
Trans model named in list of ‘women defining Britain'
Vogue has stated that this ruling 'further motivating gender critical activists' who believe that biological sex and not preferred identification define what constitutes a woman.
These include JK Rowling, the Harry Potter author, who has been outspoken in her belief that spaces for women should be reserved for those who are biologically female.
The selection of Bergdorf for the Vogue 25 follows a number of instances in which honours for women have been handed to those who are not biologically female.
In 2024, Bergdorf was chosen by UN Women UK to be its ' UK champion '.
Later that year, the BBC named Brigitte Baptiste, the transgender Colombian scientist, in its annual list of 100 inspiring women. In 2023, Rukshana Kapali, the Nepalese transgender activist, was chosen for the list following a legal fight to change gender officially from male to female.
In 2024, Cannes Film Festival handed its best actress award to a trans woman for the first time.
Karla Sofia Gascon, 52, starred in the Mexican musical comedy Emily Perez, a film that was lauded by critics, about a man transitioning to escape vengeful criminals.
The Spanish performer was named best actress alongside co-stars who were honoured as an ensemble.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


BBC News
10 minutes ago
- BBC News
Rescued kittens in Wolverhampton named Ozzy and Sharon
Two rescued new-born kittens found covered in maggots next to two dead siblings have been named Ozzy and feline pair, thought to be about a week old, were found by "a kind-hearted lady" in her garden in the Whitmore Reans area of Wolverhampton, with no mother around, and were "in a very bad way".Both are being helped by Wings and Paws Rescue in Wolverhampton, with a spokesperson saying: "They're only a week or so old - how could we say no to helping them?"They are now being hand-reared with our very experienced fosterer and are already doing much better." "Keep fighting little ones, we've got you now," the spokesperson said. The pair's fosterer said she had struggled to find names for them that she hadn't used before."We have about eight Hollys," she said."I thought it would be nice to honour Ozzy by naming the kittens after him and Sharon. "The last lot were after Peppa Pig's friends and new baby sister." Follow BBC Wolverhampton & Black Country on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.


BBC News
10 minutes ago
- BBC News
The Somerset man making guitars for Idles and Massive Attack
Rocker Josh Stopford spent a decade on the road with ska band Yes Sir Boss. But after retraining as a carpenter he has switched from playing with the stars to making guitars for Stopford, from Frome in Somerset, has performed with Joss Stone, supported reggae legends Toots and the Maytals, gigged with Reef and appeared at Glastonbury multiple setting up in 2018, he has built and worked on instruments for Bristol legends Massive Attack and Idles, as well as The Vaccines, Gaz Coombes, The Stranglers, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and The The. The 41-year-old told BBC Radio Somerset he made the change when he had his first child after 10 years of touring he realised as a carpenter he could make guitars he "sort of couldn't believe I hadn't thought of it before"."It takes about two-and-a-half months from start to finish, it depends what you want," the dad-of-two said."But if what you want is complicated and fiddly, it's worth the wait. "For me, doing the little details is the really great bit. It's all the finishing that makes it very exciting to me," said Mr Alex Lee, who has worked with Massive Attack, Goldfrapp, Placebo, Suede and the Royal Shakespeare Company, apparently feels the same way. He is planning on coming in to Mr Stopford's workshop at West Valley Guitars with some wood from his garage which he wants to use in an instrument."He was just really interested in the building part of it," said the carpenter. At the moment Mr Stopford only builds electric guitars, which cost between £2,500 and £3, said: "I would make acoustic but it's hard enough to make money with electrics."Acoustics, they take a lot longer and cost more to build, and launching into that feels sort of overwhelming." Besides, he finds electrics more appealing."I've found my thing and that's it," he said. "I've arrived."


Times
28 minutes ago
- Times
Harry Potter tourism is ruining our cities… and it's about to get worse
When I was at primary school, a key signifier of social status was whether you had queued from midnight to buy the latest Harry Potter book on release day (I was never allowed — respect, Mum). With the final instalment, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, having been published in July 2007, the rather less edifying modern-day equivalent, I'd suggest, is convincing your parents to take you to one of the garish unofficial Harry Potter shops, found in increasing numbers in UK cities from London to Edinburgh via Oxford. Three stores have opened between Leicester Square and Charing Cross stations in central London over the past few years — House of Spells, Magical Platform and Wizards & Wonders — and each is as tacky and depressing as the next. Stuffed elves and owls, Hogwarts Express bookends, handbags boasting 'Proud Ravenclaw', stacks of wands … nothing on the shelves is tasteful, let alone useful, and all of it is overpriced (one wand for £55 or two for £100). If Hieronymus Bosch were alive I reckon he would have ripped up his hellscapes and painted House of Spells instead — this grotesque postcard from the consumeristic abyss of Britain would hang pride of place at the Prado in Madrid. Much like those ubiquitous American candy stores, wizardry-related shops have now opened in prime spots in other cities popular with tourists — including Bath, Cambridge and Salisbury, none of which bear any connection to the book or film franchise. And it's a similar story for Harry Potter tours. In York, where a single scene in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was filmed at the train station, tour groups overrun the Shambles, the city's most famed street, rumoured to be an influence for Diagon Alley in the book (JK Rowling has denied this but the visitors keep coming). In Edinburgh, where the most notable Harry Potter sight is a café that Rowling used to frequent, there are no fewer than 36 Potter-adjacent tours listed on the activity booking platform Get Your Guide — ask a local about overtourism and they're more than likely to describe the city centre as a 'Harry Potter theme park'. All of which raises the question: 14 years after the last film was released, have we finally reached Peak Potter? No, I'd wager — filming for the ten-year HBO TV series is under way and Potter tourism is surely only going to get bigger. So I've come up with a three-point plan to get us out of this cursed mess. • 29 of the best hotels in Edinburgh First, embrace and expand the good. The Warner Bros studio tour is a fun day out, even for non-fans. The site in Leavesden, Hertfordshire, has proved to be a huge hit for a reason: you get fascinating insight into how the Harry Potter films were made and can browse countless original props. Why not create a satellite experience with new exhibits in Edinburgh? The demand would be there, and if a suburban location were chosen it would have the added advantage of drawing Potterheads out of the city. My second suggestion is for those small, quintessentially British cities that attract Potter fans to make more of films and TV shows that were actually shot there — Edinburgh has Trainspotting, Bath has period dramas galore and Cambridge has The Theory of Everything (if you want to see the spot where half a dozen extras raided the biscuit store after ten hours of sitting around doing nothing, let me know — I was one of them). To visitors I'd suggest that part of the fun could be to take yourself on a location-spotting jaunt, rather than join a same-old walking tour that irritates locals. • Read our full guide to Edinburgh And third, could councils act accordingly to stop yet more souvenir shops — especially naff wizardry-themed ones — blighting our cities? Amsterdam has banned tourist stores from opening in parts of its centre, and I don't see why a policy like that wouldn't work here. Failing that, I might invest in one of those wands — 'Expelliarmus', wasn't it? Do you agree? Share your thoughts in the comments