A few notes on what's happening now:
[trigger warnings]
- I got a reply to the letter I sent about the National Child Measurement Programme letters. No surprises: the government will keep doing what it has been doing, whether it makes sense or not. I've followed up to ask for more details of the research they're using to justify their decisions.
- A YouGov poll asks about opinions on rape defendant anonymity. A majority are in favour (considerably fewer women than men are in favour) but without a second question about how they feel for anonymity for non-rape defendants it's hard to tell why this is. The question wording really doesn't make clear the limited extent of anonymity (that it's only limited reporting restrictions, not that it wouldn't actually make any difference), which also makes things hard to tell.
- From PinkNews, the BBC trust thinks that a non-apology is sufficient for its posting of the question "Should homosexuals face execution?".
- When looking at the mass of exceptions to the Equality Act, I somehow forgot to look through the Schedules (many of which are titled "Exceptions", which should have been a big hint). There are a whole mass of further unhelpful exceptions here, and Zoe Brain and Helen G have highlighted several relating to gender reassignment.
Meanwhile, Jake Berry MP (Conservative, Rossendale & Darwen) asks if Parliament can get a cat. It will be investigated, apparently.
