Peter Rhodes on a popular Tory, a politician's apology and the new crime of “dating preference”

My guess is that Boris Johnson has given up pretending to be the reincarnation of Winston Churchill and is modelling himself on another Tory leader of yore, Harold Macmillan. Despite being a toff, “Supermac” was so popular with the Brits that his most famous assessment of Britain's standard of living is still remembered with amusement and affection. How long before Boris Johnson dares to tell us: “You've never had it so good”?

Meanwhile, Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner must be wishing Boris lives a long and happy life. She clearly relished her moment in the spotlight when, in the company of her comrades, she denounced Johnson as “scum.” So what would she have to say if he were flattened by a bus next week? It is a convention of British politics and civilised society that you never speak ill of the dead. And that's a lot easier if you spoke of them with courtesy when they were alive. Rayner, chastened by the killing of David Amess MP, has issued a full apology but what's said cannot be unsaid.

A much-read report on BBC News online (“We're being pressured into sex by some trans women”) alleged that some lesbians are under pressure from activists, and even friends, to date and have sex with trans women. However, many lesbians are not in the least attracted to people who define themselves as women but still have male sex organs.

So what's this got to do with anybody? Surely dating is purely a personal matter and the first step is to find someone you fancy? Not so, according to some activists who, it is alleged, regard this so-called “dating preference” as a form of transphobia. The BBC report has infuriated some readers but its editorial bosses are sticking to their guns, declaring: “The BBC is here to ensure debate.” Quite right. At a time when the trans lobby is becoming loud and effective in the corridors of power, we are entitled to know what sort of thought processes are driving it.

If even a small number of activists seriously believe that lesbians (or anyone else) have some sort of social duty or moral obligation to fall in love with trans people (or anyone else), what planet are they living on?