‘Biggest COWARD is Keir Starmer’ | Graham Linehan ‘stunned’ by UK trans debate as PM ‘HIDES’

Welcome back to the weekend with Middle

East. Thank you so much for your

company. Now, Father Ted co-creator

Graeme Linham has had his conviction for

damaging the mobile phone of a

transgender activist overturned

following an appeal hearing at Southern

Court. So, I'm thrilled to say that we

are now joined by writer Graeme himself.

Uh Graeme, really good to see you. Thank

you so much for joining us.

Congratulations. Um Graeme, you are a

brilliant writer. You've won five

BAFTAs. You've won an Emmy. you you've

created so much brilliant comedy, but

could you even with your brilliant

imagination make up some of the stuff

that's happened to you simply for

believing in biological sex?

>> Yeah, I I I'm still completely stunned

by it. Um, you know, these ideas uh came

into fashion around 2015. they were

cooked up between American academics and

uh uh kids on Tumblr um who kind of came

up with a series of thought terminating

uh talking points um and which they

repeat at nauseium with no uh and

there's never any you know uh there's

never any depth to the comments. There's

never any thoughtfulness behind them.

They're simply a way of brute forcing

the idea that some men are women uh into

the public consciousness. And I'm

astonished that it worked. I'm

astonished that you have people like um

like I'm astonished that the NHS is not

only defending putting uh men in women's

spaces, but but forcing the women who

have to uh be subjected to it to

tribunals and so on, you know. Um and

and I never expected all my friends to

be so cowardly. Um most recently it was

Arlo Hanland who played Father Dooall in

Father Ted. And uh you know when I was

when I was being um when I was being

attacked by trans activists and losing

uh work and uh my family was under siege

by them. Uh you know he never called me

to ask me how I was doing or ask me what

my opinions were. he just decided they

were bigoted because that's what

everyone was saying. So I find the whole

thing extraordinary from top to bottom.

I I I never expected people to be so

cowardly. I never expected people to be

so thick, frankly. Um but here we are,

you know, and I'm in now in my 10th year

of it, you know.

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>> Why is it so important to you, Graeme?

>> Because women's rights are important.

It's that simple. like you know we we we

now are in a state where and and the

terrible thing is this actually includes

a lot of women a lot of uh I think it

was Simone Deowvoir said that you know

uh there'll always be participants in

your own demise or something along those

lines I wish I could remember the quote

but uh unfortunately a lot of women seem

entranced by the idea of allowing these

men into female only spaces and most of

the women who um who support it, they

don't they will never have need of a

women's shelter. They would, you know,

they they don't play sports. They don't

uh they would they won't ever be in a

women's prison. And so it's kind of a

class war on top of everything else.

It's a very comfortable uh middle class

belief system that affects people like

the Sandy Peggy and the Darlington

nurses and doesn't affect them at all.

So, um, you know, it's a lack of

empathy. It's, uh, and it's a it's an

incredible, you know, it's it's just so

incredible to me that people don't look

at their moms and say, you know, maybe

one day I'll have to put my mom uh, you

know, I'll have to get care for my mom.

And they don't think, you know, isn't it

isn't it bad thing that she can't

request female only care? That she'll be

considered a bigot if she does so. I

don't understand what what is going

through these people's minds. Graham,

why do you think our political classes

are so in enthralled to this ideology?

We're still waiting for the government

to clarify the Supreme Court ruling over

a year now.

>> Yeah. I mean, the biggest coward in the

UK is Kier Starmer because he said uh

when he was running uh uh for for uh

prime minister, he said he would bring

an end to the culture wars and instead

it's people like Sandy Peggy who have to

fight them. It's people like the

Darlington nurses. It's people like

women in prison. while he hides from the

debate. And I've never heard him make a

convincing argument as to why these men

should be allowed allowed in these

spaces, as to why children should be

taken to uh gender clinics and mutilated

and sterilized. And people, you know, I

used to get into trouble for using

language like that, but it it is

accurate language. You know, someone

someone like the the head of mermaids

took her child to be uh castrated in

Thailand when he was 16 years old. and

they were in the air when he was 15. You

know, that's how eager she was to get

the job done. These people are evil and

they need to be stopped. And um yeah, I

just I I can't remember the beginning of

the question.

>> And obviously, you know, mermaids aren't

here to defend themselves either. Just

finally and quickly, Graham, where do

you see this ending? Can you can you see

you you're going to carry on fighting

obviously despite the you know you were

in hospital with high blood pressure

recently. The pressure is on you

physically and mentally.

>> Yeah. But but now I'm in the states.

I've escaped them all. Uh I'm away from

all the politics, all the you know

there's there's there's a lot of

different drama that goes on in this

space understandably because it's full

of people who who simply won't be told

you know buly women who uh who you know

fought this with every senue and uh it

can be kind of dramatic sometimes. So

I'm glad I my aim now is to withdraw

myself from the um debate to some extent

and uh concentrate on writing comedy

again.

And and and Graeme, just quickly and

finally, um I have to ask this question.

Can a woman have a penis?

>> No, a woman cannot have a penis.

>> Graham Linham, thank you so much for

joining us today. Really appreciate it

and thank you for speaking out for

women's rights. Okay. Now, a statement

issued on behalf of Sophia Brooks, who

was the trans activist involved in

Graham's recent court case, says um