The racist far right has been spamming this data all over this site over the past few weeks, so it's worth explaining it. Point 1. These are not statistics for sexual offences committed. These are not even statistics for sexual offences reported.

These are not even statistics for sexual offences going to court.

These are *convictions*.

So what? Well....

OK I've been ignoring it all week but you're all still going on about it so I've cracked.... some thoughts on the Sam Fender / privilege / white working class boys from Durham debate. > 1/ First, if this is about misogyny, Andrew Tate etc, it's a big mistake to bring race/ethnicity into this. All research shows that misogynistic online cults like incels & Tate fans are (slightly) disproportionately likely to be POC. This is NOT a "white working class" issue. >

There's a section in this where I think Ash is very wrong about & from what I have heard/read about her book this is where I think it's probably wrong (disclaimer, haven't read it yet)...

She says "I don't think Angela Davis did this. I don't think Huey Newton did this..."

>

https://twitter.com/AaronBastani/status/1892690054583115945

And yes, I'm sure THEY didn't, but I'll tell you with some certainty that political meetings which THEY WERE AT descended into chaos because people turned minuscule points of ideological difference into huge barneys & factional disputes & while it was going on >

🧵
Think it’s important to say loudly that there was never a media/political cover up of Pakistani grooming gangs. What we actually had was a media/political culture of indifference and disinterest in vulnerable & socially marginalized children being raped & abused by anyone. > When it emerged that paedophile gangs were running networks of children’s homes in N. Wales, in Lancashire, in London, in NI etc & thousands of kids were being raped & horribly abused, the media treated it as a minor non-issue because no one really cared about the kids involved.

Quick catch up thread from yesterday for those of you who have been graciously & indulgently following my threads about (so-called) male victims of Violence Against Women and Girls over the years. > We began the day with the announcement that the Mayor's Office in Manchester has launched the region's own male victims strategy as part of its gender-based violence programme. greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk/news/greater-m…

OK Buckle up, here's a thread & a half, really all written just to get it off my own chest but you're welcome along for the ride.... 🧵

https://twitter.com/AllyFogg/status/1854465987740918240

First, it's clear that Trump won pretty comfortably. His biggest voting bloc was older, whiter & poorer. Blaming one specific demographic seems a bit daft. The blame is in the failure of the Democrats, whether in their tenure or campaign (FWIW I guess more the former.) BUT >

OK since a slightly personal, messy & snide thread last night caught interest, here's a more direct account of my interpretation of An Inspector Calls, by J.B. Priestley.

I invite/challenge anyone who knows the play and/or more about JBP than I do to tell me I'm wrong. 🧵 The play tells of police 'Inspector Goole' visiting a rich ruling class family one evening & tells them that a young woman 'Eva Smith' has died of suicide. He proceeds to explain that every single member of the family has (literally or figuratively) fucked Eva one way or another.

I doubt Tom is really listening but for the sake of others.

1/ A UK Embassy issues visas but the national government (of, say, Cameroon) issues passports & they often won't issue them to persecuted minorities. >

https://twitter.com/tomhfh/status/1735381713889501494

2/ In situations of civil war or violent upheaval people often get separated from their possessions, such as their passports & other documents.
>

Every mention of a ceasefire is greeted by yells of "So how would YOU get rid of Hamas?"

For what little it is worth, here are my own answers to that question. 🧵 1/ Stop giving them exactly what they want. Hamas is a fundamentalist martyrdom cult and their central strategy is to provoke Israel into committing acts of appalling violence & cruelty, because those acts are their own very best recruiting sergeant.

Think it's probably time to once again to talk about WHY the overwhelming majority of refugees, asylum seekers & irregular migrants are young men, and why being a young man does not mean someone is not a genuine refugee or genuinely in need. 🧵

https://twitter.com/LeeAndersonMP_/status/1688793792021741568

1/ Migrant journeys are extraordinarily arduous & incredibly dangerous. By conservative estimates at least 29,000 people have died trying to reach Europe since 2014. Migrants are at high risk of violence, inc. sexual violence & exploitation, or being robbed to destitution etc. >

At the end of this @caitlinmoran is asked if she thinks there should be a Minister for Men & replies "If it's about equalities, then yes, you need to have both."

This is welcome but slightly off-beam, because fundamentally it's *not* about equalities. Hear me out... >

https://twitter.com/BBCNewsnight/status/1676355395663560705

Men's issues are *not* predicated on equality, they are issues of health, welfare & social policy. (In crude terms, we could achieve equality by raising the female suicide rate & slashing men's wages, neither of which would help anyone.) Men don't need equality they need equity >

I’ve kept schtum thus far in @caitlinmoran’s new book became I haven’t read it yet but cannot contain my frustration at this section from her Guardian piece today. I chair a charity @MBCoalition which strives to do EXACTLY what she describes. We’ve been around since 2016 but had predecessors much further back. Here’s a piece I wrote about exactly this back in 2012 theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

So, back at my desk. Before I face up to checking my email, some thoughts about Costa Rica. First thing to say is we had an amazing time (thanks for asking.) Mammoth 🧵 ahoy If you've seen my other Tweets over the past couple of weeks you'll have seen lots of cute animal & nature tourist pics & that's the first thing anyone notices about the country, but please indulge me while I tell you about the stuff that doesn't show up in photos. >

These are horrific figures and I applaud the Museum of Homelessness @our_MoH for their work in gathering & publicising the data. As so often, however, there's a massively important element missing from the media reporting: 🧵

https://twitter.com/guardian/status/1648932450523807745

Of the 1313 people who died, gender was recorded for 789 (60%). Of those, 72.6% - so 573 - were men. (We cannot be sure but it's highly likely gender is more often recorded for women, as it tends to be more salient, so the unknown 40% is probably more disproportionately male) >

It's good that there's been a lot of reporting on this horrendous report from @ChildrensComm, I hope it leads to change. It's worth noting however this this is one of several reports which doesn't even mention the single most dramatic statistical finding > mirror.co.uk/news/politics/… > which is that 95% were on boys. That makes boys NINETEEN times as likely to be subject to this repression as girls. It's really common that journalists ignore this stat in issues like this, because they don't think it's news, it's just considered the natural order of things. >

How To Lie With Statistics, Chapter X.

Looking at one of the most egregious, shameless statistical falsehoods I've seen in a long time, one that thoroughly shames @MayorofLondon & @TenderUK in the recently published Teachers Toolkit on addressing gender-based violence & abuse. For context, there's a widely shared but easily debunked falsehood about domestic abuse, which is that a large proportion or even majority of abuse against males is committed by other men, whether in same-sex relationships or fraternal/paternal family relationships. Actual stats:

Hey, here's some things you can do on #InternationalMensDay

1/ Have a look to see if anything is happening near you ukmensday.org.uk/events/ 2/ If there isn't anything happening near you, start thinking about what you can do to ensure that next year there is
>

Some observations on the International Men's Day debate that's just ended in the House of Commons 🧵 First up, I was one of the people who last year took issue with the focus of @NickFletcherMP in the same debate. Credit where due, this year he made the case really well for a national men's health strategy & a minister for men & raised loads of excellent & correct points. >

Ho hum. You will not be surprised to learn I have a lot of thoughts about ‘The State of UK Boys’ report here boyhoodinitiative.org/wp-content/upl… and discussed in articles here theguardian.com/society/2022/n… and here theguardian.com/commentisfree/… . Buckle up it’s a 🧵 & a half First, let me say there is loads in here I agree with, most of the report is scraped from masculinities research by the likes of RW Connell (which I happily lean on heavily myself), and makes the case that boys are still socialized into restrictive & destructive gender scripts, >

This really does tell you everything you need to know about my home town.

https://twitter.com/BBCScotlandNews/status/1589669024224378882

Perth has three secondary schools. They are called Perth High School, Perth Academy and Perth Grammar School.

YYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAHAhahahahaha

https://twitter.com/StJohnstone/status/1589237001601314816

Get your James Brown jokes in while they're hot.

HUNH!
YEAH!
GET DOWN!
AND TAKE IT TO THE BRIDGE!