Yesterday I headed into Bath. Part of that was to do some shopping. I had a copy of the new Johanna Sinisalo book, The Core of the Sun, to pick up from Mr. B’s. I’m very much looking forward to that one. I also discovered the Saturday market that they have in the old Green Park Station building (Green Park was the northern terminus of the Somerset & Dorset Railway, or the Slow & Dirty, as it was known in these here parts). There I found Somerset Charcuterie, who do some very nice salamis. I picked up packets of the Garlic & Black Pepper, and the Red Wine & Blue Cheese flavors, both of which are very nice.

The main point of the day, however, was to attend a meeting of the Women’s Equality Party. There has been some concern that the WEP might end up a White Feminist party. I was encouraged by the interview I did with Jess from the Bristol branch on Ujima a few weeks ago. However, the Facebook page of the Bath branch has seen a lot of TERF presence. There was some concern that these people might actually be members of the Bath group, as opposed to trolls. So I went along to a party meeting to see what these people were like.

I am pleased to report that I was made very welcome. I’m pretty sure that most WEP members are reasonable people who do want equality. I note also that Sophie Walker, the party leader, has stood up to TERFs in online discussions. And the leaflets they had at the meeting clearly said that the party welcomes member of all genders. No doubt the mob at the New Statesman will be doing whatever they can to change this, but for now the WEP appears to be shaping up quite well.