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  Cambridge scholars ‘delighted’ by vice-chancellor Stephen Toope’s early exit Professor Stephen Toope’s tenure at the university has been marked by controversies over free speech and funding from China TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER JACK HILL Ben Ellery Friday September 24 2021, 5.00pm, The Times When Professor Stephen Toope, vice-chancellor of the University of Cambridge, resigned this week he said that he wanted to spend more time with his family. While no doubt true, those close to him question whether his decision had more to do with negative press regarding his tenure that left him “rattled” and experiencing “the hardest time of his career”. As Toope, a former human rights scholar, prepares to return to his Canadian homeland, senior academics at the university have told  The Times  they are “delighted” that he is leaving. His term was expected to last seven years, as it had for his four predecessors, but he will depart next September two years early. His time at Cambridge has been marked by

  Coffee House Debbie Hayton Rosie Duffield’s treatment brings shame on the Labour party 12 September 2021, 6:41am Getty SHARE News that Rosie Duffield will be  missing the Labour Party conference  over threats to her personal security brings to a head an appalling situation where a female Labour MP cannot stand up for the rights of women without triggering opprobrium. Keir Starmer cannot and must not sit on the fence any longer. Maybe he is trying to sit tight and hope that this goes away? This seems unlikely: Duffield’s opponents are motivated by an evangelistic zeal to silence those who dare to disagree with them. Thankfully, Duffield isn’t taking the hint On Friday, she spoke more sense into the debate :     No doubt there will be yet more calls for the whip to be withdrawn from her. The bullying and harassment of Duffield has been ongoing since she expressed her  view  that ‘only women have a cervix’, and it has become a stain on the party. Let’s be clear, Duffield is neither homo

 Original article is here   Protesters against gender reform 'give platform to fascists' The Times, 16/09/21 Women who oppose plans to make it easier to change gender have given a platform to “fascists who want to eliminate trans people”, according to the head of Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre. Mridul Wadhwa, 43, a trans woman who was appointed chief executive in May, accused those protesting against the Gender Recognition Reform Bill of legitimising far-right discrimination of trans people. For Women Scotland, a women’s rights group, organised a demonstration outside the Scottish parliament this month to oppose changes that would allow people to legally identify as another gender without the need for a medical certificate. They warn it would diminish women’s rights, particularly in relation to gender-specific spaces such as toilets and changing rooms. Last month Wadhwa claimed “bigoted” victims of sexual violence seeking help from the charity should expect to be “challenged on t

  Singing songs of praise for our non-binary family The broadcaster Carrie Grant and her presenter husband once had three daughters. Now she is the only female Carrie and David Grant with their children, three of whom have changed their given names Sian Griffiths , Education Editor Sunday September 12 2021, 12.01am, The Sunday Times Share Save Aged ten, Arlo Grant, who was born a girl, chose a different name. “It was very funny,” says Arlo’s mother, the broadcaster Carrie Grant. “They announced to the whole house, ‘I am a boy’ and said ‘I want to be called Ian’. “Everyone said, ‘Oh my God, not Ian!’ No one batted an eyelid at the boy thing but everyone objected to the name Ian.” Carrie, 56, and her husband David, 65, the  Songs of Praise  presenter and former pop star from the band Linx have four children. The three oldest were born girls; now all are “trans/non-binary”. “Olive Gray, the oldest, is 26 and non-binary,” says Carrie. “Olive uses the pronouns they/them. Nineteen-year-old T