this post was submitted on 11 Oct 2024
499 points (95.6% liked)

UK Politics

3141 readers
204 users here now

General Discussion for politics in the UK.
Please don't post to both [email protected] and [email protected] .
Pick the most appropriate, and put it there.

Posts should be related to UK-centric politics, and should be either a link to a reputable news source for news, or a text post on this community.

Opinion pieces are also allowed, provided they are not misleading/misrepresented/drivel, and have proper sources.

If you think "reputable news source" needs some definition, by all means start a meta thread. (These things should be publicly discussed)

Posts should be manually submitted, not by bot. Link titles should not be editorialised.

Disappointing comments will generally be left to fester in ratio, outright horrible comments will be removed.
Message the mods if you feel something really should be removed, or if a user seems to have a pattern of awful comments.

[email protected] appears to have vanished! We can still see cached content from this link, but goodbye I guess! :'(

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

LONDON, 11 October 2024, 3:50 PM—6 young trans activists infiltrated the LGB Alliance’s annual conference at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Hall in Westminster, some of whom fled quickly after while others were held by security for a period before being let go. They did so with intentions of ending the conference early, which they describe as a horrendous breeding ground for fervent and violent transphobia.

The group released approximately 6,000 crickets from bags hidden on their persons which they snuck through security just before a talk on the “dangers” of medical transition. They made sure to spread the crickets (which do not infest and pose no danger to humans) across the entire hall, in order to ensure the conference could be safely brought to an end. The speech was postponed and later speeches were cancelled. They filmed some of the earlier speeches using hidden cameras in order to “expose the fact that this group really has no interest whatsoever in promoting the rights of cis LGB people, and exists entirely to hurt the trans community as much as they possibly can”. Speakers at the anti-trans event told the audience to “Squash them, kill them, kill the buggers!”

One bug carrier said they’ve “been feeling physically ill with nerves, mentally cycling through all the possibilities and worst case scenarios, a thousand times over. I’m scared. But I fear more for the outcomes if we don’t go through with this action.”

The LGB Alliance claims to stand for the rights of lesbians, bisexuals, and gay men, but a challenge from Mermaids and the Good Law Project against their charitable status objects that they “dedicate most of their output to denigrating trans people”. The crick-kids say that “the LGB Alliance’s hate and cruelty resonates out into the political sphere”. They believe the result of the conference, if it had gone ahead as planned, would have been an acceleration of transphobic hate and misinformation, which drives much of the attack on their healthcare and dignity in all other parts of their lives.

Speaking hours before entering the conference:

“It makes me really angry to see trans kids being talked about like a bunch of brainless children who can’t make decisions for or speak for themselves. I’m sick of having our voices taken away by bigoted people like the LGBA who speak over us instead of listening.”

“Whilst we, the trans community, cobble together what little support we can to keep each other safe, this group claiming to stand for social progress spends hundreds of thousands of pounds annually to keep us down. We are trans kids, we are loved, and we deserve dignity.”

“They may try to ‘sound the alarm’ on trans youth accessing life-saving healthcare but we cannot and will not let them. Trans youth are powerful and we will let them fucking know it.”

All trans youth apprehended by attendees have been released and returned safely home.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 25 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Looking at the website for company I order mealworms from when my colony hasnt bred enough of them for gecko food, a box of 1000 crickets is like, a bit over 20 bucks, not counting shipping. So assuming the UK has a similar business somewhere with roughly equivalent prices, 6000 is like a couple hundred bucks worth of crickets, or less. Not cheap but honestly not terribly expensive for such a huge number of insects, probably wouldnt even need the layaway

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Speaking of "cheap" I wonder how they managed to keep the crickets quiet before releasing them?

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

crickets only chirp when completely adult and looking for a female (usually past the 35 day mark), while pet food stores usually ship them while they're still in their teen phase( 20 days), where they are silent

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Oh, so the ones I hear in the pet store are probably escapees who lived to adulthood...

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

either that or they keep some of them to make them reproduce

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago

This is the key question. And how they managed to sneak them through the security. Large events like this - security usually check the bags.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

They only really chirp in the evening or at night

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Wouldn't it be "night" in a pocket, or can they tell time?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

One of the main triggers is the presence of a female cricket. Male crickets will chirp louder and more frequently when they are trying to attract a mate. They may also chirp to defend their territory from other male crickets.

Another trigger for cricket chirping is light. Crickets are most active at night, and will often chirp more frequently in the presence of artificial light. This is because light can disrupt their natural circadian rhythms and cause them to become more active.

Another factor that can affect cricket chirping is the presence of predators. When crickets feel threatened, they may stop chirping or chirp less frequently in order to avoid detection.

https://petreader.net/when-do-crickets-chirp-a-comprehensive-guide/

If there's no female and no light, they will get quiet.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

All I know is that when I order locusts and get a stowaway cricket with them is that it drives me mad in the evening when it starts chirping