
Humanist. Programme manager. Bradfordian (adopted). Views my own. #Politics #Humanism #Bradford #Health #DigitalHealth
Bradford UK #CityOfCulture2025
Joined January 2009
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Dermot Bolton retweeted
I wrote a new piece about women’s rights and whether or not I want trans people dead. (Spoiler: I don’t)👇
jkrowling.com/opinions/an-up…
Dermot Bolton retweeted
Replying to @HSJnews
@HSJnews Alastair, HSJ normally seems to know what's happening in the NHS before anyone else. Which makes your silence on this topic all the more conspicuous.
Given the long overdue implications for female staff and patients, when can readers expect the same level of scrutiny HSJ applies to other NHS controversies?
While you're at it, Redvers v NHS Sussex ICB & Adam Doyle deserves many HSJ column inches.
There are important unanswered questions and a journalistic deep dive from HSJ would be in the public interest.
If you're not familiar with the case, @nickwallis and @tribunaltweets are useful starting points.
The NHS has published single-sex guidance for staff and patients.
Read the guidance on NHS staff facilities here ➡️ england.nhs.uk/publication/g…
Read the guidance on hospital accommodation for patients here ➡️ england.nhs.uk/publication/p…
Dermot Bolton retweeted
I’ve updated my online shop with signed and sketched editions of Murder School, Why Don’t You Love Me and There’s No Time Like The Present. Plus other items! Www.pbRainey.com
Dermot Bolton retweeted
Yesterday our chair @hollowood_zoe asked @LibDems conference in a trans debate:
"In 2026, are women allowed rights?
Rights to dignity.
Rights to safety.
Rights to say no."
Conference resoundingly voted 'no' thus deciding that women were second class citizens. 🧵
Watson goes to the dark side. New job to soft sell hi-tech facism as 'the good guys'. Appalling sell out.
After six wonderful years at UK Music, I'm joining Palantir UK as Senior Vice President.
Palantir is the most interesting company on the planet, doing work of real consequence: helping Britain and its allies defend themselves, helping police protect our citizens and helping NHS staff get patients treated and home sooner.
London is comfortably its largest centre outside the US, home to more than one in six employees, the highest proportion among the world's largest technology companies.
We have challenges. Some criticism is propaganda. Some raises legitimate questions about large technology companies and sovereign control. Both require answers.
Part of my role will be to correct false information while working with our engineers to ensure privacy, security and respect for sovereignty are at the heart of everything we do.
Dermot Bolton retweeted
My statement following the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s announcement sanctioning me from entering Israel.
Dermot Bolton retweeted
Our yearlong investigation reveals Nigel Farage courting illicit funding as part of a plot to bring foreign money into British politics, orchestrated by his top aides and caught on hidden camera.
Dermot Bolton retweeted
“It worked, boom.”
That’s Nigel Farage celebrating a Reform UK plot to break election law - by having a US company secretly pay for three influential political polls that benefitted the party.
Earlier in the investigation, Reform’s Head of Policy James Orr and senior advisor Dan Jukes arranged for a Verbatim reporter to pay for the polls through a US company. Orr and Jukes believed the firm was run by the reporter’s American father.
Mr Farage was filmed by undercover reporters from @Verbatim_Media as part of a year-long investigation that Channel 4 News has thoroughly checked and verified.
This meeting took place in his Clacton constituency in July - when Mr Farage was fighting a by-election he called after separate allegations about his finances.
Watch the full investigation on YouTube.
Dermot Bolton retweeted
OK, since a few people have missed this, my usage is common amongst people who want clarity about biological sex - otherwise known as 'gender critical' people or 'sex realists' It's also considered.
Male and female are biological terms, that apply across species. You can't change sex, so all 'transwomen' are male, and all 'transmen' are female. Male and female are not social roles. With 'man and woman' it's not quite so obvious, so I tend, like others who use this approach to refer to trans-identified *males*, not trans identified *men*. I defend the view that 'man' and 'woman' are not social roles but biological categories and I defend the definition of woman as adult human female, but I want to be crystal clear.
So this group of male people 'identify' as the opposite sex, or, sometimes, just as trans, or as some other gender identity (like 'gender queer') that falls 'under the trans umbrella'. Hence, because biology is important, I refer to *trans identified* males and *trans identified* females. I tend to use initials and 'they' when referring to particular people. This does not gratutiously hurt them, and does not force me to saying something that I don't what to say - viz - that trans identified males are in some respect women. I'm now of the view that it is morally wrong for males to identify as women. I was persuaded of this, by this paper by @aytchellesse:
journalofcontroversialideas.…
Unlike Holly, I no longer refer to transwomen - I don't think it works - but I'm happy for other people to do so. The main reason is that I think that the demands raised by (most, not all) trans identified men are demands that flow specifically from *male* entitlement. It is, I now think, important to capture that in the terms we use. I think it's quite important for *men,* specifically, in this argument to acknowledge and critique the huge male entitlement that is engaged.
The worst and most confusing usage is primarily American and consists in phrases like 'male to female transgender.' This is a *nonsense* phrase.
I think people should use clear language, and they should spell out why they use the terms that they do. I think people should be self-reflective about thier language use, and prepared to explain and defend their policy, and to change it, if necessary.
hth.
I guess that £200m airport expansion isn't looking like such a great idea anymore. 🤔
#Leeds #Bradford
BBC News - EasyJet to stop flights from #LeedsBradford Airport in January 2027 - BBC News
bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly5… – at Thornton, England
Jasper was doing very well until he got 'Burnhamed' by an ex Mayor. Given his popularity compared to Kier IRL it's clearly a bug. Still a great game though!
#no10FullConfidence
#politics #UK – at Thornton, England
Dermot Bolton retweeted
Replying to @PeterTatchell
This is so silly.
The study barely included any actual athletes in its sample and appears to focus on general fitness. Nothing about race times, lifting performance, throwing distance, jumping performance, swimming times, etc.
You are sharing any old junk because it props up your ideology. Clinging to the falsehood that biological male athletes do not have an innate advantage (on average) than their female counterparts is essentially gender flat-earthism.
Voting day for the citizens of #Clacton today. On one hand they could vote for a joke candidate who talks garbage and had ridiculous policies. Or they could #VoteBinface. 🤔
I just hope they #Vote. – at Le Pré-Saint-Gervais, France
Dermot Bolton retweeted
This isn’t just about Clacton.
This is about standards and rules.
Clean politicians don’t resign after a few days of moderate press scrutiny into their finances.
In fact, I’m not sure any other MPs have.
He’s a corrupt piece of shit.
Dermot Bolton retweeted
Keir has given huge service to our country and I want to thank him for his leadership and dedication during such a challenging period.
His decision marks the beginning of a transition and it is important that this process is conducted in an orderly and responsible way. I will put myself forward as part of this process.
The country expects stability, seriousness and a continued focus on the issues that matter most and that is what it will get.
As we move forward, our priority must be to work together to get the country back to where we all want it to be. People want to see progress on economic growth, cost of living, public services, housing and opportunities for the next generation. Political change should never distract from the responsibility to improve people's lives.
The Labour movement has always been at its strongest when it looks forward with confidence and purpose. This is what we will do from here and we will make sure this transition is a positive process of renewal for our party and our country.
Dermot Bolton retweeted
If people genuinely believe Burnham won’t receive the exact same media onslaught, they’ve not been paying attention.
Starmer is not, objectively, bad. This idea that he is somehow the worst PM in British history is frankly laughable.
Liz truss lasted 49 days, crashed the pound and was laughed out of Downing Street.
Since Labour took office, Keir Starmer’s government has:
• Scrapped the two-child benefit limit, lifting hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty and putting money back into some of the hardest-pressed households in the country.
• Expanded free school meals, cutting costs for families and making sure more children get a proper meal during the school day.
• Expanded funded childcare, reducing one of the biggest monthly costs facing working parents and making it easier for people to stay in work.
• Raised the National Living Wage, increasing pay for millions of low-paid workers.
• Strengthened workers’ rights, giving people greater protection against insecure work and bad employers.
• Introduced statutory sick pay from the first day of illness, so workers are less likely to choose between their health and their wages.
• Ended no-fault evictions, giving renters more security in their homes.
• Brought rail operators back into public ownership, taking key services out of failed private hands and giving the public a stronger stake in how they are run.
• Cut NHS waiting lists from their post-pandemic peak, meaning more patients are being seen sooner.
• Raised the state pension through the triple lock, protecting pensioners’ incomes against rising costs.
• Scrapped the old non-dom tax regime, making some of the wealthiest people in the country pay more fairly.
• Added VAT to private school fees, raising money from those most able to contribute.
• Removed business rates relief from private schools, ending an unjustified tax break.
• Increased neighbourhood policing, putting more officers and PCSOs back into communities.
• Helped bring knife crime down, meaning fewer families face the devastation of serious violence.
• Recorded the lowest homicide rate since the 1970s, a material improvement in public safety.
• Created Great British Energy, giving Britain a publicly owned clean energy company.
• Created the National Wealth Fund, backing investment in industry, infrastructure and clean energy.
• Passed planning reforms aimed at getting homes and major projects built faster.
• Improved relations with the EU, reducing diplomatic hostility and rebuilding practical cooperation.
• Agreed a UK-EU security partnership, strengthening cooperation on defence and European security.
• Signed a long-term partnership with Ukraine, reinforcing Britain’s support against Putin’s invasion.
• Secured new trade agreements, opening up markets for British businesses.
• Helped restore seriousness to government after years of scandal, chaos and decline.
People do not have to like Starmer. They do not have to vote Labour. But pretending this is the record of the worst Prime Minister in British history is absurd.
























