Rayne of error, sex vs gender and feeling fungi

In MetroTalk: Rayner faces backlack over stamp duty, Starmers PMQ defences and more on pay-as-you-go tickets (Picture: Wiktor Szymanowicz/Future Publishing via Getty Images)

Do you agree with our readers? Have your say on these MetroTalk topics and more in the comments.

Are the Tories ‘terrified’ Rayner will become party leader?

Tories are frothing at Rayner’s tax situation. Why?

They are terrified of her becoming party leader because she’d restore socialism to the party and smash the Tories, Reform, Lib-Dems, Greens and that vile Scottish Nasty Party.

Labour supporters should rally round her and topple that drab leader and his right-wing chancellor who are causing so much distress to the most vulnerable members of society. Alan, Royton

Reader questions Starmer’s ‘working class’ defense of Rayner

Am I the only one bemused that the leader of the Labour Party felt the need to refer to his deputy several times as ‘working class’ when defending her at PMQs?

While true, it is strange that the leader of a party founded for and by the working class should feel the need to do so. Seems she is a rarity in a party of lawyers and straight-from-university politicians. Jeff, Beckenham

This reader says that it’s strange how strongly Starmer emphasised Rayner’s working class status (Picture: ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)

Reader says, ‘the insistence that sex and gender are the same creates danger and insults trans women’

In the row over trans rights,
D Chamberlain (MetroTalk, Wed) says JK Rowling wants to keep men out of rape crisis centres. Those with the opposite opinion accuse Rowling of fear of trans folk.

Neither is fair. The problem is Rowling seems to use the argument about one specific venue to justify excluding trans women from all female-only spaces.

Equally, the extremist trans lobby argues that recognition of their gender identity overrides all considerations, such as rape 
crisis support.

It is time for the saner feminists and the saner trans activists to agree that sex and gender are distinct characteristics, both of which should be given priority in the circumstances where that prevents most harm.

Venues that think their visitors need female-at-birth exclusivity should be required to give a short statement as to why. Rape crisis centres can easily justify this. I believe these saner factions outnumber the noisy extremists. It is the insistence that sex and gender are exactly the same that creates danger for female-only spaces and insults trans women. River (Non-Binary), Manchester

‘The modern world needs modern solutions’, reader defends pay-as-you-go ticketing

People like Nicola (MetroTalk, Wed), who argue against GPS-assisted pay-as-you-go rail ticketing on privacy grounds, will stand across any good schemes the government is bringing in. The modern world needs modern solutions to minimise fare-dodgers.

I am totally in agreement with the proposal – and I am a privacy expert dealing with EU/UK data protection regulations. Inbaraj, Harrow

Are mobile phones a safety risk?

This reader says avid phone users have their ‘heads in the sand'(Picture: Getty Images)

Callum (MetroTalk, Wed) says older people are ‘burying their head in the sand’ by not embracing new technology.

I am over 70 and certainly not stupid but
I limit my use of technology for security reasons and because it is certainly not ‘failsafe’. As for GPS, I spent a few days in Dover and on the train home was surprised to see my phone welcoming me back to the UK.

I do not have my head in the sand because I can clearly see lemmings jumping off a cliff, each clutching a mobile phone! Jacqui, North Shields

Mushroom music?

Engineers have trained fungi ‘to play the drums’ by having sensors convert their bioelectrical signals into music (Metro, Wed).

Does this mean vegans will have to take mushrooms off their menu?

Can fungi feel pain as well?
John, Glasgow

Are mushrooms the future of music? (Picture: REUTERS/Sophie Royle)

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