Summit: Donald And Theresa Sitting In A Tree

Ugh!

Did Mrs T agree to put up the money so Trump can build a wall to keep out Muslim refugees fleeing war-torn Syria to get free abortions?

And people ask me why Lee Harvey Oswald is my only hero...

Jeremy Corbyn: On Langston Hughes

As the great American poet Langston Hughes put it: “I see that my own hands can make the world that’s in my mind”.

When a British political leader can close a speech to party conference by quoting the gay African-American Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes, you know this is some man.

PS JC tells Theresa May to read Oscar Wilde's De Profundis. So glad we've got a socialist literary fag hag leading the Labour Party. It feels like home again now. x

Theresa May: Committed To Meaningless Gesture Politics

Wooh!

I'm sorry, what good will this do?

Theresa May: Resign!

If anyone can see a point to this story, please drop me a line.

PS I think we can be pretty sure no-one was shagging or 'being tied naked to a tree' when people were picnicking.

Oscar Wilde: Reading Is Good

The doors of Reading Prison are to be opened to the public for the first time as cells are transformed into an art exhibition celebrating the life of Oscar Wilde.

Wilde, the author of The Ballad of Reading Gaol, was locked up in solitary at the prison from 1895 to 1897 for gross indecency, after details of his relationships with men came to light.

Cells will now be opened to the public to commemorate Wilde’s time in prison, as actors, writers and artists including Jeanette Winterson, Ai Weiwei, Ralph Fiennes, Maxine Peake, Steve McQueen and Ben Whishaw lend their talents...

Telegraph.

Und!

Telegraph.

Christopher Booker: Push

Telegraph.

Gay marriage! Europe! Gay marriage! Europe! Gay marriage! Europe! Gay marriage! Europe! Gay marriage! Europe! Gay marriage! Europe! Gay marriage! Europe! [Explodes].

Christopher Booker is 78.

David Cameron: Pinkwashing

David Cameron’s legacy as he leaves 10 Downing Street after six years at the pinnacle of government is now officially up for debate. To his allies, Cameron has been the bedrock of economic recovery, many of them repeatedly citing economic growth and increased employment as his greatest bequests to the nation. But what of the man himself? While bidding farewell to his parliamentary colleagues at Prime Minister’s Questions earlier today, Cameron referred to the introduction of marriage equality as one of his proudest achievements since 2010.

Let’s be clear: the legal right to marry your same-sex partner should be celebrated. However, to suggest that it positions Cameron as chief champion of LGBT equality is no more realistic than the assertion that ‘marriage equality’ means that the battle for LGBT equality is won.

Austerity, the economic model underpinning Cameron’s tenure, has had a devastating impact on LGBT services. A TUC-funded research report by London Metropolitan University in 2014 found that the LGBT Voluntary and Community Sector is struggling to cope under the pressure of extensive public spending cuts. The tangible impact of this has been massive reductions in budgets, staffing and, consequently, services offered. This comes at a time when demand for support among key groups, not least bisexual, trans, BME and disabled LGBT people continues to rise exponentially...

Independent Voices.

Lost count of how many times Dave and Theresa namedropped equal marriage yesterday.

Theresa May: Cruella

Not so big in Scotland.

Boris Johnson: God Help Us If There's A War!

Ladies and gentlemen, your new Foreign Secretary!

World, prepared to be insulted by this posh buffoon.

PS An old piece about Boris on 'Gay rights and all the rest of it'.

Here's when Angela heard this wonderful news...

Investigatory Powers Bill: Snooper's Charter 3.0

The argument that is needed, and the one that is not happening, concerns the routine collection of so-called “metadata”. That term is an immediate turnoff, making it sound as if what is being discussed is profoundly prosaic information about, say, how many megawatts somebody was using, which could be of no possible interest to anybody but a technician. In fact, it reveals not only who is talking to whom and when, but may also include – depending on the precise technology being used – browsing histories, search terms and conceivably even passwords. It is information of this sort that, the novelist John Lanchester argues, may sometimes reveal that “you’re gay” not only “before you tell your mum” but before you know yourself.

Guardian editorial.

Theresa May: 'And I Am Not Making This Up...'

It's hard to know where to start with Theresa May's awful, ugly, misleading, cynical and irresponsible speech to the Conservative Party conference today.

If you haven't seen reports of it, allow me to summarise: "Immigrants are stealing your job, making you poorer and ruining your country. Never mind the facts, just feel angry at foreigners. And make me Conservative leader."

This line deserves close attention: 'And we know that for people in low-paid jobs, wages are forced down even further while some people are forced out of work altogether.'
 
Really? We know that, do we?

Because last year, Mrs May's own officials carried out a pretty serious review of the evidence.

This is what they found: There is relatively little evidence that migration has caused statistically significant displacement of UK natives from the labour market in periods when the economy is strong...

James Kirkup, writing for that notorious left-wing paper The Daily Telegraph.

Here's a Guardian factcheck of her various claims today.

She was also criticised by the Institute of Directors' Simon Walker; 'We are astonished by the irresponsible rhetoric and pandering to anti-immigration sentiment from the Home Secretary... The myth of the job-stealing-immigrant is nonsense. Immigrants do not steal jobs, they help fill vital skill shortages and, in doing so, create demand and more jobs.' 

The Refugree Council added; 'The home secretary’s clear intention to close Britain’s border to refugees fleeing for their lives is thoroughly chilling, as is her bitter attack on the fundamental principle enshrined in international law that people fleeing persecution should be able to claim asylum in Britain.' 

Many pointed out the cruel irony that May's best-known intervention at Conservative conference before was telling delegates in 2002; 'There's a lot we need to do in this party of ours. Our base is too narrow and so, occasionally, are our sympathies. You know what some people call us – the Nasty Party.'

A seismic moment that led to Cameron's 'let's say nice things about minorities and give the buggers gay marriage' volte face. 

Camilo and Frank and their cat, Maya.

In 2011, the same year Cameron came out in support of gay marriage, Theresa May famously warned conference about immigration and asylum; 'We all know the stories about the Human Rights Act... about the illegal immigrant who cannot be deported because, and I am not making this up, he had a pet cat.'

Except it was soon shown that that story was made up.

The decision to let Bolivian Camilo Renzo Soria stay in the UK with his partner Frank Trew had nothing to do with their cat.

Surely everything Ms May says to conference should be prefixed with the warning; 'And I am not making this up'?

ie She probably is. 

PS Will we start sending back LGBT people we've granted asylum to? Standard. 

The Daily Mail: On Drugs

How to read statistics: If you start off with a number that is small (12), saying it has gone up 800% when it has gone up to 97 is ridiculous hyperbole.
Especially when not all the deaths were solely caused by legal highs.
And statistically speaking, you're more likely to get pecked to death by a swan. *
Thanks for asking.

Well, I'm sure that'll have a massive effect on the number of people using it.
And, again, ketamine has never been used as a horse tranquiliser.
You might as well say it's a 'giraffe suppository'.
And I'd be extremely surprised if anyone was sent to prison for possession of a Class B drug.
Thanks for asking.

* In keeping with the high standards of journalists writing about drugs, I have made this 'fact' up.

Theresa May: And She's Not Making This Up

Ben Cohen, publisher of Pink News, has begun a campaign to get politicos and celebs to record videos saying they are Out4Marriage.
Who says It Gets Better hasn't changed anything?
Much of the UK gay media seem to be imploding with excitement that Theresa May, Tory minister for women and equalities and deportation, has made a video.
That's right - Theresa May, who's always said she supports gay marriage, has said she supports gay marriage!
On Pink News, a breathless Edmund Broch declares; 'Home Secretary Theresa May comes @Out4Marriage to reaffirm Government’s equal marriage promise'
"Drawing a line under accusations that the Government is ‘pushing into the long grass’ plans to allow gay couples to marry, the Home Secretary, Theresa May, has become the most senior politician yet to join the Out4Marriage campaign."
No such line is drawn.
If anything she is markedly less committed than she has been in the past, and stresses she's only expressing a personal opinion;
"I recognise that there are strong views on both sides of this argument. And I need to listen to all of those views and that’s why the Government is consulting on this issue."
Even if she said she was determined to make gay marriage happen, after Conservative conference every word May says has to be foregrounded with the phrase; "And I'm not making this up..."
Meaning she probably is.
It is remarkable and frightening that journalists - who should be the last people to believe anything a politician says - can be the most credulous and unquestioning.

PS The hyperbole spreads to The Independent who give a leader column to this epochal moment. The piece in The Guardian is so stupid I find it impossible to believe the journalist has been following the gay marriage debate.
Hooray for stupidity!

Theresa May: Oh, Give Us Money

'Speaking at the Stonewall Workplace Conference in London today, the Home Secretray Theresa May said businesses could not afford to ignore the £70 billion-strong lesbian, gay and bisexual market, as she set out the 'business case for equality'. Ms May said the government would continue to strive for equality, saying top employers 'know that a company whose workforce better reflects their customers is better able to understand what their customers want and need - and that means greater sales and profits'.

Stonewall.
Christ, is anyone dumb enough to believe this £70 billion claim?
This comes from what?
Saying 10% of people are gay - basically you could halve this, at least - and it's nonsensical to say that all their income is disposable.
Please...
And what kind of an immoral agent does something, not because they think it's right, but because they think they can make a profit?
"We still don't like you, but give us your money, gayboy."
Tory thinking in a nutbag.

Marriage: Of Convenience

One of the oddest sideshows to the gay marriage debate has been the battle for political ownership of the policy.
This first went public during conference season last year.
The Lib Dems' Lynne Featherstone made ever such a big hurrah about it - as if its possible/promised introduction was a key sign of how they were wrestling Lib Dem policies out of their Conservative coalition partners (Though it was not a Liberal Democrat manifesto pledge, either).
Two weeks later David Cameron turned marriage equality into a keynote of his keynote speech.
Thunder duly stolen.
Today both parties have pushed their big pro-gay guns into the press to announce the launch of the same-sex marriage consultation process.
Lynne Featherstone, the Equalities Minister, is interviewed by The Independent where the journalist concentrates on the bunfight with the Christian lobby that the press have obsessed over of late; "the Liberal Democrat minister appealed for a "calm and reasoned debate" and for her critics to stop using "inflammatory" language after she formally launches the Government's consultation exercise today."
Here's the key quote from Featherstone;
"Ms Featherstone made clear that her mind is already made up, giving a "cast-iron guarantee" that civil gay marriage would become law by the next general election in 2015.
"There is no rolling back whatsoever," she said. "The essential question is not whether we are going to introduce same-sex civil marriage but how."
Yes, exactly - how? 
An enabling law?
By magic?
Who can say?
Over in The Times, Theresa May - self-styled "Conservative Home Secretary and Minister for Equalities" note - writes; 'If Marriage Is Good It Should Be For Everyone'.  
(It's behind the Murdoch paywall, but here's a scan).
Just like The Times and David Cameron, May may be a recent convert to the marriage equality cause, but is now bending over forward to show she's a passionate advocate.
May puts a calming, ever so reasonable and very conservative case, summarised as; "Plans to allow gays to wed will strengthen society and pose no threat at all to the Church."
The Independent article directly mentions the battle for ownership of what's become a flagship policy between the two coalition parties;
"Ms Featherstone is more polite about her Tory critics – even though 50 backbenchers may vote against the plans and another 50 could abstain. "I think the Conservative Party has moved on from where it was," she said. "As Liberal Democrats, we like to enlighten people."
"There was a minor skirmish between the two Coalition parties last autumn over whether Mr Cameron or Ms Featherstone was the driving force behind legalising gay marriage. "I am very grateful to David Cameron for his absolute commitment to this proposal," Ms Featherstone said. "It is a liberal idea, as you would expect from a liberal Equalities minister."
Get 'er! etc etc.
How amusing that the gay marriage debate shows how there are so many hidden seething tensions between these superficially civil coalition partners. 
And what a difficult marriage it is.

Gay Marriage: You Fill Me With Inertia

Her Majesty's Hopeless Coalition Government have announced today that they will announce tomorrow that they will begin a consultation soon about that gay marriage thing that they announced last year and promised last June.
Wooh!
Rejoice in that non-news etc. 
I spoke to someone from the Home Office about it earlier and still don't really understand it. 
Basically they're submitting something called a WMS (Written Ministerial Statement), and then they can start consulting some bigots about what they think about it all. 
Probably best not to book your gay-wedding day off work just yet, though.
That's if you've still got a job, of course.
YAY!

Fagburn: Oh Resign

Oh resign, because you - and I am not making this up – had a pet cat.

Catflap: Full Story And Pics!

The ever fascinating Sunday People has an "Exclusive chat with couple at heart of Tory immigration row"
Bolivian Camilo Renzo Soria, 36, whose front room is festooned with dozens of ornamental moggies, said: "We cannot believe all this has happened. When we got Maya in 2005 we never thought it would lead to a national incident."
Do you think Theresa May should resign forthwith?
"Its absolutely crazy. But even after all that's happened I don't regret getting Maya. She's so friendly and funny."
But the Home Secretary lied brazenly, and made a thinly-veiled populist grab for the racist vote.
"She loves to be the centre of attention. When we have parties at home shes always here. I have always had a cat since I was little. Maya was my fourth."
Did you feel particularly sickened when you heard she'd nicked this fiction from a speech by far-right goon Nigel Farage of the UK Independence Party?
"She's had kittens herself and we've kept four of them. Maya and three of the kittens are long haired."
After Catflap and Foxgate the Tory Party frontbench seems to be in meltdown - can we ever trust them again?
"Maya's favourite food is a Morrisons seafood platter cat food. And she likes chicken and fish sticks."
Do you think gay couples are treated equally on immigration issues?
"There is a lot to do looking after all the cats. But if we buy our own house in future I would like to get a dog as well. Only a small one, though."
Do you have a message for the Lady Home Secretary?
"I like cat ornaments. I have dozens of them at home."
Camilo Renzo Soria, shoplifting gay Bolivian cat-lover, thank you.

• The Mail On Sunday ain't happy they've been scooped; 'Catgate row Bolivian hires PR guru to sell story... and he's getting more pets too!'

Catflap: Never Mind The Pussy...

The officially unreported judgment which emerged on Thursday reveals the unnamed student, aged 33, had been living in a "strong relationship" for four years with his gay partner who is settled in Britain...

The immigration ruling makes clear the judge considered the dying father of the Bolivian student's partner far more important than their joint ownership of Maya the cat in deciding the case.

The senior immigration judge, JR Devittie, regarded evidence from friends and the partner's brothers as to the quality of relationship as "persuasive and telling".

The original ruling shows that the student overstayed his visa and was issued with a removal notice after being arrested for shoplifting. He was not charged with the offence. The detailed ruling shows the evidence about the cat was only introduced by a witness.

While sources close to May have stressed this reference to the cat, they have not quoted the judge's conclusion that the evidence from friends, relatives and photographs of family occasions had "amply demonstrated" the quality and strength of their relationship. "The evidence shows the appellant is well integrated into the larger family his partner has with his siblings and parents. He attends family functions with his partner and is regarded as a member of the family."

He also rejected the Home Office's contention that they could both simply go and live in Bolivia, pointing out that would not be reasonable given that his partner's father was 'in a condition that he was not expected to recover from' and the family, including the Bolivian student had collectively decided to support him.

The Home Office appealed Devittie's decision claiming it had placed "an inappropriate weight on the Bolivian student having to leave behind not only his partner but also his joint cat." The appeal judge, senior immigration judge Gleeson, does not seem to have taken this seriously and says that the Home Office claim that Devittie had made a mistake in law by applying a policy that had already been withdrawn was more significant.

When the case was heard on 1 December 2008 Gleeson dismissed the appeal saying the immigration authorities had overlooked their own procedures for dealing with unmarried partners of a person present or settled in the UK.

From The Guardian - based on a statement by the judicial communications office "issued with the full authority of the Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge, which said the Home Office was wrong."

The man - named elsewhere as Ranzo Avila, now 36 - had argued his right to a family life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights because he had been with his boyfriend for four years.

The race is now on to see if it's The Sun, The Daily Express or The Daily Mail who will be the first to notice that the Bolivian cat lover who wasn't deported is - and I'm not making this up - a gay!

If only Conservative Party conference had heard that bit.
Send 'im back!!!!

According to the Daily Telegraph: "Mr Avila is still with his partner and is eligible to apply for indefinite leave to remain in Britain when his current leave comes up for renewal next year. If granted it paves the way for him to apply for British citizenship."

• Here's the 2009 Daily Telegraph piece that started Cat-gate; 'Immigrant allowed to stay because of pet cat'
The DT presumed that the anonymous man was heterosexual; "An immigrant who was about to be deported from Britain has won a legal battle to remain in the country – partly because he and his girlfriend had bought a pet cat."

Marriage Equality: I'm Still Waiting

"Heterosexual couples could soon win the right to form civil partnerships and gay and lesbians [sic] the right to marry in register offices under equality law reforms," according to The Times today.
Funny - on February 13th The Sunday Times announced on its front page; 'Gays Will Get Right To Marry'.
I don't like to gloat but Fagburn believes he was alone in pointing out that story was utter nonsense.
Can we ever trust them again etc etc...
Anyway, the only real news today is that The Times has used the term "marriage equality" in a headline - which is progress of sorts.
Basically The Times has just lifted some quotes from Theresa May's speech at that Stonewall conference yesterday - platitude fans may want to read her speech in full.
Fagburn's funniest line; "I am passionate about equality" - maybe you should vote for it then, Theresa?
None of this tells us anything we haven't been told before - like that we can get civilly partnered in churches and that soon.
We won't be getting married soon, but they are going to continue "consulting" - "talks about talks" - which we knew.
“There is also a desire to move towards equal civil marriage and partnerships and we will consult further on how legislation can develop, working with all those who have an interest in this area,” May wibbled.
Fuck knows who needs to be consulted "further" about this, though?
Kate Middleton?
Our Lord Beelzebub??
Rastamouse???
The mind positively boggles!