The Three Unrelated Topics of Britain
One thing I meant to mentioned in my last post is that, driving through the New Forest naturally took me and Haruka to Lyndhurst, and that as we were waiting to turn at a junction she remarked on the White Rabbit Cafe over the road. "Why is it called that?" she asked, recognising the Lewis Carroll reference (because Alice is Big in Japan).
It took me a moment to remember that Lyndhurst is the place where Alice Hargreaves (née Liddell) is buried. It took a couple of minutes more to get this concept across, though. Language issues aside, that Alice might be dead - or ever have been alive, or, worse, an old woman, or somebody who lived well into the 1930s - was a difficult thing to accept mentally. I offered to show her Alice's grave - but the offer was declined, and I can't blame her.
Today's news that harmful gender stereotypes are being banned from advertising seems likely to throw up some interesting disputes in months to come. What is a stereotype, and among stereotypes which ones are harmful? Perhaps "gender-critical" feminists could concentrate on that for a bit and take a break from bullying trans people? Actually, one of my earliest posts on this blog was about that kind of advertising. So many no-longer-on-LJ friends' voices! But also a few who are still around.
I think my favourite radio programme from the last week was The Patch. An apparently lightweight format, in which a journalist picks a UK postcode at random and heads there to find human interest stories, gradually morphed into a really effective piece of investigative journalism that elegantly demonstrated just how government money gets wasted on vanity projects while basic needs remain unfunded. And there were human interest stories too!
It took me a moment to remember that Lyndhurst is the place where Alice Hargreaves (née Liddell) is buried. It took a couple of minutes more to get this concept across, though. Language issues aside, that Alice might be dead - or ever have been alive, or, worse, an old woman, or somebody who lived well into the 1930s - was a difficult thing to accept mentally. I offered to show her Alice's grave - but the offer was declined, and I can't blame her.
Today's news that harmful gender stereotypes are being banned from advertising seems likely to throw up some interesting disputes in months to come. What is a stereotype, and among stereotypes which ones are harmful? Perhaps "gender-critical" feminists could concentrate on that for a bit and take a break from bullying trans people? Actually, one of my earliest posts on this blog was about that kind of advertising. So many no-longer-on-LJ friends' voices! But also a few who are still around.
I think my favourite radio programme from the last week was The Patch. An apparently lightweight format, in which a journalist picks a UK postcode at random and heads there to find human interest stories, gradually morphed into a really effective piece of investigative journalism that elegantly demonstrated just how government money gets wasted on vanity projects while basic needs remain unfunded. And there were human interest stories too!