Japanese not weed

Before exchanging contracts have you ever had a house checked for non-native invasive species of plants? You could be a raging racist, according to “ethnobotanist” James Wong who is valiantly trying to dig up a previously unsourced supply of grievance in gardening. The New Scientist columnist told his 150,000 followers about the harrowing experience of having to speak to a room full of “100% white” planners and architects about his bold idea to turn, one can only assume, a British residential area into something resembling Botany Bay. James was told his plants “didn’t fit the area” and that he “should do native wildflowers” which Wong eloquently pointed out was “historically fucked” and “predicated on often unconscious ideas of what and who does and does not ‘belong’ in the UK”. Wong then stunned the twitter bigots by blaming the “bedrock xenophobia and racism” of the gardening world on the fact that it is not “treated on par with other forms of high art, like painting, music & film.” I too long for a day when the National Portrait Gallery is brave enough to host the entire Chelsea Flower show. Thank you Mr. Wong for being so willing to uproot this growing injustice.

Debate is hate
Do journalists really think it’s their job to “ask questions” or provide “balance” when discussing trans issues? Sadly some of them do hatethink the former, and there are even some at the BBC of all places.

Thankfully the state regulator has come to the rescue. Ofcom boss Dame Melanie Dawes was asked by the SNP’s John Nicolson why BBC News seems to be under the impression that it needs to “balance” its reports on trans issues with transphobic groups. Thankfully Dawes agreed that this was “extremely inappropriate” and revealed that the explicitly impartial broadcasting watchdog she runs has been seeking advice from the not-at-all-political group Stonewall about this worrying trend.

Colour blind
Since it’s now only racists who claim not to see race, one can’t help but notice that the actress who was cast as Anne Boleyn in a “convention-challenging new spin on her story” is a person of colour. Producers Fable Pictures said the drama starring Jodie Turner-Smith would challenge “all the conventions of who we think Anne Boleyn was and shines a feminist light on her story”. Whilst it’s entirely probable that racist historians hid the fact that Henry VIII’s second wife was actually a black feminist, one can’t help but find it deeply worrying that Channel 5 script writers have not reinterpreted the part where she was beheaded.

Flagging up racism
Why did the British ambassador think it was acceptable to put two extremely problematic flags next to the gay pride symbol? It’s bad enough that Karen Pierce was lecturing other people on how to make tea, despite the fact that white people consuming the plant-based caffeine drink is a form of cultural appropriation. The only non-hurtful flags she could have used to accompany the multi-coloured banner of inclusivity would have been the trans pride flag and the friendly fist of BLM. By selecting the Union Jack and the US prison bars of hate next to an image of what looks like slavery times, the UK ambassador basically just declared war against minorities. And note the orange outfit – she’s not even hiding her slavish devotion to Trump. Not a patch on Kim Darroch.