Last Friday a Human Resources Director at Lloyds Banking Group, Sarah Underhill (pronouns She/Her), wrote an email to 30,000 Lloyds staff offering them counselling if they were triggered by the rhetoric heard at that week’s Conservative Party conference:
Like many of you, I was appalled to hear the rhetoric coming from the Conservative Party Conference this week, targeting the trans and non-binary community. Hearing language that fuels hate and division is shocking. To all our trans and non-binary colleagues across Group COO, please know that at Lloyds Banking Group, you are not alone. You are valued. You are welcome here.
I am aware of the brilliant work undertaken in the last few days by our Trans Working Group and their allies, to mobilise support, offering safe spaces for colleagues affected to talk, to vent and to find allyship and assurance. We have heard powerful examples from colleagues around their anger and fears. This is a moment that matters and I would ask that, as a community, we come together to offer allyship and support to anyone affected.
Support is also available via our LGBTQ Mental Health Advocates and through the private medical healthcare available via BUPA. You can also contact Mind Out, our LGBTQ mental health partners.
If Tory rhetoric was too much for Lloyds staff and Sarah Underhill last week, today’s news that Lloyds Bank has opened bank accounts for Nigel Farage will be a bit of a shock for her. She may herself now need counselling…
Given how Nigel Farage’s mere breathing triggers wokesters, Lloyds may need to up their BUPA premiums…
The Welsh government is paying out £9 million in taxpayer cash annually for woke jobs. The Taxpayers’ Alliance have uncovered data revealing that in 2022, a total of 138 posts in the Welsh Government featured words ranging from “diversity” and “inclusion” to “climate“, “wellbeing“, and “race“. A whopping 25 staff are employed in roles mentioning “equality“. The total cost of these, including salary and pension contributions, was £8,879,479. Drakeford’s gravy train rolls on…
Conor Holohan at the TPA said:
“Hard-pressed taxpayers in Wales expect their cash to be focused on key services, not on an in-house team of race and gender campaigners.“
Guido wasn’t aware the Welsh government contained anyone else…
UPDATE: Welsh Tory leader Andrew RT Davies tells Guido: “Under Labour, Wales has longer NHS waiting lists than England. But instead of tackling the problem, Labour waste their time virtue signalling“.
Coutts has faced an almighty PR headache since it was revealed they de-banked Nigel Farage for political reasons, and co-conspirators can now read those reasons for themselves. Coutts made the decision based on Farage’s “publicly-stated views that were at odds with our position as an inclusive organisation.” This is the same “inclusive” organisation that excludes anybody with a bank balance below £1,000,000. The bank then claims somewhat incoherently “this was not a political decision but one centred around inclusivity and Purpose.”
Digging deeper into the dossier, and the full extent of Farage’s (completely legal) crimes become apparent. The bank claims Farage is seen as “xenophobic and racist” – a statement they base on his criticisms of BLM and his description of Grant Shapps as “globalist”. They also cite his support for a referendum on Net Zero as “not in line with the banks views”. Amongst Farage’s other thought crimes were his support for the current UK government’s Rwanda policy, his description of Prince Charles as “stupid” and his “comments on women’s football”…
Co-conspirators can read the full dossier below:
Inflation is at 8.7%, interest rates are at 5%, two-year gilt yields are at their highest since 2008 and the UK is teetering on the edge of recession. The good news, however, is that the Bank of England have announced staff of any gender can get pregnant. According to the Bank’s 103-page submission to Stonewall, their new family leave policy “talks about parents without specifying gender” and insists all gender identities are capable of birthing a child. Anything about… mothers?
They are also planning to introduce gender neutral toilets as part of their plan to change their facilities. Do they plan to change governor any time soon?
Stationery giant Paperchase has fallen into administration today, having failed to find a buyer for its 106 shops across the country. Tesco is only buying the brand and intellectual property, leaving 800 or so jobs at risk.
Guido’s old enough to remember when Paperchase faced a vicious backlash from angry customers in 2017, after bowing to pressure from anti-press freedom cranks not to advertise in the Daily Mail. At the time, one Owen Jones declared it “another victory against hatred”, and claimed the reaction was evidence of “a rightwing press lashing out from its death spiral”…
Today MailOnline reports on the death spiral of Paperchase, and the Daily Mail continues to sell millions of copies per year. As always: go woke, go broke…
Earlier this week it was revealed Conservative candidates are receiving vital “unconscious bias” training ahead of their selection, with useful lessons in “white resentment” and gender fluidity all on the menu. Would-be MPs were even advised against being alone with a member of the opposite sex…
Now ITV reports the Party has deleted the course entirely, after a fierce backlash from Tory MPs – including the Common Sense group, chaired by Sir John Hayes – warned that the training was “divisive nonsense” that needed scrapping. The Common Sense group immediately demanded a meeting at CCHQ, including with Party Chair Nadhim Zahawi, with Zahawi later writing to MPs:
“This ‘training’ was provided by a private contractor as an optional extra to our candidates. It was not commissioned or endorsed by the Party and once I found out about it I have ensured it has been removed […] I don’t believe anyone should be ashamed of who they are or their background and this ‘training’ has no place in the Conservative Party.”
That’s one mess Zahawi’s cleaned up, at least…
