What Boris Knows & Sir Keir Doesn't

[Khandro]

In the Commons last week, Boris Johnson made his position clear. “We must recognise that when people want to make a transition in their lives that they should be treated with the maximum possible generosity and respect [but] when it comes to distinguishing between man and woman, the basic facts of biology remain overwhelmingly important.”

However, when Sir Keir Starmer was asked on LBC radio whether a woman can have a penis, the Labour leader got into a right old fluster. “I don’t think we can conduct this debate ... in this way,” he told interviewer Nick Ferrari. “I don’t think discussing this issue in this way helps anyone. I want to have a discussion [with]... anyone who genuinely wants to find a way through this.” Which would appear to demonstrate that he doesn't know the answer to the very simple question.

If a party leader doesn't know the answer to that question, is he fit to be its leader?

[naomi24]

Shameful. Absolutely shameful. J K Rowling said he had misrepresented the law, which she said indicated "the Labour Party can no longer be counted on to defend women's rights".

https://news.sky.com/story/jk-rowling-accuses-keir-starmer-of-misrepresenting-equalities-law-on-trans-women-12564477

I agree with her.

[Ken4155]

Think the word you're looking for is 'diplomacy', Khandro:-/

[douglas9401]

If that party is the Penis Party then no he isn't, and he should stand down at the next erection.

[Ken4155]

As an aside, a good looking woman can have any penis she likes.

[Khandro]

When Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, was asked recently to define what a woman is, she said she didn’t want to go down that “rabbit hole”. Anneliese Dodds, who speaks for Labour on women’s issues, got into an even bigger tangle when the same question was put to her. “It does depend on the context surely. There are people who have decided that they have to make that transition... because they live as a woman they want to be defined as a woman.”

Her comments prompted the author JK Rowling to suggest Ms Dodds might be in need of both a dictionary and a backbone. And therein lies the point. This is no longer a debate about gender but free speech.

[Mozz71]

I wonder how well Boris would've done had he been tackled (pun intended) on the subject in an interview, rather than a pre-prepared soundbite as described in the OP?

[Ken4155]

Don't urinate on Khandro's cornflakes, Mozz.

[Khandro]

Mozz; Perhaps Sir Keir should prepare better sound bites, then he wont sound quite such a pratt. He's not only a politician, he's the leader of a party & he should be prepared to be asked such questions today.

Perhaps he WAS prepared & that's what he thinks, in which case, instead of getting steamed up about Boris' birthday cake he ought to be considering his position.

[naomi24]

This really is the most ridiculous argument - and even more ridiculous that society is such that the question is asked at all. Women don't have penises. They just don't!

[calmck]

Way back when I was nursing in London we had a surgeon who operated on transitioning patients and to put it as he did, rather crudely " it's easier to make a hole than a pole"

[Gromit]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-60925885

[naomi24]

I just read that, Gromit. He's not a woman either.

[mushroom25]

according to British Cycling, a woman is an individual whose testosterone levels have been 5 nanomoles per litre or less for the previous 12m.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/cycling/60911823
there's every chance that ms bridges could be selected for the national team. what this could mean is that their opponents will need to field transgenders too, to ensure they don't lose out.

[naomi24]

^I want to say 'nuts' - but in the circumstances perhaps that isn't the best choice!