Our thanks to Alan for his email:

Mike,

You may be interested that Linux Torvalds recently announced a new code of conduct and has taken time off from his role in charge of Linux development.

The background to this is Linus created Linux an outstandingly successful open source developed operating system which is the basis of android and many other embedded applications and server systems.

He is well known for on occasion outspoken  communication about what he thinks are stupid or misguided changes or proposed changes to the operating system.

At the same time he has introduced an explicitly anti-meritocratic code of conduct: https://www.contributor-covenant.org/  and said he needed to get assistance on how to understand people’s emotions and respond appropriately. This followed The New Yorker approaching him with questions about his conduct.

This is in my opinion a disaster. Linux is well known for its high standards of quality and reliability. The reason is Linux himself, his unwillingness to accept second best and his willingness to communicate forcefully when something fell short of what he believed was required. Most contributors are volunteers and most are male. Faced with the prospect of an exposé of his abrasive response to poor contributions he has stepped down and introduced this  anti-democratic pro-diversity code of conduct.

Linux has been an astonishing achievement by a volunteer community, predominantly but not exclusively men, who focused on technical excellence. In that environment if you make a mistake or propose something stupid there is immediate feedback that you were stupid. That is what is required in that environment and those who work in that way accept and appreciate the feedback. The fact that most of the contributors were men has led to Linus being targetted for his communication style, ignoring the fact that his achievement using this style have been consistently remarkable for decades.

The new code of conduct is explicitly anti-meritocratic. From the introduction to the code of conduct:

“Open Source has always been a foundation of the Internet, and with the advent of social open source networks this is more true than ever. But free, libre, and open source projects suffer from a startling lack of diversity, with dramatically low representation by women, people of color, and other marginalized populations.

Part of this problem lies with the very structure of some projects: the use of insensitive language, thoughtless use of pronouns, assumptions of gender, and even sexualized or culturally insensitive names.

Marginalized people also suffer some of the unintended consequences of dogmatic insistence on meritocratic principles of governance. Studies have shown that organizational cultures that value meritocracy often result in greater inequality. People with “merit” are often excused for their bad behavior in public spaces based on the value of their technical contributions. Meritocracy also naively assumes a level playing field, in which everyone has access to the same resources, free time, and common life experiences to draw upon. These factors and more make contributing to open source a daunting prospect for many people, especially women…”

Form the CoC itself:

“In the interest of fostering an open and welcoming environment, we as contributors and maintainers pledge to making participation in our project and our community a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of age, body size, disability, ethnicity, sex characteristics, gender identity and expression, level of experience, education, socio-economic status, nationality, personal appearance, race, religion, or sexual identity and orientation.”

My emphasis but really a code of conduct which is explicitly anti-meritocratic and forbids discrimination on the basis of experience and education! How can a technically challenging development be performed if competence based discrimination is not allowed?

This is perhaps a very geeky subject but it is a very sobering day with the potential for the destruction of the most successful large scale voluntary technical collaboration of all time.

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A piece by Nicholas Hellen in the latest Sunday Times. Baroness Hake is the least qualified judge in the Supreme Court, and its president. She claims having female judges make for a better court, without ever explaining how. It’s self-serving twaddle.

The president of the Supreme Court has said the presence of women judges makes for better decisions in court because of their different experiences.

Baroness Hale of Richmond, the court’s first female president, said she knew her intervention was controversial and asked: “Do women make different decisions from men? To which the answer is, having women on the court improves the quality of decision making.

“It improves the quality of debate, it makes certain things much more difficult to say and do, counters subconscious biases, we all have them . . . and just from time to time, having a woman’s voice on a decision makes a difference.”

Hale, who spoke to The New Zealand Herald at the Women in Law Summit in Auckland, went on to say: “Because however egalitarian society, however much people respect one another, women do lead slightly different lives from men and that perspective in experience is a valuable one to have around decision-making generally.”

You can subscribe to The Times here.

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Interesting (video, 13:08).

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Our thanks to Mike P for this. I couldn’t get beyond the lies at the start of the piece:

The BBC is recognised by audiences in the UK and around the world as a provider of news that you can trust. Our website, like our TV and radio services, strives for journalism that is accurate, impartial, independent and fair.

In breaking news, the NHS is the envy of the world.

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We’ve just received this email from Bettina Arndt:

A little post-script to yesterday’s email. I have been receiving a lot of messages suggesting we do a petition to push Sydney University into action.

So I have done this: https://www.change.org/p/bettina-arndt-sydney-university-must-take-action-against-bettina-arndt-s-violent-protesters

Now it is up to you! There’s no point in a petition if it only attracts a few thousand signatures. For this to work we need big numbers, people. So please spread the word far and wide. Thanks very much, Tina

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Very good (video, 11:31).

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Our thanks to Steve for this. The start of the piece:

A hospital nurse put the painkiller Tramadol into the feed of newborn baby in a “moment of madness”, a family court judge has concluded.

Judge Jane Probyn said a doctor had described the 12-day-old boy, the nephew of the nurse’s policeman partner, as being “30 minutes away from death”.

The judge said the youngster had recovered and not suffered any long-term consequences.

She said the nurse, who suffered depression, anxiety and low self-esteem alongside a history of mental health difficulties, had put at least 12 fragmented tablets into the baby’s bottle after succumbing to “feelings of resentment and despair”.

The judge added she did not think the nurse, who is in her 20s, had intended to cause the baby “serious harm”. [J4MB emphasis]

We need more female judges and nurses. Between them they can kill baby boys, and suffer no consequences.

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Our thanks to James for this. He writes:

I love it when women hit the wall and then bitch and moan and shame successful men for preferring younger, hotter women. They just can’t admit that their stock depreciates over time. Solipsism in the extreme.

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An email just received from Bettina Arndt, published here with her permission:

I have put together a series of letters to Vice Chancellor Michael Spence asking firstly that he return the security fee to the students because the security guards were unable to control the unruly protesters.

But more importantly, I have asked that formal complaints be taken against key organisers of the protest. I have spelt out in detail the various codes of conduct and bullying/harassment policies breached by these organisers and provided abundant evidence, including video footage of these breaches. We have included witness statements from members of my audience who were bullied, abused and harassed by the protesters.

My new video (4:25) reveals who these key protesters are and gives a few glimpses of them in action.

Plus shows some of the relevant university regulations. This is designed just as a first stage. We are have plans to follow up, with legal action if necessary.

I also had a call from Dan Tehan, the new Federal Education Minister who is looking into what happened. Tehan is talking to Alan Jones about it here.

The Sydney Morning Herald has just reported on Tehan’s discussions with Vice Chancellors this week about it all. Tehan is now proposing a plan for protesters to have to pay for security rather than the people they are protesting against. He’s on ABC’s Insiders programme this morning here. See from 8.39 to the end.

I will be sending Tehan my letter to Spence which provides all the evidence about key protesters disrupting the Sydney talk – showing it is quite possible to identify people who gleefully take ownership of the protest. Perhaps he will use this as a test case.

Tehan has also been floating the idea that universities could bolster their commitments to academic freedom and freedom of speech through a charter modelled on the one adopted by the University of Chicago and other US colleges. Among other things, the charter declares: “Although faculty, students and staff are free to criticise, contest and condemn the views expressed on campus, they may not obstruct, disrupt, or otherwise interfere with the freedom of others to express views they reject or even loathe.”

A Sydney Morning Herald piece is here.

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Times caption: Jade Binch admitted assaulting Kiesha Schofield, one of her daughter’s friends (KENNEDY NEWS AND MEDIA)

A piece by Kaye Burgess in yesterday’s Times:

A female amateur boxer nicknamed “the secret assassin” was given only a £120 fine despite assaulting her daughter’s 11-year-old friend in an incident that is said to have left her victim too scared to walk to school.

Jade Binch, 28, admitted assault by beating in September last year over an attack on Kiesha Schofield, who was 11 at the time. She was given a fine, a community order, made to attend ten days of rehabilitation activities and told to pay court costs.

The incident took place after a row between Kiesha and Binch’s daughter, who were schoolfriends.

Kiesha’s mother, Tiffany Schofield, has released photographs that she says were taken after the assault, showing her daughter covered in blood. Ms Schofield said that her daughter had encountered Binch a number of times since the incident and is too frightened to walk to her school after several angry confrontations.

You can subscribe to The Times here.

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