Was Perez Hilton previously Paris Hilton? Today, half of one per cent of the population was told that while its feelings were real, they were not facts, and facts were the basis of policy. Next up, you cannot, by definition, have your own pronouns. And the singular they cannot be used for a specific, known individual; that is precisely what it is not for.
The self-appointed voices of another half of one per cent think that they have notched up a similar victory. But while Kemi Badenoch thinks that being a councillor is "looking at parking, sorting out bins", she undoubtedly regards advising her exalted self in markedly more elevated terms. That is Joshua Bonehill-Paine's consolation prize, giving him a very good chance of becoming a Member of Parliament.
According to Badenoch, "Josh has actually been certified by the Home Office to train Police Officers on anti-Semitism and countering extremism." Yet the Home Office offers no such certification to individuals, but only to civil society organisations that then engaged individuals when commissioned by local authorities. Commissioned, one can only assume, in the spare moments between looking at parking and sorting out bins. And while of course she should have checked, if he has been lying about that, then this is not a story of rehabilitation.
"Josh has actually been certified by the Home Office to train Police Officers on anti-Semitism and countering extremism" sounds like something from Jason Arday.
ReplyDeleteAnd spot on that "you cannot, by definition, have your own pronouns. And the singular they cannot be used for a specific, known individual; that is precisely what it is not for."
The singular they for a known and specific individual should have to take a singular verb, to illustrate its sheer absurdity: “They is going to be there, isn’t they?”
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