[The Weeping Angel]

So does this people are just human and lash out line does it apply to GC types?

[Crabcakes]

So does this people are just human and lash out line does it apply to GC types?

Sure. With the caveat that it does not let people on either side off of consistent goading, baiting, unprovoked attacks and so on. Linehan isn’t lashing out, for example, because he does it all the time, seeks out trouble, and the pattern of his antisocial behaviour is well established.

If the person in question who said Cass was committing genocide says things of that ilk all the time, maybe they are an arsehole too and if so, fuck them because they’re not helping anyone. I honestly don’t know because I don’t know what tweet or post you’re referring to. If it was a one off, maybe it was the bad news that day that pushed them over the edge.

The point is there are human responses and bad actors on both sides because it is an issue that provokes very strong emotional responses. If you don’t know, it doesn’t hurt to give people the benefit of the doubt until you do.

[The Weeping Angel]

There's plenty of bad actors on both sides on that I agree.

[Crabcakes]

After yesterday’s discussions, I would really encourage reading this (it’s paywalled, but on this occasion I’d recommend using your paywall remover of choice):

https://www.heraldscotland.com/life_sty ... rt-millar/

And also this:



This is the reality trans people face in their lives, and their careers, and it’s light years away from the boogeyman funny looking person in the ladies that gets JK Rowling hammering away furiously at her keyboard suggesting people be photographed and doxxed. And it’s why I support the trans rights movement. It’s people just wanting to live their lives how they feel comfortable to. Not predators desperate to get into spaces they shouldn’t, or people cosplaying a different life. That’s why the law needs updating and improving, so that it isn’t the overly simplistic setup we now have.

[Abernathy]

Interesting. I had no idea that Robert Millar had transitioned gender.

[Oboogie]

Interesting, Sandie Peggie has been cleared of gross misconduct. I wonder if it'll make any difference?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm2mp5jley8o

[Crabcakes]

The Peggie case appears to be one where everyone is, to put it mildly, a bit shit. Dr Upton seems to have got the hump and made a mountain out of a molehill, as well as only remembering incidents she should - if they happened as described - have reported at the time much later when it was convenient. That’s just patient safety and nothing to do with any other matter. Sandie Peggie very likely did say some unpleasant stuff and act like a twat (she’s a Trump fan, husband posts white supremacist shite, daughter posts full-on transphobic crap on Twitter - plenty of evidence she’s not exactly neutral on related issues). Sex Matters got involved and even went to the point of getting the court to agree they could use male terms to discuss Upton in court even though it would cause distress, just to add more heat. The hospital HR seem to have let everyone down. The NHS local body has pulled the rules it was going to bring in, so now any other trans staff don’t know where they stand or what they should do.

Just an absolute bin fire, really. No winners, just losers, and a bit more hate dished out all round.

[Youngian]

Just doing your job, that's what Adolf Eichman said! Even keeping your mouth shut won't circumnavigate headbangers in comment sections. Did Ms Parkinson spend her tea breaks on the IT Crowd snarling at trans with Graham Lineham? Doubt it somehow.

Just like Leni Riefenstahl who never cared about Nazi politics and said: „All I ever wanted was to make movies.“

I mean, not surprising considering who was in charge of the “IT crowd,”

If you are neutral in situations of injustice- then you have chosen the side of the oppressor.

[RedSparrows]

'If you are neutral in situations of injustice - then you have chosen the side of the oppressor.'

Whereas writing comments on news counts as action.

Etc etc etc, on and on and on.

[Crabcakes]

The problem here is that Rowling has, on multiple occasions, alluded to anyone buying her books or Potter merch or films etc. as. tacitly supporting her views and actions by making the link between her wealth, the source of her wealth, and what she uses it for.

The IT Crowd/Linehan thing is clearly nonsense, but it’s also a fair question in the circumstances - it’s a lot harder to separate the art from the artist when the artist themselves says “if you buy this picture I’m going to spend the money on something you disagree with”.

[Andy McDandy]

I'm a big fan of the films of Roman Polanski. I'm also aware that he's a pretty reprehensible person. The Samantha Gailey case aside, he's shown a pattern of courting women much younger than him, and has been accused by several actresses he's worked with of sexually assaulting them.

True, he has a personal history of almost unbelievable horror - family wiped out in the Holocaust, his wife brutally murdered, but those events neither excuse his actions or explain them. Holocaust survivors aren't in some way more likely to commit sexual assault. And while people have noted the nihilism in many of his films as a product of those traumas, it doesn't follow that to produce Grimdark you have to have undergone terrible suffering, nor that anyone who has been through such things is going to be a talented film director.

So what you're left with is a piece of shit who's also a very good film director. But he's not the only film director in the world, and plenty of great films with starkly bleak themes and imagery have been made by people who have never felt the urge to rape someone. Besides, the Gemma Arterton version of Tess of the D'Urbervilles kicks his version's arse.

So, back to JKR. Yes, Potter was a publishing phenomenon, but as the critical and commercial failure of the "Fantastic Beasts" films showed, not too big to fail. Yes, her books got loads of kids into reading, but if you're looking for inexplicably popular authors, why aren't we asking what Stephanie Meyer thinks about everything? Or EL James? She's a writer, she wrote some books. If you're picking up coded messages from them, you're either listening to the audiobook with the subliminal messages, or you're picking up something that's eluded me.

[kreuzberger]

I am admittedly a bit of a fetishist for a slick typeface but the world would have undoubtedly been a better place sans Gill.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

I use it for aesthetic preference, but I have qualms every time.
Apple once did a very similar font but sans Gill (geddit?) but it seems to have disappeared...

[kreuzberger]

Open Sans, Droid Sans, and Lato are, I believe, perfectly serviceable cousins. Open source downloads of Avenue Next are also well worth hunting down.

None of these has the obvious baggage.

[Andy McDandy]

Sorry but what?

[Boiler]

I wonder if that's why the BBC created the font "Reith" - not just because of the baggage of Gill, but also to avoid licence costs.

How about Johnson, as used on the London Underground (and TfL, I believe)? However...

Screenshot 2025-07-17 at 16-36-45 Differences - Open Sans & Lato.png (391.25 KiB) Viewed 147 times

[Crabcakes]

Sorry but what?

The chap who created the still commonly used Gill typeface (among other works) was a *proper* wrong-un.

[Boiler]

Sorry but what?

I think a bit further up-thread, one of the fonts/founts used in the background behind Ms. Parkinson is Gill Sans. Crabbs refers.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Open Sans seems nice, Thanks for the headzup.

[davidjay]

I must declare an interest here, because if Katherine Parkinson should ever profess her undying love I would have to wave a sad farewell to Mrs Jay. However, one thing I know about anyone in the public eye when it comes to entertainment, sport and the like is that while a good few of them do have certain strong beliefs, most don't really think too deeply about the nuances of their income.