Re eclipses: does it add to the conspiratorial coincidence that we happen to be around at the point in the solar system's lifetime where the moon is in just the right orbit? Another half a billion a years or so and the moon will be far enough away that total eclipses will no longer happen. One for those silicon valley immortalists to look forward to.
I finally found some time today to catch up with the rest of your BBC podcasts on messaging apps. Really enjoyed it but am so thinking WTF regarding episode 5 about the guy that shared intelligence info.
It feels like the virtual equivalent of blokes squaring up in the car park of a flat roofed pub shouting “Come on if you think you’re hard enough”.
My scalding take is that writing songs is actually pretty easy and has already become loads easier with the advent of synthesizers and GarageBand etc. Adam Schlesinger RIP, who to be fair, was a genius, and Rachel Bloom and other collaborators wrote 157 original songs for Crazy Ex-Girlfriend over four seasons which amount to 2 1/2 per episode - so, a lot. Like the Suno songs they are all parodies but also fun songs to listen to in their own right. (Including the very catchy, very silly 'Let's Generalize About Men https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oa_QtMf6alU&ab !)
Songwriting is an incredibly difficult art form. You’re describing the product of two outrageously talented people at the top of their field who spent decades of their lives honing their craft.
This article about the history of welding automation feels relevant: https://www.construction-physics.com/p/welding-and-the-automation-frontier tl;dr the number of human welders has collapsed since a peak in the 1970s, but most of the lost jobs were low-skilled operation of spot-welding machines; that kind of work was relatively easy to completely automate. The number of high-skilled welders has also dropped by about 50% since the peak, but skilled human welders still command decent wages because they're much more flexible than robots and can do jobs that robots can't. The question, of course, is how long that will continue to be the case...
Helen I would very much like to read your article on the Cass report as I have long had respect for your stance on this. Are you able to include a link on your next Substack, as The Atlantic is behind a paywall? Thanks. Also, re total eclipse we had one in London in 1999 which felt weirdly apocalyptic as we approached the millennium.
I’ve been nosing around on The Atlantic looking for the article and it wasn’t easy to find - maybe I’ve run afoul of a Eastern North American timezone.
The Guardian has gone full-on cope today, banging on yet again about the thousands of children on the gender referral list but gleefully ignoring all the youths languishing on waiting lists for MH, ASD, ADHD, EDs, etc.
It’s amazing how much handwringing they can do about the general youth MH crisis on one day, but then only appear to give a monkey’s about the kids who’ve settled on gender as the cause of their ills the next.
In contrast, the Times has been triumphant, with an editorial calling on an extension to banning private clinics. But also notably silent on the thousands of youths languishing on waiting lists of MH, ASd, ADHD, EDs, etc.
If you are going to accept the conclusions on the Cass report, I don’t see how you can escape the conclusion that children’s mental health and SEN services need to be vastly resourced.
And while making a big deal about the potential misdiagnosis / mistreatment of autistic children as transgender, The Times is also on the warpath against . . . too many children being diagnosed with autism or ADHD. I’d ask what would make them happy, but it would be a rhetorical question
I don’t think the two positions are incompatible—with ADHD, for example, it appears to be very hard to get seen by the NHS whereas the private sector seems to offer almost diagnosis on demand (if you can pay). So we are in a situation where rich people with milder symptoms are getting treatment that might be inappropriate… while those with more severe cases go untreated.
That’s certainly true - having been through the NHS system, there are an awful lot of hoops parents need to jump through to get a child seen, which will be ruling people out.
For instance - to get onto the CAHMS waiting list we had to agree to a 10 week parenting course, requiring one hour of travel each way during the working day - so 5 days of annual leave to attend - which is a financial barrier to many parents.
There are also many forms to fill in - some of them up to 10 pages and having to repeat information that the organisation already holds - and having to repeat that for CAHMS, the council SEN department, the school.
It’s assumed parents are engaged and going to advocate for their child - yet with autism and ADHD being strongly inheritable conditions, it’s highly likely an ADHD child has an ADHD parent, and class is obviously another huge barrier. (We knew to engage with professionals).
But getting back to the point about Cass, the government and the media - the existence of private services, and knowing an EP who was made redundant by budget cuts, this is always a commissioning decision.
Expanding GIDS while cutting other child psychology services was a decision.
Personally, as a Guardian reader of 40 years what makes Times readers happy is neither here nor there for me, but I’m furious at the way my side of the political aisle has not only dropped the ball on this health scandal, but is continuing to support it.
Yes, , in London there was definitely an eerie darkening at the time - even if not the best area of the country to fully experience what was a total solar eclipse.
Fascinating as usual. I listened to the podcast on 'Facilitated Communication' and although I haven't watched the documentary yet the woman declaring that she's done nothing wrong, then her ex husband saying that she's a narcissistic psychopath makes it look interesting.
Really enjoying the R4 series. One type of WA group you didn’t cover was new mum groups, formed through NCT (or similar) groups or migrating from Mumsnet message boards. At their best they can be essential support when you’re breastfeeding at 2am and no one you know IRL is awake, but at their worst they can also be pretty judgy places.
Impossible to measure just how ginormous the apology that is owed by the American left to JK Rowling and British feminists
It was a perfect storm of Americanism, assuming every other country’s politics was like their politics, taking no interest AT ALL in the policy that first triggered Rowlings comments, assuming that the critics must be right wing (again, totally oblivious to the fact that other country’s exist with their own politics) ignorance bordering on an aggressive refusal to take in information about the actual specifics of what was being debated in the UK and particularly Scotland to begin with, slamming others for their supposed ignorance when being the dictionary definition of the word ignorant themselves and now when we have this report, despite leaping over the pond uninvited when they thought the debate was in their favour now just remembering that they don’t care about other countries after all, was just so depressing to see people I had previously respected humiliate themselves in this manner over this issue and then when caught in a hole to see them keep digging until they lost interest
Love your work Helen & love it even more when I hear you being interviewed. Have been going back listening to your interviews with Sarah Wilson on Wild - fantastic. Also love that she’s one of the only (of what is considered) “lefties” in Aus who has dared to ask the question of why so many kids (particularly girls) have said they’re trans because the moment you question it, you’re a transphobe. I have 4 girls including 14 yo twins - one of whom came out a couple of years ago saying she liked girls but was non binary. We rode the wave & after more research, we have realised she’s just a lesbian who likes to shop in the Uniqlo men’s section! We also just use the word lesbian a lot to make it just a normal part of her our conversation. We’re also very body positive & we talk about the benefits of being a strong woman. Also she’s ADHD with Dyslexia & I’ve no doubt that if we’d lived in Aus we could have been caught up in other medicalised/affirming stuff. Thankfully we live in an SE Asian country where that doesn’t happen.
I looked it up during the week with all the eclipse news and found out in 4 years an eclipse with full totality goes right over Sydney, already counting down the days
Interesting links, and, trivia corner, I like the word 'gotten' but there are a whole bunch of other expressions which are presumably in style guides on one side of the Atlantic but not the other. How does a writer navigate this ocean?
- re B&R: 'last' as in 'you're done'? (say it ain't so!)... or just 'most recent'?
- re AI music - there's gonna be a tsunami of lawsuits - if your model can make anything that sounds anything like modern k-pop, better be able to show you didn't train it off copyrightable music....
This is definitely going to be the new legal frontier, especially if you consider video generating AI. If you’re Disney, being able to have the AIs with access to your copyrighted material is hugely valuable. Owning the likeness of Amy Winehouse’s voice has a value, etc. Being able to train an AI guitarist from Jimmy Page’s individual tracks from studio masters - has a value.
Mechanical copyright clauses typically forbid the kind of commercial reuse that AI training is - there’s only so far you can push the concept of fair use for academic research.
And that’s obviously the way to make this stuff actually pay. (Thinking back to Napster vs Spotify).
For anyone wondering, here is the link (gifted, so no paywall) to my piece on the Cass Report.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/04/cass-report-youth-gender-medicine/678031/?gift=SKtFP-7gCBnFn1bNJdqPMuoc7s_VBhNwXt-eL8OdNXw&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
Thanks Helen, appreciated.
I'm loving the podcast. It was lovely to hear Katie Hertzog on an episode.
Re eclipses: does it add to the conspiratorial coincidence that we happen to be around at the point in the solar system's lifetime where the moon is in just the right orbit? Another half a billion a years or so and the moon will be far enough away that total eclipses will no longer happen. One for those silicon valley immortalists to look forward to.
https://www.sciencefocus.com/space/why-is-the-moon-moving-away-from-us
It’s the plot of the Iain Banks novel Transition! Although it’s worth saying, Annular eclipses also are a thing
I just flat out refuse to believe The Guardian would have published this article as it is written 4-6 years ago
Helen, you and the other UK feminists who bravely stood up have genuinely changed the world for the better
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/apr/12/this-isnt-how-good-scientific-debate-happens-academics-on-culture-of-fear-in-gender-medicine-research
I finally found some time today to catch up with the rest of your BBC podcasts on messaging apps. Really enjoyed it but am so thinking WTF regarding episode 5 about the guy that shared intelligence info.
It feels like the virtual equivalent of blokes squaring up in the car park of a flat roofed pub shouting “Come on if you think you’re hard enough”.
Just really tragic.
My scalding take is that writing songs is actually pretty easy and has already become loads easier with the advent of synthesizers and GarageBand etc. Adam Schlesinger RIP, who to be fair, was a genius, and Rachel Bloom and other collaborators wrote 157 original songs for Crazy Ex-Girlfriend over four seasons which amount to 2 1/2 per episode - so, a lot. Like the Suno songs they are all parodies but also fun songs to listen to in their own right. (Including the very catchy, very silly 'Let's Generalize About Men https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oa_QtMf6alU&ab !)
Songwriting is an incredibly difficult art form. You’re describing the product of two outrageously talented people at the top of their field who spent decades of their lives honing their craft.
And yet robots can now do it in literally seconds.
Your point?
This article about the history of welding automation feels relevant: https://www.construction-physics.com/p/welding-and-the-automation-frontier tl;dr the number of human welders has collapsed since a peak in the 1970s, but most of the lost jobs were low-skilled operation of spot-welding machines; that kind of work was relatively easy to completely automate. The number of high-skilled welders has also dropped by about 50% since the peak, but skilled human welders still command decent wages because they're much more flexible than robots and can do jobs that robots can't. The question, of course, is how long that will continue to be the case...
Helen I would very much like to read your article on the Cass report as I have long had respect for your stance on this. Are you able to include a link on your next Substack, as The Atlantic is behind a paywall? Thanks. Also, re total eclipse we had one in London in 1999 which felt weirdly apocalyptic as we approached the millennium.
I’ve been nosing around on The Atlantic looking for the article and it wasn’t easy to find - maybe I’ve run afoul of a Eastern North American timezone.
The Guardian has gone full-on cope today, banging on yet again about the thousands of children on the gender referral list but gleefully ignoring all the youths languishing on waiting lists for MH, ASD, ADHD, EDs, etc.
It’s amazing how much handwringing they can do about the general youth MH crisis on one day, but then only appear to give a monkey’s about the kids who’ve settled on gender as the cause of their ills the next.
Here it is — I’ve made a gift link so you can avoid the paywall https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/04/cass-report-youth-gender-medicine/678031/?gift=SKtFP-7gCBnFn1bNJdqPMuoc7s_VBhNwXt-eL8OdNXw&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
In contrast, the Times has been triumphant, with an editorial calling on an extension to banning private clinics. But also notably silent on the thousands of youths languishing on waiting lists of MH, ASd, ADHD, EDs, etc.
If you are going to accept the conclusions on the Cass report, I don’t see how you can escape the conclusion that children’s mental health and SEN services need to be vastly resourced.
And while making a big deal about the potential misdiagnosis / mistreatment of autistic children as transgender, The Times is also on the warpath against . . . too many children being diagnosed with autism or ADHD. I’d ask what would make them happy, but it would be a rhetorical question
I don’t think the two positions are incompatible—with ADHD, for example, it appears to be very hard to get seen by the NHS whereas the private sector seems to offer almost diagnosis on demand (if you can pay). So we are in a situation where rich people with milder symptoms are getting treatment that might be inappropriate… while those with more severe cases go untreated.
That’s certainly true - having been through the NHS system, there are an awful lot of hoops parents need to jump through to get a child seen, which will be ruling people out.
For instance - to get onto the CAHMS waiting list we had to agree to a 10 week parenting course, requiring one hour of travel each way during the working day - so 5 days of annual leave to attend - which is a financial barrier to many parents.
There are also many forms to fill in - some of them up to 10 pages and having to repeat information that the organisation already holds - and having to repeat that for CAHMS, the council SEN department, the school.
It’s assumed parents are engaged and going to advocate for their child - yet with autism and ADHD being strongly inheritable conditions, it’s highly likely an ADHD child has an ADHD parent, and class is obviously another huge barrier. (We knew to engage with professionals).
But getting back to the point about Cass, the government and the media - the existence of private services, and knowing an EP who was made redundant by budget cuts, this is always a commissioning decision.
Expanding GIDS while cutting other child psychology services was a decision.
Personally, as a Guardian reader of 40 years what makes Times readers happy is neither here nor there for me, but I’m furious at the way my side of the political aisle has not only dropped the ball on this health scandal, but is continuing to support it.
It wasn’t in London unless you mean Ontario? In the UK one had to noodle down to Cornwall which was consequently full.
Ha, I’m sure you’re right it must have been a partial eclipse- yet I remember so well the eerie light failing and all the birds going quiet.
Yes, , in London there was definitely an eerie darkening at the time - even if not the best area of the country to fully experience what was a total solar eclipse.
Fascinating as usual. I listened to the podcast on 'Facilitated Communication' and although I haven't watched the documentary yet the woman declaring that she's done nothing wrong, then her ex husband saying that she's a narcissistic psychopath makes it look interesting.
Really enjoying the R4 series. One type of WA group you didn’t cover was new mum groups, formed through NCT (or similar) groups or migrating from Mumsnet message boards. At their best they can be essential support when you’re breastfeeding at 2am and no one you know IRL is awake, but at their worst they can also be pretty judgy places.
Impossible to measure just how ginormous the apology that is owed by the American left to JK Rowling and British feminists
It was a perfect storm of Americanism, assuming every other country’s politics was like their politics, taking no interest AT ALL in the policy that first triggered Rowlings comments, assuming that the critics must be right wing (again, totally oblivious to the fact that other country’s exist with their own politics) ignorance bordering on an aggressive refusal to take in information about the actual specifics of what was being debated in the UK and particularly Scotland to begin with, slamming others for their supposed ignorance when being the dictionary definition of the word ignorant themselves and now when we have this report, despite leaping over the pond uninvited when they thought the debate was in their favour now just remembering that they don’t care about other countries after all, was just so depressing to see people I had previously respected humiliate themselves in this manner over this issue and then when caught in a hole to see them keep digging until they lost interest
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/14/hilary-cass-review-gender-trans-young-people-children-nhs-evidence
It seems like Europe has this ability to soberly deliberate on something like gender medicine that we just don't in the US. What gives?
Love your work Helen & love it even more when I hear you being interviewed. Have been going back listening to your interviews with Sarah Wilson on Wild - fantastic. Also love that she’s one of the only (of what is considered) “lefties” in Aus who has dared to ask the question of why so many kids (particularly girls) have said they’re trans because the moment you question it, you’re a transphobe. I have 4 girls including 14 yo twins - one of whom came out a couple of years ago saying she liked girls but was non binary. We rode the wave & after more research, we have realised she’s just a lesbian who likes to shop in the Uniqlo men’s section! We also just use the word lesbian a lot to make it just a normal part of her our conversation. We’re also very body positive & we talk about the benefits of being a strong woman. Also she’s ADHD with Dyslexia & I’ve no doubt that if we’d lived in Aus we could have been caught up in other medicalised/affirming stuff. Thankfully we live in an SE Asian country where that doesn’t happen.
Sounds like you’ve done a brilliant job of making your daughter feel loved for whoever she chooses to be, I’m so glad to hear things are working out.
I looked it up during the week with all the eclipse news and found out in 4 years an eclipse with full totality goes right over Sydney, already counting down the days
Interesting links, and, trivia corner, I like the word 'gotten' but there are a whole bunch of other expressions which are presumably in style guides on one side of the Atlantic but not the other. How does a writer navigate this ocean?
- re B&R: 'last' as in 'you're done'? (say it ain't so!)... or just 'most recent'?
- re AI music - there's gonna be a tsunami of lawsuits - if your model can make anything that sounds anything like modern k-pop, better be able to show you didn't train it off copyrightable music....
Last as in the third of my three guest episodes… hopefully they’ll let me come back for the Christmas quiz
This is definitely going to be the new legal frontier, especially if you consider video generating AI. If you’re Disney, being able to have the AIs with access to your copyrighted material is hugely valuable. Owning the likeness of Amy Winehouse’s voice has a value, etc. Being able to train an AI guitarist from Jimmy Page’s individual tracks from studio masters - has a value.
Mechanical copyright clauses typically forbid the kind of commercial reuse that AI training is - there’s only so far you can push the concept of fair use for academic research.
And that’s obviously the way to make this stuff actually pay. (Thinking back to Napster vs Spotify).