Mourning England in Song Part 1
Readying myself for what feels like a forced emigration, I am putting together the soundtrack of a whole life spent living in England... As I make preparations to leave the UK, I'm getting hit by what I can only describe as a grief. Apart from 3 years spent in Asia as a young child, as my father was sent abroad, England has been my home for all of my 64 years. I never imagined in my darkest of thoughts that there would ever come a time when I felt excluded and pushed out of my own country - driven out by an unrelenting and bitter campaign to remove from me the basic rights on which I thought I could absolutely rely. Because I am a trans woman and because the UK has now become the pariah of Western nations - on a national basis going further even than Trump's America in its rush to delegitimise our right to be known and treated as women - I feel that I have no choice but to go. I cannot live in a country where I am told I cannot urinate in a women's toilet anymore (after al...