• Descent 302 is published on 15 February and it will soon be on its way to our subscribers.

    In the newsdesk, read a review of the underground events at Kendal Mountain Festival, plus tales of cannibalism and the Cavefish Asteroid.

    In regional news, we have three new connections in Ogof Agen Allwedd, a report on the iron mines of Anjou, an extension to Big Sink Cave in the Forest of Dean, a new dig in Yorkshire's Marble Steps Pot, student parties, an obituary for Tony Boycott, a tight find in the Peak District and a discovery in County Kerry with extensive formations.

    Click here for details of this edition

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  1. F

    Cultural History of Gender

    And finally before I get cancelled….. Historically and globally by far the biggest group of men who you would recognise as trans are gay men in a feminine and/or submissive role. I’ve met a fair few and worked with a bunch when I was young and less ugly - they were were very attentive and you...
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    Cultural History of Gender

    The fundamental flaw has been treating gender as being somehow a standalone issue with kids with a raft of big problems. A pill was easier than years of therapy. Not exactly a new issue in the UK. You can start with the massive abuse of anti-depressants. I once watched a conference on...
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    Cultural History of Gender

    CASS: So how do we know if this is down to the gender-related distress? Or is it because they also have an eating disorder, or they're depressed or a whole raft of other issues? And because a majority of these young people have all of these issues, then what you need to do is compare to what the...
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    Cultural History of Gender

    New Statesman, Economist, New York Times. Even the BBC. Not the Guardian. Hanna Barnes (ex Newsnight) has written a book about Tavistock. It’s pretty shocking stuff. A lot of young people have been seriously abused. Instead of getting talking therapy they were being medicalised. You could try...
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    Cultural History of Gender

    Because you need to get changed into something sterile. My son who is a nurse uses the mens version. You won’t be surprised to learn it has plenty of space. Some nurses are coming to work with scrubs under their clothes to avoid it. This is not good.
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    Cultural History of Gender

    At least the Cass review has properly reestablished the situation as a classic mental health issue. A stance backed to the hilt by every reputable current affairs and medical journal, included the British Medical Journal at some length. The same has happened across northern Europe. At this...
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    Cultural History of Gender

    That’s because gender is a description of a set of behaviours within a sex. The range is very wide. But they never overlap. The venn is two non-overlapping circles. I have never ever met a male who seriously exhibits most female characteristics, not even close (or vice-versa). All you are doing...
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    Cave rescue going down in Northern Spain

    If I squint I get the impression the cave is left rigged these days for a through trip between the two entrances shown and they got lost. That would explain the 500m comment. The cave is deeper than that. Would certainly save some effort rigging the Garma Ciega entrance….
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    Women's Kit - Club Oversuit suggestions needed

    I don’t think there is a good solution for men either. In fact, since they degraded virtually all materials, I am extremely grumpy about paying big money for any outdoor clothing because it doesn’t last. For example: https://www.musto.com/en_gb/w-hpx-gtx-pro-ocean-trs-82190
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    Women's Kit - Club Oversuit suggestions needed

    There is no good solution that I can detect. If you still have boyish proportions there is some choice. If you have acquired child-bearing hips the only realistic option is the AV unless you want walk round in a remarkably unstylish and annoying bag. I tried chopping up various older (larger)...
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    Breakdown cover France and Spain

    Sometimes the manufacturers offer pretty good deals. We have the Toyota one at £89 per year covering Europe for breakdown. We also use them now for the normal insurance. It has the value clause.
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    North End Pot

    Still not convinced about taking the wife down it.
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    Orgreave Rally

    The UK’s biggest problem is running out of cheap gas whilst being delicate about nuclear for decades. At least the lights haven’t gone out. Here’s one I built earlier: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ormen_Lange_(gas_field) Has helped make Norway very very rich. We of course don’t want our own...
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    Orgreave Rally

    As a result of Scargill’s manic attempt to enact what was little better than coup, the government went full blast on switching to gas in order to make the coal industry irrelevent. By the end of my course only one person showed any interest in working in coal. Everyone knew it was finished by...
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    Wezzit?

    I think we would all appreciate an even fuller description of what you found. Looks like a crime scene.
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    Orgreave Rally

    My uncle was on strike the whole time, and subsequently walked away from the industry. I did a mining degree several years later, so clearly took the input. There would have been no police involvement if people had just gone on strike. It was the attempt to stop other people from working which...
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    Expedition training

    Speed of prussiking isn’t very important, being able to do it for a very long time is the thing, usually carrying a load. I think 100m an hour is a reasonable climb speed over many hours. By which I mean total time, so 10 hours from 1000m. Think more Alpine walking speed, you function to a heart...
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    New GEO 'Kingsdale' Suits

    Come back TSA, all is forgiven. My wife has fond memories of a size zero Troll suit even. In the unlikely event I was going down a deep cave now the only option for me is buy a new suit like a AV Titan and assume it is toast after a couple of weeks. Maybe take two. It’s very annoying. I...
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    Inflatable Recommendations for use as buoyancy aids

    Go tubing. We have floated on large inner tubes through canals up to a km. Easy to progress. Comfy. You just need a bike pump. Inner tube rubber is pretty robust, not a blow up toy. Blow up bouyancy aids are rare because they are easily damaged. Lifejackets that blow up you can’t swim in and...
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    16340 batteries

    I have a number of 10 year old Panasonics that have not measurably declined, and I have never had any fail in any way. A protected 3400mAhr Panasonic NCR18650B is less than £10. Good for 6A. I don’t think you can buy a better cell, maybe some the same. You don’t get anything for buying a...
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