american commentators always drank their respect seb vettel juice (9/?):
after a mistake during an onboard lap in FP2 at the 2010 British GP: “Well, you can’t doubt his commitment, can you?” “This kid is special.”
This is a random thought but i will never not hate the British F1 media. Why? Because one my clearest memories from a F1 press conference is from Germany 2010 when the famous "Fernando is faster than you" happened. I was 10 and i was very Happy because Fernando won just for It to be ruined because British media kept drilling him and didn't let him enjoy the victory. I remember particulary one reporter saying "he had to let you win, didn't he, Fernando?" And another one "where Will you rank this victory in your career, is it Up there with Singapore 2008?"
I was so angry and i didn't understand why they hated him so much because i watched the races with the spanish commentators so, in my world, Fernando was the best and everyone cheered for him. To see that some people outside of Spain didn't like him was confusing
JK Rowling is founding and personally funding a new service for women survivors of sexual violence. Launched days before Nicola Sturgeon’s controversial Gender Recognition Reform Bill is expected to pass through the Scottish parliament, the Edinburgh-based centre, Beira’s Place, will be female-only.
The author, who has written about the sexual and domestic abuse she suffered in her twenties, believes there is an “unmet need” for Scottish women who want “women-centred and women-delivered care at such a vulnerable time”. She hopes Beira’s Place, which will employ professional staff to provide free one-to-one and group counselling, “will enable more women to process and recover from their trauma”.
Rowling’s board of directors are all vocal opponents of the Gender Recognition Reform Bill, which will permit anyone to change the legal sex on their birth certificate by making a simple statutory declaration, a process known as self-identification. Feminists, including Reem Alsalem, UN special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, have raised grave concerns it will open up women’s services and private spaces to abuse by male predators.
Beira’s board comprises Rhona Hotchkiss, a former prison governor, who has opposed the Scottish government’s policy of moving trans-identified male sex offenders to women’s jails; Johann Lamont, a former leader of the Scottish Labour Party and a lawyer; Dr Margaret McCartney, an academic, broadcaster and Glasgow GP; and Susan Smith, director of For Women Scotland, a grassroots feminist group founded to fight the gender reform bill. Beira’s chief executive is Isabelle Kerr, a former manager of Glasgow Rape Crisis who received an MBE in 2020 for her work supporting British citizens who had been raped overseas.
The provision of single-sex services has been a key battleground of the gender reform bill. Already in Scotland, most domestic violence refuges and rape support services are “trans inclusive” and accept referrals from both sexes. In recent years councils have removed grants from women-only refuges in favour of generic organisations. Monklands Women’s Aid in North Lanarkshire, which was set up more than 40 years ago, had its council funding withdrawn in favour of a social justice charity which also helps men.
Most controversial is Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre whose chief executive, Mridul Wadhwa, a trans woman, told the Guilty Feminist podcast that women sexual assault victims who request female-only care will be “challenged on your prejudices” and told to “reframe your trauma”.
Yet in her recent book Defending Women’s Spaces, veteran campaigner Karen Ingala Smith, the chief executive of Nia, a domestic abuse charity in London, describes how women traumatised by male violence fare better and feel safer in female therapeutic spaces.
Beira’s Place is legally permitted to exclude males under the exemptions of the 2010 Equality Act, which allows single-sex services if they are “a proportionate means to achieve a legitimate end”.
It is named after Beira, the Scottish goddess of winter. JK Rowling said: “Beira rules over the dark part of the year, handing over to her sister, Bride, when summer comes again. Beira represents female wisdom, power, and regeneration. Hers is a strength that endures during the difficult times, but her myth contains the promise that they will not last for ever.”
The service is not a charity, but privately funded by Rowling, a noted philanthropist. The amount she will donate to set up and run Beira’s Place has not been disclosed.
10 DAYS OF WEBBER
MY FAVOURITE RBR RACES (05/10)
➤ The 2010 British Grand Prix
"This was one of the biggest memories of my life," Webb recalled. "There was a lot of tension going into that race because of the contradictions on the equipment I felt I was receiving compared to my Red Bull teammate Sebastian Vettel. "I had a close start with Seb in Turn 1. He then made contact with Lewis (Hamilton), got a puncture - which I was heartbroken about - and after that I was racing Lewis to the flag." Mark Webber, July 2023
QUALIFYING
➤ After Seb damaged his new front wing in practice, Mark's own new front wing was given to him ahead of qualifying. He still was only a tenth behind Seb and lined up beside him on the front row.
THE RACE
➤ Into the lead at the start and then went on to win the race
➤ And his radio.. "who is the number one driver at Red Bull now?"
"Seb and I aren't the best of mates, but that's not unnatural as we both chase the same goal. Who knows, in the next few months, if we're both still racing at the front, things could become more tense between us." Mark Webber, July 2010