A £5.9bn Cinema Ticket

The UK Supreme Court has announced their latest ruling regarding the definition of a “woman” used in the Equality Act 2010 as being "binary" and decided by biology. Regardless if you have a gender recognition certificate (GRC) or not, the Act only recognises and considers your assigned gender at birth when it uses the terms Man (male) or Woman (female).

The court did say this isn’t a “win” for one side or the other, it’s clarification of an existing definition in an existing Act. However, this is a deeply emotionally charged matter, it’s been battled in the courts in various forms since 2018. The two sides being Trans Activists fighting for Trans Rights, and Feminists looking to restrict women only spaces from non-biological women.

Fundamentally the issue has been when we talk about Equality and safe spaces for women, does that mean anyone who identifies as a women or is there another definition? Due to the far reaching implications the Supreme Court has gone for consistency. The actual implications of this will become clearer with the legal guidance that follows.

Only 8,000~ GRCs have ever been issued, meaning the number of Trans individuals who have legally (in the eyes of the government) changed gender is extremely small (69.6m total population in the UK as of last year.)

This guidance is to help hospitals, schools, sports clubs, and refuges. As they have been targeted by different groups arguing their view point regarding who can be safely or fairly grouped together. The Supreme Court has made it very clear that Trans individuals are still protected, thus why this clarification should not be taken as guidance on the UKs views on transitioning gender.

🎓️ 'Andrew Tate phenomena'. Sexism in classrooms is at an all time high, with reports of students not talking to female teachers. A teacher survey found Andrew Tate was directly blamed, highlighting the negative influence he has on young boys in particular.

⚖️ National security. It’s been a tense week for British Steel, the country’s last two blast furnaces capable of producing steel from scratch. The government is planning to take control of the mill from it’s existing Chinese owners on the grounds of national security. This week the government will be figuring out a plan for how to pay for this.

🪖 Bring in the tanks. The military has been called in to help ease the ongoing bin strikes in Birmingham. Due to the health and safety concerns emergency measures have resulted in the army being tasked with assisting with logistics (not collecting!)

Good news… for those with a travel bug, it’s super cheap to fly from the EU to America due to dropping demand. Russia has announced a truce for Easter. Bad news… for Boeing, China has instructed its airlines to stop buying from US firms. So all the new planes have flown back!

🍼 Raising kids 2: Electric Boogaloo. It’s official, many American grandparents have reached their limit with child care. It no longer takes just a village apparently.

🏫 Just kidding! The US told all educational intuitions to eliminate their DEI programs and screen international students for “ideological concerns”. After Harvard refused, they were sent a letter saying they were losing their $2.2bn in grants and funding. Since then the White House has claimed the letter was incorrect…

⛪️ Lecture on compassion. The US Vice President has visited the Vatican, only to be delayed by the Pope and greeted by a top cardinal. The cardinal gave a lecture on compassion and care for the vulnerable to the Vice President.

🧬 Autism "destroys children". Robert F. Kennedy Jr. continues to spread lies about autism with his latest speech claiming "These are kids [with autism] who will never pay taxes, they'll never hold a job… they'll never go out on a date." Fans of Love on the Spectrum where quick to debunk this.

❤️‍🔥 Britons getting frisky. Speaking of dating, a survey of the UK has revealed that Londoners are having more private one-on-one (or two, or three etc.) time than anyone else in the country.

🍳 Breakfast for kids. Free breakfast clubs funded by the government go live for 750 schools. There are concerns the funding being offered won’t cover the cost. Fingers crossed the trial is successful.

👁️ A new colour?? Whilst it can only be seen in controlled lab environments, and by firing lasers into your eyes, it’s an exciting new discovery with potential to help those who are colour blind.

🥚 Sh*tty eggs. Hope you didn’t accept any strange and brightly coloured eggs this Easter? One lady has made headlines after she dyed her eggs, using her toilet… As one individual commented “I showed this to my therapist and now he’s in therapy.“

By Alister (who else?)

Excellent news! I am once again free from the yolk of oppression (and spell check.) This means I can go back to recommending games.

I have a classic for you this week, Uno!

You may have forgotten just how easy, fun, and quick a game of Uno is. I’m not talking about the fancy modern reinventions (No Mercy, Extreme, Dos) but just a straightforward silly game of Uno.

It’s great for all ages (5-6 years+ minimum), and it’s very quick to introduce to anyone who hasn’t played before. Keep the rules simple, make it fast, and you’ll be bound to have a great time.

I recommend some simple house rules. You can only play one card at a time. You can keep a “pick up” card going by using the same type (+2s on +2s and +4s on +4s.) If you don’t want to play a card you can pickup (so you can save those wildcards for an exciting end.) Finally, if you forget to say Uno before the next person plays their card you need to pickup a card!

SPAAAACE

Singer Katy Perry, American TV host Gayle King, scientists Amanda Nguyen and Aisha Bowe, film producer Kerianne Flynn, and Jeff Bezos’ fiancée, Lauren Sanchez launched into space. The all-female crew flew in the suspiciously phallic Blue Origin rocket.

The whole trip was around 10 minutes long, and the allowed the passengers to experience weightlessness just above Kármán line (the boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and actual space.)

What makes this so special? The memes of course.

We have the passengers calling themselves astronauts, once they landed back on earth everyone getting out and kissing the dirt, Jeff Bezos falling over and eating dirt, the door opening and then being closed so it can be opened for the cameras, even people claiming the whole thing has been faked, yes we had it all!

What really took the cake (yes, another Portal 2 joke, Meridyth isn’t here to stop me.) Katy Perry announcing she was going to sing, only for a warning to be announced.

Whew, you made it!

Well-done for making it this week. Don’t worry, the editor-in-chief will be back soon! Join us next Monday for the weekly Squabble when the holidays are over and the quality has returned.

Alister & Meridyth