pink_triangle

It seems strange he wouldn’t have publicly come out if it wasn’t real. Even if allowed to play for Man U the recording will significantly impact on his commercial appeal.

To me there are two different discussions here. When talking about guilt from a legal perspective it is right that he is not in jail as there has been no criminal conviction. I think when talking about Mendy Zahidf seems to support a presumption of guilt which I feel would be a dangerous route to go down from a legal perspective. Then there is a conversation if the words/actions put him into disrepute that he shouldn’t play for the club. My view is the club supporting him is justifying violence against women and sexual assault so this should disqualify, plenty of clubs worldwide who wouldn’t care how you treat a woman where he can go.

I wait for the announcement from Man Utd how he will be made to attend a training session to learn about how not to abuse women.

It’s clear Man Utd want to reintegrate him back, that risks the worst possible situation for him where they bring him back and could have to U turn. It also puts the Man U fans in a difficult situation. Opposition fans Will rightfully go after him, wil the Man U fans react in the normal way by defending him? I get what you say about the French situation, but I get the impression you can get away with this stuff more in most countries than the uk.

The photos and audio is out there. I think a common sense solution would be send him to Saudi where they probably care less about the rights of a woman.

To me Man U are sending a clear message. You can do what you want to women if your market value is sufficient.

Man Utd waiting for the women to come back from the World Cup before making a decision on Greenwood. Why have they waited this long to get their views?

I’m not convinced many are still in their prime and would argue most are on the downhill slope. You can imagine players in their prime like oshimen will follow

I think they may let him play, but the bad PR will make them think again.

I tried to see if there was polling from previous elections, but couldn’t find anything. My guess is the labour/Tory split is closer than people think, but wouldn’t have a clue if I’m correct. I am sure it will put some off, some will be disappointed and still vote labour, some won’t care.

Surely it’s a bit of a generalisation that they will all stop voting labour. I don’t doubt some will, I think many won’t.

Where does the 5 million come from?

The trouble is if new houses are built in villages, they need to have the infrastructure to manage. Better roads, more school places, more parking, more doctors/nurses. Unfortunately my experience is they build before that is in place.

I’m not sure. I only really hear her talk about the trans stuff. I think she is pretty mainstream labour on most things.

I’m not going to get in to who (and who isn’t) a transphobe. However what has really struck me with Duffield is how unkind she can be at times. I think it’s a debate where you should be able to have different views, at the same time understanding you are talking about a group containing some very vulnerable people.

I agree with most about what you say about the problem. I’m not sure the solution you have is workable with the electorate and media we have, not the one you would like there to be. I am not convinced there are a mass of people looking for sensible solutions to nuanced issues. If we are talking about these nuanced issues a week before the election we are playing in to the conservatives hands.

I think you have to choose your battles. I think this is one they can’t win in 2023/2024, who knows in 5 years time things may change. I just feel this is a political issue they can’t win on as a left leaning party of opposition. The question to me is which party in power will best protect the rights of trans people and I believe that is labour. I fully accept trans people being disapproved and disagree.

What do you think they could offer? The conservatives want to fight the next election on trans issues. What could they offer that would stop this happening? The SNP got tied in knots over the issue and it played a role in taking down the leader.

I don’t think they would have a choice without taking the approach they have chosen. They would be asked question after question in an election. They are effectively trying to nullify the issue. The conservatives don’t want to fight on the issues the electorate care about because they have failed on all of them. They want to go into the week before an election talking about trans rights, cancel culture and woke terminology.

I remember not too long ago Obama who is relatively popular on the left said marriage was between a man and a woman. Things change, but not as fast as some may want. I think labour will move the needle in the right direction.

I think you need to focus on the things that the majority care about, so you can get in power to help some of the minorities. You need to ask yourself what issues the Torys would like to be front and centre of the election campaign. Why would labour want to fight on those issues?

What’s the workable solution though? We saw what happened in Scotland. What could labour do differently that could help the trans community and gain public support. I think if they take the SNP approach they make anti trans feeling stronger and a Tory government more likely. That won’t help trans people at all.

As I have said before I work in the NHS and patients/carers talk to me about political issues all the time. You can add trans issues to Middle East politics as issues that not a single person has ever discussed. What they talk about is the NHS, social care , education and housing for their kids and grandkids. Whether we like it or not the country isn’t filled with people who think like us and labour need to find a platform that enough people can get behind. That’s probably focusing on majority issues, allowing them to get power and help minorities. We saw the issues that self ID caused in Scotland. Trans rights are absolutely something we should fight to defend. However there’s only one party who wants to go into election with trans rights front and centre and that’s the party in blue.

I think being a serious party wanting to govern, a quality you need is to learn from yours ( or others) mistakes and change course. I think the idea of self ID is done with the right intentions, but as Scotland showed intentions and practice are sometimes two different things. I hold my hands up that I don’t know the right solution. I do however know the Torys want to fight on these issues to deflect from the mess they have made.

I just think you have to fight your battles. This is one the conservatives would love to fight and has the potential to tie labour in knots and take the focus away from bread and butter issues. I believe trans people will be better served with a labour government.