Democratic Presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg has drawn criticism for views he expressed during a speech he gave at Oxford in 2016. In a video which has recently resurfaced, Bloomberg can be heard describing a general transgender person as “a man wearing a dress.” He continues by referring to the attendees of the conference, including himself, as “the intelligentsia,” to compare them to “the vast bulk of people.”

The remarks were made as part of the “distinguished speaker series”, a set of lectures put together by the Said Business School. Responding to a question about how he would address the “fundamental divide” between the Brexit-voting and Remain-voting portions of the general public. Bloomberg asks the audience “I don’t know how many here are familiar with the bathroom issue in the United States? Anybody know what I’m talking about?”

He continues: “If you want to know if someone is a good salesman, give them the job of going to the Midwest, and picking a town, and selling to that town the concept that some man wearing a dress should be in a locker room with their daughter. If you can sell that you can sell anything.”

To scattered laughter in the audience, he can then be heard to say “They just look at you and they say to you: ‘What on Earth are you talking about?’.”

Later in the speech, he comments on gender-segregation in the jail system in New York, where Bloomberg was Mayor for 12 years: “In our prison system in New York we have to have policy: when you walk in, drop your trousers, you go this way you go that way. That’s it.”

At another point during the speech, an audience member asks a question about the increasing divide between the “haves and the have-nots,” attributing the surging inequality with the rise of figures like Donald Trump. Michael Bloomberg responds by saying “I’m not sure you’re right. We have cut poverty in half in the last 40 years.”

Mr Bloomberg is currently in the process of contesting the Democratic primaries. This means that, if successful, he will represent the Democratic Party in the 2020 US Presidential election. The wealthy former mayor of New York has seen a dramatic increase in his polling recently to almost 14%, overtaking Elizabeth Warren.

Despite this, he has been criticised for a number of statements made in interviews and over tape recordings which have been described as racist. Most recently, Donald Trump shared a recording which appears to show Bloomberg say that most murderers and murder victims “fit one M.O. — you could just take the description, Xerox it and pass it out to all the cops. They are male, minorities, 15 to 25 [years old].”

Trump posted the clip with the caption: “WOW, BLOOMBERG IS A TOTAL RACIST!”

Unusually, Mike Bloomberg is funding his entire campaign from his own money, spending more than $300 million on adverts, polling, and private jets since joining the race in November 2019.

An Oxford Researcher has discovered a 1810 diary which argues that homosexuality is natural.

In his 1810 diary, Yorkshire farmer Matthew Tomlinson questioned the death penalty’s application for homosexual activity and sodoomy – suggesting that homosexuality may be natural. The discovery of Tomlinson’s views was made by Eamonn O’Keeffe, an AHRC-funded doctoral student in the History Faculty at the University of Oxford, while undertaking his PhD research in Wakefield Library. Tomlinson’s journal reflects a potential difference in opinion of ordinary people on homosexuality than previously thought.

Responding to media coverage of the execution of a naval surgeon for sodomy, on 14 January 1810 Tomlinson wrote: “It appears a paradox to me, how men, who are men, shou’d possess such a passion; and more particularly so, if it is their nature from childhood (as I am informed it is) – If they feel such an inclination, and propensity, at that certain time of life when youth genders [i.e. develops] into manhood; it must then be considered as natural, otherwise, as a defect in nature … it seems cruel to punish that defect with death.”

The diary entry was in response to the execution of naval surgeon James Nehemiah Taylor, who was hanged from the yard-arm of HMS Jamaica on 26 December 1809 for committing sodomy with his young servant. Tomlinson’s musings suggest that not everyone took the decisions and criticism of homosexuality uncritically.

Tomlinson suggests that homosexuality may be natural, and thus should not be punished by death. He questions whether God would have created people to naturally have a defect which should be punished with death: “It must seem strange indeed that God Almighty shou’d make a being, with such a nature; or such a defect in nature; and at the same time make a decree that if that being whome he had formed, shou’d at any time follow the dictates of that Nature with which he was formed he shou’d be punished with death.”

On the discovery, O’Keeffe said: “In this diary we see a Yorkshire farmer arguing that homosexuality is innate and something that should not be punished by death. While Tomlinson’s writings reflect the opinions of only one man, his phrasing – ‘as I am informed it is’ – implies that his comments were informed by the views of others.

“This exciting discovery complicates and enriches our understanding of Georgian attitudes towards sexuality, suggesting that the revolutionary conception of same-sex attraction as a natural human tendency, discernible from adolescence, was mooted within the social circles of an ordinary Yorkshire farmer.” 

Similar views were expressed at the time by utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham in his unpublished works and by landowner Anne Lister. Bentham supported decriminalization of homosexuality in unpublished writings from the 1770s to 1820s. Anne Lister defended her own homosexual feelings as natural and instinctive in her 1823 diary.

O’Keefe elaborated on the recent findings: “While Tomlinson’s writings reflect the opinions of only one man, the phrasing implies that his comments were informed by the views of others. This exciting new evidence complicates and enriches our understanding of historical attitudes towards sexuality, suggesting that the revolutionary conception of same-sex attraction as a natural human tendency, discernible from adolescence and deserving of acceptance, was mooted within the social circles of a Yorkshire farmer during the reign of George III.”

Tomlinson’s views were not fully in disagreement with those of his time. He said that if homosexuality is a choice, then it should be punished – potentially grueseomely with castration.

Tomlinson was a farmer at the Dog House Farm, and his journals had previously been used to enlighten historians about the perspectives of ordinary people at this time. Claire Pickering, librarian at the Wakefield Library – where the diaries are being held, said: “I am delighted that this discovery has been made. It’s not the first time Tomlinson’s diaries have come to the attention of academia for their provincial non-conformist outlook and thoughtful self-expression, but I’m delighted that a new audience will be exposed to them with an interest in LBGTQ histories.”

O’Keeffe expresses excitement that his unexpected discovery could bring light to the history of perspectives on homosexuality throughout history during LGBTQ+ history month: “Tomlinson’s meditations thus prove ultimately inconclusive, but nonetheless provide rare and historically valuable insight into the efforts of an ordinary person of faith to grapple with questions of sexual ethics more than two centuries ago. His comments anticipate many of the arguments deployed successfully by the LGBT+ and marriage equality movements in recent decades to promote acceptance of sexual diversity. Tomlinson’s remarkable reflections suggest that recognizably modern conceptions of human sexuality were circulating in British society more widely – and at an earlier date – than commonly assumed.”

Layla Moran, Liberal Democrat MP for Oxford West and Abingdon, has circulated a petition calling for the government to scrap the planned Oxford-Cambridge expressway.

The petition, created by the Oxford Liberal Democrats, voices concerns that the expressway would be an eyesore and harmful to the local environment.

It reads: “The disastrous Oxford-Cambridge Expressway, proposed by the Conservatives, will blight our landscape, threaten our environment and harm biodiversity. We need to invest in sustainable transport, not build massive motorways. The Conservatives have realised just how unpopular their Expressway plans are, and have promised a ‘review’. Layla Moran and the Liberal Democrats want to stop the Expressway altogether. We don’t need a pointless Government review, and if the Tories continue with the plans a proper public consultation is needed, with the option to scrap the scheme.”

The expressway would form a new road link between the M40 at Oxford and the M1 at Milton Keynes. It would be at a minimum a dual-carriageway road and possibly a three-lane motorway, linking the two cities, passing through the Oxford green belt.

The current most direct route connecting Oxford, Milton Keynes and Cambridge runs from the M4 to the M11. The project coordinators, Highways England, argue that this route is of a poor standard, affecting journey times, reliability and safety. They argue that a new expressway would reduce journey times between Abingdon and Milton Keynes by up to 40 minutes, helping the community access more potential jobs and services as well as promoting economic growth in the area.

The exact route the expressway would take is currently unknown. In 2018, the Secretary of State selected a preferred corridor for the road link but doubts remain over the specifics. Highways England is said to be looking at over a hundred possible options within the preferred corridor and the expressway could go outside of the corridor boundaries altogether.

If approved, the construction of the expressway will begin in 2025, scheduled for completion by 2030.         

The project has been widely criticised by a variety of local groups including environmentalists, who question whether the development of car-based transport links is sustainable. They point out that the Oxford to Bedford section of the East West railway is due for completion by 2023, which will enable faster train travel between Oxford and Cambridge than would be achievable by driving along the proposed route, negating the need for expressway two years before its construction is scheduled to begin.

As a result, the construction of the expressway has been seen by some as an excuse to facilitate further urban development: a total of one million new homes and at least two new towns could be constructed along the route. Over 300,000 of these houses are planned for Oxford, doubling the county’s current housing stock of 280,000. This has been the main focal point for objections for campaigning groups such as No Expressway.

Chair of the No Expressway Group, Olivia Field said: “The scale of development from the proposed expressway and aspiration for one million new homes along the Ox-Cam Arc would be devastating for our environment, our health and our communities for generations to come.”

In response to the widespread concerns raised about the project, the Conservative party had promised to conduct a ‘priority review’ into the expressway if they won re-election. This review is yet to take place.

The only comment the Government has made about the Expressway in 2020 was by George Freeman MP, Minister for Transport, who said, “We will provide an update on whether the project should continue in due course.”

The expressway’s fate may be indicated in the upcoming Spring 2020 budget.