumsnet, Murray is male but “identifies as non-binary which is underneath the trans umbrella.
Non-Binary identities are very individualistic so it may mean that Murray does not identify as man or woman or alternatively Murray identifies as both man & woman.”

Controversies

avatar twitter boy scout gregor murrayIn May 2014, while deputy convener for education, Murray attacked Alex Salmond’s plan for 40% female representation in boardrooms as “f***ing stupid”, and  “the biggest load of p*** I have ever seen”. (not sure what is p***)

In August 2017, a complaint was lodged against Councillor Murray by Rev Bob Mallinson over concerns the pedestrian crossings at new Tayview Primary School were not working in time for the opening.  According to the complaint, Murray “responded that he didn’t care and that he wasn’t interested in anything I had to say to him. Councillor Murray also called me a liar.”

grogipher-twitterIn July 2018, Murray referred to the political equality group Women 50:50 as “absolute roasters”, which was criticized by Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale. “Roaster” is Scottish slang for an objectionable person.

In August 2018 Murray resigned as convener of the children and families services committee and equal opportunities spokesperson, following profanity-laden rants on social media surrounding an anti-trans protest at a London Pride event.

As chair of the children’s and families service committee, Murray approved a report about period poverty and sanitary products in schools without using the words girl, woman, or female but included transgender men and non binary.

 

In April 2019, Murray accused several Scottish Government ministers of “hysteria”, after they signed a letter of concern in connection with changing the Gender Recognition Act of 2004.  The current act allows gender recognition certificates to be issued “if the person involve has had a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria and proof of having lived in their declared gender for two years”.  The proposal would allow certificates solely on the declaration of the applicant.

Statement by Joan McAlpine

In May 2019 Murray resigned from the SNP, noting “unwavering support” from the party in Dundee but accusing the wider party of having “a major institutional problem with transphobia”.

Also in May 2019, Murray was suspended from meetings of Dundee City Council and its committees.for two months by the Standards Commission for Scotland, an independent body that promotes and enforces codes of conduct for councillors. Murray called the decision a “miscarriage of justice.” The panel found “It was evident that the councillor’s description as TERFS being scum and hateful and vile that he intended it to be a term of abuse.” and also “The panel further determined that the councillor’s use of the ‘c’ word in a public forum such as a tweet was highly offensive and inappropriate.”

External links

Activities

Gregor-MurrayThe following is a full list of activities:

  • Convener of the Children and Families Service Committee
  • Council’s Spokesperson on Equal Opportunities.Member of
  • The Council’s service Committees (City Development, Children and Families, Development Management, Neighbourhood Services and Community Safety and Public Protection)
  • Representative, COSLA Board (Children and Young People)
  • Representative, Dundee Partnership (Children and Families Executive Board)
  • Member of the Dundee City Licencing Board
  • Member of the Tayside Pension Investment Sub-Committee
  • Member of the Personnel Appointments Sub-Committee
  • Member of the Personnel Appeals Sub-Committee
  • Member of the Whitfield Regeneration Forum
  • Member of the North East Local Community Planning Partnership
  • Member of the Dundee School Children’s Holiday Fund
  • Member of the North East Campus Project Board
  • Governor of the City of Dundee Educational Trust
  • Trustee of the Dundee Trust
  • Trustee of the Mars Training Ship Fund
  • Member of the Education Review Group
  • Member of the School Parking Review Group
  • Member of Educational Appeal Committees
  • Chair of the Appointments Panel for Education
  • Director of Dundee Science Centre
  • substitute member of Licensing Committee
  • substitute member of Local Review Body

(1) http://www.dundeecity.gov.uk/councillors/gregormurray https://web.archive.org/web/20190515200326/https://www.dundeecity.gov.uk/service-area/councillors/ward-6-north-east-gregor-murray

(2) https://www.dundeecity.gov.uk/dundeecity/uploaded_publications/publication_3256.pdf https://www.dundeecity.gov.uk/service-area/corporate-services/democratic-and-legal-services/elections-results-2012-more-detailed-information https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Dundee_City_Council_election

(3) https://web.archive.org/web/20190515203331/https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:or9x7leCe_QJ:https://m.facebook.com/pages/category/Politician/CllrGregorMurray/about/

(4) https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/local/dundee/891789/exclusive-dundee-councillor-gregor-murray-quits-snp-over-partys-institutional-transphobia/

(5) https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/local/dundee/878072/dundee-councillor-accuses-scottish-government-ministers-of-gender-hysteria/

(6) https://www.eveningtelegraph.co.uk/fp/dundee-councillor-gregor-murray-guilty-of-breaking-rules-by-swearing-at-woman-on-twitter/

(7) https://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3586397-Gregor-Murray-SNP-Councillor-guilty-of-verbal-abuse

(8) https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2014/05/30/ex-chair-of-snp-lgbt-group-says-female-boardroom-quota-is-a-fing-stupid-idea/

(9) https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/13162718.snp-councillor-attacks-partys-female-quota-policy-as-fing-stupid/

(10) https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-scotland-tayside-central-45151228

(11) https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/1281707/snp-councillor-equalities-womens-group-absolute-roasters/

(12) https://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3316098-Childrens-Convenor-Elected-Councillor-calls-women-cunts-on-Twitter-rants

(13) https://www.eveningtelegraph.co.uk/fp/dundee-council-equality-chief-fire-branding-womens-group-absolute-roasters-twitter/

 

Scottish politics: another one bites the dust

~ genderdesk ~ Leave a comment
Murray (l), Moonie (r)

Must be something in the water.

Within hours of Lord Lewis Moonie leaving the Labour party, Dundee councillor Gregor Murray resigned from the SNP (Scottish National Party) in another “transphobia” dustup. The Telegraph has covered it, also the Courier and the Scotsman (there is no “Scotswoman” that I can find, except for one day in 1995):

“The panel further determined that the councillor’s use of the ‘c’ word in a public forum such as a tweet was highly offensive and inappropriate.”

Oh dear, not that again.

And two weeks ahead of some election.

Murray responded with accusations of transphobia, “as a trans person, I do not feel welcome, or safe within the party’s structure.”

It’s that toilet thing again.  Why can’t Europeans seem to get it together with the toilets. What are they doing in there anyhow? Is this the deal where two guys — excuse me, “transwomen” — go into the toilet together and lock the door and no one else can pee? And why do toilets that are used by persons-with-penises always smell funny?  (Yes I have shared toilets with dudes and don’t really want to know; it is Too Much Information.)

The courier says Murray was “repeatedly clashing with SNP MPs and MSPs, such as Joanna Cherry and Joan McAlpine, over trans issues.” and continues with the confusing statement

“Ms McAlpine lodged an official complaint about the councillor, who prefers not to be referred to with the pronoun “he”, after criticism of her stance on trans issues.”

Murray is a “she”?  Murray is the one with the beard and the receding hairline.

And I think we get it by now that the lesbians and gay dudes are at war, at least in Merrie Olde England.

Murray has no Wikipedia article. The article for Joan McAlpine is fairly unremarkable, and seems complete enough, but the one for Joanna Cherry is a train wreck — or is it “dumpster fire” now.

According to the article, Cherry is lesbian, but Wikipedia also claims (in two separate paragraphs WP:UNDUE) she is being investigated for “bullying” with no further explanation.  One source is an article in The Times, behind a paywall.  The other is the Scotsman, where we find the bullying accusation was not about her but her office manager, Fraser Thompson, over an issue of medical leave, and that accusations of this type are handled privately and cannot be confirmed.  A huge BLP issue for Wikipedia.

And if you look further, you will see here that it was Joanna Cherry who was subjected to death threats, including an email with a picture of a gun and the caption “do it”, and that she received police protection after the threats. That one is not in her article.  The article makes it look like she was the instigator and not the recipient of the threats. She has denied the bullying accusations to the Herald Tribune, on behalf of her self and her staff manager — this denial is not in the article either. Not sure who’s who in the Scottish press, but it seems the various news outlets are aligned with parties, and someone has only put one side into Wikipedia.

A huge BLP issue, even for a politician. If this was a man, it would be at the BLP noticeboard already.  But hey, it’s a woman, does anyone care?

UPDATE: I see it now, edit summary “Received a more credible source for her offensive nature.” https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Joanna_Cherry&diff=896792433&oldid=896620689 and this offensive edit/edit summary, clearly the Standards Commission for Scotland does not share that view. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Joanna_Cherry&diff=895504887&oldid=895485651

The edits are both by user:PurpleMayo whose sole purpose in life seems to be to make a handful of edits to the Joanna Cherry article accusing her of “transphobia”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/PurpleMayo

The source given does not pan out, the accusation is “homophobia” and was made by Cherry’s former employee Iona Paton, who worked as Cherry’s constituency case worker. Several examples are given in the source, the one that seems most closely related to “transphobia” is “I noted that whenever Mr Thompson spoke about me to other people, he would repeat things that I had said in a feminine manner.”  Other complaints about Cherry include this Fraser Thompson filling in for his wife as office manager when she went on maternity leave, restricting staff access to Cherry, and requiring employees who missed work for medical appointments to make up the time lost.  Complaints against MPs are handled by Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, which does not comment on whether something has been reported to them: “Allegations of bullying and harassment, if received, are handled confidentially. We neither confirm nor deny receipt of complaints about named MPs.”

So according to the source, it is unknown whether Cherry is being investigated.  And using a high voice to mimic someone…is this the definition of “transphobia”?  I think this “original research”, as it is not characterized in this way by any source. This user:PurpleMayo is someone with an ax to grind.

Oh, and they forgot the book she coauthored https://www.worldcat.org/title/mental-health-and-scots-law-in-practice/oclc/1040960852&referer=brief_results

Lord Moonie of Bennochy

~ genderdesk ~ 3 Comments

Is Wikipedia “the news”?

It looks like it.

Whatever passes for liberal in the UK are tsk-tsking about this one.

The 72-year-old Lord Moonie of Bennochy has resigned from the Labour party.

The “ratio” (comments vs. likes and retweets) looks pretty favorable so far.

No news source has covered this yet. Not the Guardian, not BBC News, not the Independent.

Except for Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lewis_Moonie&diff=897114583&oldid=895714973

For anyone who wants to try to figure out what were his views that were deemed transphobic, his twitter is here:

Lewis Moonie@Moonie_l

Of course it’s still pretty early in the news cycle, and we still don’t know who took him out, but my own take on this is something along the lines of “no true Scotsman”, in other words: Organized disinformation.

UPDATE: Hmm, starting to see a pattern…

lewis moonie pageviews screenshot