Thread by @WardlawSteve

Moving swiftly onto the #mailonsunday piece on @stonewalluk . Some context first (without belittling anyone’s genuine belief). Sainsburys has nearly 190,000 employees. This seems to be a complaint from a single employee as a reference source.

Now some technical edits...(1/9)

for Sanchez Manning. The definition of a whistleblower is someone who is in a protected position when informing about their employer’s breach of the law here (usually something underhand or hidden). So this person is not a whistleblower. Yet the word is used repeatedly...(2/9)

to give the story some (untrue) gloss. Try replacing the word ‘whistleblower’ with ‘person who does not agree with Sainsburys trans policies’ and the story loses its clickbait/dogwhistle appeal.

Secondly, we are back to the same old concept of ‘othering’. (3/9)

The article accuses Sainsburys of ignoring the concerns of women, but what they mean here is ‘women who are not trans women’. I totally there is a need for explanation and this may not have taken place (but it may – the person in the article only says “as far as I am aware” (4/9)

there was no consultation – does that mean Sainsburys did this without consulting any women? Possible but strange)
Thirdly, I would also question the seniority of the person questioned. They know an awful lot about the Workplace Equality Index –even that it takes about 400..(5/9)

hours to fill in to get four lines of feedback. That’s an AMAZINGLY detailed stat and I’m not even sure that it’s true. This person also then says that the feedback is “not anything actionable or thorough” – which is also strange and in the view of @thetimes yesterday,..(6/9)

Stonewall is forcing companies to change exactly through this feedback. So, is it ‘coercing entire government departments’ or ‘nothing actionable or thorough’. I think it just depends on which narrative we are being fed. Interestingly, here’s a piece later...(7/9)

in the paper from @AShulman2, dismissing complaints about Jess de Wahls as there are only 8. So, just to help #mailonsunday with their maths... (8/9)

– 8 complaints about something anti-trans? Fuss over nothing. One disgruntled employee over Sainsburys pro-trans stance? Half page at the front of the newspaper… (9/9)