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  • Katie Hopkins reaches over 1 million followers on Twitter

    Katie Hopkins reaches over 1 million followers on Twitter

    Katie Hopkins, one of the UK’s most outspoken voices on social issues has gained over 1 million followers on Twitter.

    CREDIT: LBC

    Katie Hopkins has managed to achieve the 1 million status on Twitter, despite hundreds if not thousands of reports to the platform over the nature of her Tweets.

    Many find the tweets to be offensive, however, Twitter has rarely found a reason to remove tweets and have not unverified or deplatformed the former Celebrity Big Brother star unlike other right-wing commentators, such as Milo Yiannopoulos.

    She frequently comments on migration, race, Brexit and transgender issues. Her comments on Twitter generate thousands of replies from her fanbase – and the controversial pundit has often Trended on the platform because of her commentary.

    Embed from Getty Images

    The former Daily Mail and Sun writer was even investigated by the police over allegations of hate crimes (transphobia) due to her Tweets, however, no charges were ever brought against her.

    In a message to her new followers Katie wrote, “Welcome to all my new followers. This is your place for your views to be shared & uncomfortable truths to be told. Don’t like me? No matter. Have something important to share. Great.”

  • Doctor Christian makes a return to social media

    TV doctor, Christian Jessen has made a return to social media, after taking a month off.

    The keen Twitter user, Doctor Christian has returned to his favourite platform after taking a month off from.

    Writing on the platform the Embarrassing Bodies star wrote, “So I’ve had a month off Twitter (to see if I actually could (!) and to focus on other things/personal things) but now I’m back! So brace yourselves….”

    Before he left the platform in August he wrote, “Why are people being such dicks about Greta Thunberg? I don’t get it. But then there’s a lot I don’t get about people’s hate/jealousy/stupidity these days….”

    Greta Thunberg is a 16-year-old Swedish environmental activist credited with raising global awareness of the risks posed by climate change.

    Embed from Getty Images

    His return was met with a flurry of positive and concerned messages welcoming the doc back to Twitter. Even his co-star from Embarrassing Bodies, Doctor Pixie Mckenna enquired after his health.

    Embed from Getty Images

    The doctor uses Twitter to great effect when he is in full flow and can be found Twitter health-based facts and encouraging parents to vaccinate their children against childhood disease.

  • 17 Polari words we need to start using again

    Do you know what Polari is?

    Wanna go just a little bit extra?

    Polari was a form of slang in Britain used by actors, showmen, merchant navy sailors, sex workers was adopted by gay subculture.

    It’s been around since at least the 19th century – some have found its origins as far back as the 16th century.

    It’s had its ups and down, but it’s a rather Fantabulosa way of expressing yourself.

    So we’ve dragged out our Polari dictionary to rediscover 14 words we need to start using again…

    Aunt Nell danglers.

    Earrings think subtle…

     

    Basket.

    The trouser bulge

     

    Corybungus.

    Dan Osborne Naked

    Your buttocks

     

    Crimper.

     

    Hairdresser

     

    Fantabulosa.

     

    via GIPHY

    Fabulous/ Wonderful

     

    Handbag.

     

    via GIPHY

    Money

     

    HP (homy polone).

     

    Effeminate gay man

    Mangarie.

    CREDIT: Rawpixel.com-bigstock
    CREDIT: Rawpixel.com-bigstock

    Food

    Naff.

     

    Awful, dull, hetero

    So.

     

    Homosexual… Is he so?

    Tootsie trade.

     

    Bottom to bottom – sex between two passive guys

    Trade.

    (C) BIGSTOCK

    Sex- or a potential sexual partner.

    Zhoosh / Tzsju.

     

    Tart up your hair

     

    Alamo!

     

    via GIPHY

    They’re attractive

     

    Bold

     

    via GIPHY

    Homo

    Palare / polari pipe

     

    via GIPHY

    The telephone

    Quongs

    Testicles!

  • The Good, The Bad and The Ugly: Rover 200

    The Good, The Bad and The Ugly: Rover 200

    GBU Rover 200 R8

    1989 – 1995

    Back in the 1980s, I remember being confused about the Triumph Acclaim. It replaced the Dolomite that I really liked and in the line up was no sporty Sprint. I didn’t understand the Acclaim.

    Via the pages of CAR magazine, I soon discovered it was a Honda and I didn’t like Honda taking over our British car industry. To a 6-year-old Stuart, British Leyland was ours. I must also add that I wasn’t aware back then of Red Robbo and the strife and struggle British Leyland were in at the time. 

    The Japanese stepped in and gave us their Honda Ballade. And what a turn around this car was. Imagine if you like, model makers Tamiya and Airfix making you model kit of the same car. The Airfix would be badly moulded with instructions devoid of any real detail. You couldn’t go wrong with the Tamiya kit. It was meticulous in its moulding and it was difficult to assemble it incorrectly. That was pretty much what Honda brought to BL at Cowley. Beautifully precision made parts. 

    Fast forward to 1989 and we end up with the Rover 200 (R8) and the K series engine in particular and yes dear reader, you know where this is going, so pop on the kettle, get that water HOT. 

    This then was an actual Rover that people wanted to buy. And that they did in their droves. Half of the sales went to UK buyers and we couldn’t get enough of the redesigned Honda Concerto. We designed a 3 door hatchback, coupe and estate. These were not available on the Concerto. This was our Rover and we, the British were once again proud.

    The 3 R’s were all there. Reliability, Ride and Refinements were high on the agenda. The fit was like nothing before from Austin or Rover or whoever they were at the time. To be honest, in the years between the Acclaim and this R8 Rover, it felt like they had gone through more reinventions than Madonna or Madge X or like a Virgin up the duff, preaching about it to song and dance.

    Now there was a snag. It just so happens that certain models with a certain engine weren’t as reliable as others in the range. Call it a historic flash back to the past. You see, BL had a tendency to make cars with engines that were known for head troubles.

    Those with a Rover 214 or 216 were pretty much at the mercy of one day coming to their car and finding the bores full of water, which to be frank was the better option. The other was to have the car turn into a boiling kettle on the way to Cornwall for the yearly summer holiday. Stuck at the roadside turning into a game of wishing well all those with a K series fitted in their car as they went by.  

    The Rover 200. A Good car turned Bad by its heart. 

  • Gareth Thomas comes out as HIV-positive after blackmailers threaten to out him

    Gareth Thomas comes out as HIV-positive after blackmailers threaten to out him

    Gareth Thomas has recorded a video to come out about living with HIV and to break the stigma surrounding it.

    The Welsh rugby icon, Gareth Thomas recorded a video saying that he was sharing “his secret” about living with HIV after blackmailers threatened to out him.

  • 6 things you shouldn’t say to people living with HIV

    6 things you shouldn’t say to people living with HIV

    Lizzie Jordan, Founder and Director at Think2Speak, is a multi-award-winning social entrepreneur, a mother, widow and is HIV positive. Lizzie is one person with a myriad of possible labels.

    More than a decade ago, Lizzie became a mother, a widow and HIV positive all within an 18-month period. Her life was turned upside down, in 2012 as a single mother to a grieving child, Lizzie wanted to find resources and training locally for her child’s primary school. She struggled.

    Lizzie recognised the issues being faced in classrooms across the UK and wanted to do something about the ‘uncomfortable silences’ young people often felt when discussing sensitive subjects with the professionals involved in their lives. 18 months of plotting and planning later Think2Speak CIC was founded.

    With the recent revelation that former Welsh rugby captain, Gareth Thomas has been diagnosed with HIV, here are Lizzie’s tips on what not to say, or how to approach someone who has HIV:

    Don’t bring it up unless they do:

    Someone’s HIV status is their HIV status and theirs alone – as we’ve seen with Gareth he has been forced to share his news because the press were threatening to make this public. There’s nothing wrong with being curious about HIV but there are certain things that should be respected and it isn’t every HIV positive person’s job to educate you.

    It doesn’t define someone:

    Just because someone is living with HIV doesn’t mean that’s all they are. It’s a virus, it isn’t someone’s personality, their fault, their ‘choice’ nor is it their identity or the only subject on which they can speak.

    Use your common sense:

    There are certain aspects of conversation that are off-limits, but morbid curiosity often prevails. Try to think if you actually need to know the answer to the question you’re about to ask! Or maybe you can search the internet before you ask a glaringly obvious, or even insulting question.

    Don’t ask how they got it:

    This is perhaps the most insulting. You’d never ask the same of someone who’s living with cancer or diabetes. A lot of this kind of thinking can be attributed to the ‘blame’ culture that exists when it comes to sexual health and HIV, it is often viewed as a ‘choice’. Blame is never apportioned to other health conditions.

    Don’t tell them they are ‘looking well’:

    People often comment in this way as if having HIV should mean you look ravaged by disease. This is often accompanied by a well-meaning, but ultimately patronising tilt of the head. Science has moved on dramatically since the 1980s and people with HIV who are diagnosed, accessing care and treatment, live full, healthy and happy lives.

    Don’t presume the worst:

    Many people who ask questions aren’t aware of the fact that someone living with HIV, on antiretroviral medication, can now be undetectable and therefore untransmittable. This is known as U=U (UEqualsU). It totally dispels the perceived ‘threat’ of people living with HIV. This will become general knowledge as time moves on, but for now, education and awareness is still needed.

    Overall, relax. If someone shares their HIV status with you; respect them for sharing their personal and sensitive information with you. Lots of people living with HIV, choose to share their stories to encourage awareness and understanding. Curiosity is fine, being too personal and intrusive isn’t it is all about respect.

  • Sinead O’Connor wears Rainbow Flag and Islamic dress on Good Morning Britain

    Singer Sinead O’Connor has stunned fans after appearing on Good Morning Britain wearing both a traditional Islamic headdress and a rainbow flag.

    Sinead O’Connor has divided viewers with her appearance on Good Morning Britain on ITV, wearing a traditional Islamic head dress and a top which featured a rainbow flag.

    The singer, who converted to Islam in 2018 was on the show to sing her iconic cover of Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U”. When she converted to Islam in 2018, she also changed her name to Shuhada’ Davitt.

    However, her choice to wear a Rainbow flag top left some viewers questioning whether it was the right thing to do, while some praised her for uniting Islamic and LGBT+ symbols.

    Commenting on her decision to wear a rainbow symbol, fans of the show were quick to comment.

    One viewer wrote, “I’m genuinely pleased that #SineadOConnor is happier now but if she wore Islamic dress with a flag on it in an Islamic country it wouldn’t end well. #unicornislam #GMB“

    While another added, “I’d very much like to see #SineadOConnor try to wear traditional Muslim dress plastered with the rainbow flag in Brunei if she’s so enamoured by Islamic attitudes to sexuality”.

    While another continued, “I’m genuinely pleased that #SineadOConnor is in a happier place right now but if she wore Islamic dress with a flag on it in an Islamic country it wouldn’t end well”.

    Many years ago, Sinead actually identified as part of the LGBT+ community when she came out and then went back in again. She said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that she was three-quarters heterosexual.

     

  • Has Jeremy Corbyn always supported LGBT+ rights?

    Has Jeremy Corbyn always supported LGBT+ rights?

    With a General Election looming, we looked at just how gay-friendly Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, is.

    (IMAGE CC / FLICKR by garryknight) https://www.flickr.com/photos/garryknight/26392896430/sizes/l

    We looked into Jeremy Corbyn‘s voting record on gay issues to see how LGBT friendly he is.

    Since entering the House of Commons as an MP for Islington North in 1983, Jeremy Corbyn has consistently voted pro-gay in laws relating to equality.

    During his time as an MP he has voted to reduce and equalise the age of consent for gay men, he voted to allow gay people to become adoptive parents, he voted positively for civil partnerships and for same-sex marriage. He was absent on the vote to repeal Section 28.

    Overall Jeremy has voted on 27 issues relating to the LGBT community. On every major piece of legislation Jeremy Corbyn voted in favour or positively for equality.

    However, in 2003 he was absent for the vote on repealing Section 28 “Local Government Bill — Maintain Prohibition on Promotion of Homosexuality (Section 28)”

    Overall in the opinion of THEGAYUK.com editorial team, Jeremy Corbyn, politically has been an ally to LGBT+ people.

    This article was updated on the 28th May, 2019 – to reflect Jeremy Corbin’s absent vote on Section 28.

     

  • Shakespeares Sister. The Singles Party 1988- 2019

    ★★★★★ | Shakespeares Sister. The Singles Party 1988- 2019

    Shakespeares Sister blasted onto the scene back in 1988. I’m a lover of the 80’s and yet this passed me by. The whole of the Sacred Heart album was off my radar.

    When l did notice Shakespeares Sisters on TOTP, it was with their third single, ‘You’re History’. I was puzzled. Was that Siobhan Fahey from Bananarama? I knew she had left and was replaced by Jacquie O’Sullivan but until now, I had no idea where she had gone.

    Fahey was always a little left field in the Rama. You hear stories about the 3 girls getting up to no good, and yet Fahey always looked one step ahead.

    I knew nothing about the other woman with the mesmerising soprano shrill of a voice screeching out “YOU’RE HISTORY” from that song. This was all pre-internet days so I had to wait for the latest Smash Hits magazine to find out. She was an American, born in Michigan and went under the name of Marcella Detroit.

    Here then are 2 women from widely differing areas of music, coming together and making music like no other music out there. Fahey’s deep tones (sometimes with menace in them) blending in with the soprano pitch beautifully of Detroit’s.

    It wasn’t until their second album, Hormonally Yours in 1992 that l really took notice albeit not from their biggest hit ‘Stay’ but from ‘I Don’t Care’. I rushed out and bought the new album and Sacred Heart from 1988.

    Suddenly I’m crazy about the Sisters. The tunes, the stories within the music take you all over the place. Little did a 17 year old Stuart know that there was rot building within the Sisters and suddenly the party was over. No third album.

    Actually there was a third album released, titled #3 in 2004. Some 12 years after the Sisters split. I have it (I like back catalogues of artists I like even if I’m not keen on an album) and it’s nothing like what we had heard before. Without Detroit’s voice, Shakespeares Sister is missing the edge.

    And then comes 2009’s Song’s from the Red Room. There is a good vibe about this album that took almost 7 years to release with 3 songs released since 2002 – 2005 and the final to promote the album, the surprisingly genius “It’s a Trip” in 2010. Reviews for this album were mostly favourable.

    But just when the Sisters were at their height, it stopped and nothing since was as successful for Fahey. Detroit did release the excellent though moderately successful ‘Jewel’ in 1994.

    And so to 2019 when I spotted the Sisters talking on breakfast TV. Their vicious split, a thing of the past. Fahey, it would seem had put the demons (whatever they really where) behind her and both she and Detroit had started working together. I was excited.

    And so to the ‘Singles Party’ album. It is a bit of a greatest hits album. There are 18 songs on CD1 from all the albums Shakespeares Sister released and 2 new songs. CD2 is full of 14 remixes.

    It’s ‘All the Queens Horses’ where we find the Sisters kissing and making up and the accompanying video is typical with a hint of irony and malice thrown in. It’s not quite the same kind of music that should have followed from 1992’s seminal album ‘Hormonally Yours’ but it’s a start and to be honest, the Sisters have 27 years of catching up to do.

    The CD does include a booklet with an interview about how they reconciled their differences but you are left wanting a bit more dirt. However, I’m just glad they are back together. Long Live the Queens.

    Available now.

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Falsettos, London

    THEATRE REVIEW | Falsettos, London

    ★★★★| Falsettos


    A dysfunctional Jewish family is at the heart of the new show Falsettos.

    Now playing at The Other Place theatre near Victoria Station, Falsettos is a funny, toe-tapping, well-acted and sung musical set in NYC in the late 70s and early ’80s. But later in the show reality kicks in and the show takes a turn.

    The show opens with the hilarious song ‘Four Jews in a Room Bitching.’ The four Jews include Trina (a wonderful Laura Pitt-Pulford), and Marvin (a very good Daniel Boys), who were married with a young son Jason (various actors play the part but on the night I saw it it was a fantastic George Kennedy).

    However Marvin turned gay when he meets, and falls in love with, Whizzer (Oliver Savile), and they move in together, leaving Trina single. But the family is recommended to go see a shrink Mendel  – (Joel Montague) to accept their new circumstances. It all becomes very confusing for Jason, who spends most of his time alone in his bedroom with no friends to hang out with. Jason and Whizzer become very close and it’s Whizzer who tells Jason to see the shrink as well. Trina and Mendel soon fall in and all seems fine with everyone, but suddenly Marvin and Whizzer break up, and then Whizzer starts getting sick.

    As it’s the early 1980’s in NYC, it’s no surprise what disease Whizzer is struck with.

    The show then unexpectedly turns very dark, so unlike the first half which was hilarious and fun!

    When Falsettos first premiered on Broadway in 1992 theatre audiences (a lot of them gay men) were just getting over the multitude of deaths from the 1980’s AIDS crises, a chapter in LGBT history that is dark and grim. But through its storytelling via music (Pit-Pulford brings the house down with songs ‘Trina’s Song’ and ‘Holding to the Ground’), and a wicked sense of humour (the funniest moment is when the second half opens and Mendel points to an audience member and says ‘you are a homosexual.’)

    Falsettos will set the right notes for your theatre-going experience. The cast is all wonderful (give Pitt-Pulford an award pronto).

    This show, directed by Tara Overfield-Wilkinson, succeeds in it’s first showing in London in a venue where every seat is good, and with a very good cast.

  • SAM SMITH | Being called They “feels beautiful”

    SAM SMITH | Being called They “feels beautiful”

    Global star, Sam Smith has revealed that being referred to by gender netural terms such as “they, them and theirs” feels beautiful.

    CREDIT: kathclick / bigstock

    The “How Do You Sleep” singer, Sam Smith, has revealed on Twitter that being called “they” is much more preferable than being called “he”. The star, who came out as gay in 2014, wrote in a Tweet that being referred to in a gender-neutral – or non-binary way felt “beautiful”.

    The singer was replying to a Tweet from radio and A Gay And A Non Gay podcast presenter James Barr who referred to Sam as “they” in a tweet, saying, “just interviewed @samsmith and they sounded so happy and free and more themselves than ever. it’s made me feel like the world is a good place again”

    Sam replied, “You’re one of the first people to use these pronouns with me. Thank you. That feels really beautiful”.

    The 27-year-old star came out as non-binary earlier this year.

    According to the Sun, A “pal” who continuously misgendered the star in a statement said, “This is a decision Sam has thought long and hard about, including doing a lot of reading on up it.

    Embed from Getty Images

    “He knows that it will take some people longer than others to fully get it.

    “First the request is going out to mates and then it will be passed on to the music industry too. It’s an exciting and groundbreaking time for him.”

    Sam recently attended the GQ awards and wore a pair of heals to the event. Taking to Instagram, the singer wrote “Tonight I wore heels for the first time to an award show. I’ve just got home from a gorgeous evening and as I was walking to my front door I stopped and listened to my heels clonking against the floor. And I just thought ‘FUCK YES’!! There was a time where I thought I’d never ever ever be able to be myself like this in front of the industry or anyone. It feels so good and I just wanted to share that with you all, and share a picture of my GORJ Gucci heels. They’ll always be my virgin heels”

    https://www.instagram.com/p/B1981fggAal/

     

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