Zack Polanski

In contrast, prostitution is the act of engaging in sexual activity with another person in exchange for money, goods or other forms of payment. It necessarily involves consent as if not it is rape. There is no intention or consent in the exchange of sexual activity to kill or be killed.
I think that in many (if not most) cases there is no consent involved in prostitution - or not in any meaningful sense. Yes, the woman may not refuse, but if that is because if she does she will be beaten or denied her drugs it is not consent. If she is under the influence at the time, it is not consent. If she is doing it because the man she thinks loves her has told her to do it, and she doesn't have the self-esteem to see through that, it is not consent.

What about women who have been trafficked or coerced into prostitution? There can be no meaningful consent under those circumstances, surely?

I view prostitution as legalised rape.

How can legalising murder be a good analogy for legalising prostitution? There would never be a situation where murder could be allowed legally in "controlled" circumstances, by mutual consent

Murder is the unlawful, intentional killing of a human being being. It is distinct from manslaughter as there is intent to kill rather than cause serious bodily harm. Nobody consents to being killed.

In contrast, prostitution is the act of engaging in sexual activity with another person in exchange for money, goods or other forms of payment. It necessarily involves consent as if not it is rape. There is no intention or consent in the exchange of sexual activity to kill or be killed.

Have posted my thoughts on Gransnet about Zach Palanski.

He is a wannabe and a total nob.

Just ignore him. Hopefully, he will disappear without trace soon.

🙏

Real name David Paulden. Can understand him wanting to revert to his family surname, Polanski, but to change his first name! Was it for 'coolness'? I don't agree with the Green Party's stance on trans women (men) in women's spaces (cloakrooms, hospital wards, prisons, DV and Rape Crisis centres and sports.

Doodledog

We disagree, twaddle. I don't think that talk of legalising murder is a poor analogy. It uses exactly the logic that you are using for legalising sex work - that it is going to happen anyway, so may as well be done in a controlled manner. Whether or not you want to protect one group over another is not really the point - the logic remains.

Similarly, claiming that sex work is like other forms of work falls apart when people (not just you) are only happy for 'other people' to do it. The fact that you don't want your daughter to do it shows that you are aware of the dangers and/or that the nature of it is such that you see it as not being something you are comfortable with her doing. So why is it ok for my daughter, or anyone else's on here to do it? Or is it just the vulnerable you are happy to see fulfilling the needs of people who have to pay for sex?

Who would you have keeping 'safe spaces' safe, and how would they do it? Isn't anywhere where a man and woman are alone in a private space risky by definition, particularly when they are naked and the woman is being paid to perform sex acts at the behest of the man?

Yes, we disagree about murder. Murderers should be locked up for a very long time. Prostitutes need to be kept safe. That's the difference. Nevertheless, traffickers should be locked up. The regulation of brothels is a red herring.

Grannymyers1954

Admittedly I have scrolled through the posts but didn’t see any mention of his comments ( on camera) that there are no no go areas in England. Well tell that to my friends in South and West Yorkshire!

Why can't people go there?

Petra, I know cannabis use doesn't but it does have other health implications, particularly the stronger stuff. That said, it wouldn't bother me as much to have cannabis use legalised because I don't like the current ambiguous use.
The Greens are not just talking about Cannabis though so I won't vote for them. Having lost my brother to the use of drugs, I want drug addiction treatment revolutionised but not by making them legal.

icanhandthemback

^Canada have very effectively legalised Cannabis, on our trip in 2025 we walked past several shops in different Provences^

We visited States in America where drugs have been legalised. This has had a dramatic effect on the streets. We watched people jacking up on the street outside the restaurants, walked through loads of areas where people are like statues whilst high but are in a terrible state coming down or needing their next fix whilst so many were homeless because they can't work in that state. It was tragic, unsettling and downright wrong. I just can't support a party who supports the legalisation of all drugs like the Greens having seen what happens when you do.

The people you saw jacking up and looking like statues were more than likely using spice and fentanyl.
Cannibis use doesn’t put you in that state.
There are several states now prescribing cannibis to addicts to help users of hard drugs come off them.

www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/aug/12/weed-help-cut-opioid-use

I think Polanski is a fake … why change your name? He looks like a snake oil salesman! …. What’s happened to The Green Party??? Bring back Caroline Lucas and her true values!

Don't know much about him other than he's delusional and living in Zac world. God help us if he was PM

I used to vote Green when Caroline Lucas was in charge. I changed my mind about the Greens at the last council election when an overbearing man wearing the Green Party rosette kept going on about Gaza and Israel to me. This was in the place where I do volunteer work. I was on my own, and I felt quite intimidated, so I picked up the implements I was using and went into the Ladies to get away from him! Horrible as the Gaza situation is, I used to vote Green because I felt the party's main policy was improve our lives and the environment we live in.
Also Polanski is so theatrical. He reminds me of Tommy Robinson who also has a real name, and another name for his political performances. And with Polanski's idea of legalising drugs, I can't help but be reminded of Screaming Lord Such of the Monster Raving Loony Party! So, sorry Greens. You've gone all Corbyn, and have lost my vote.

Admittedly I have scrolled through the posts but didn’t see any mention of his comments ( on camera) that there are no no go areas in England. Well tell that to my friends in South and West Yorkshire!

Galaxy

Absolutely brilliant article on the greens and this issue by julie bindel in the telegraph. I hadn't realised caroline lucas used to be opposed to legalisation until the 'progressive' men expressed their concern.

archive.is/20260318092033/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/03/18/the-green-partys-whitewashing-of-prostitution-is-shameful/

This is the article Galaxy is referencing. The link takes you to an archive site not the Telegraph paywall.

I agree Galaxy a very good analysis of the Green's attitude to sexual exploitation.

Canada have very effectively legalised Cannabis, on our trip in 2025 we walked past several shops in different Provences

We visited States in America where drugs have been legalised. This has had a dramatic effect on the streets. We watched people jacking up on the street outside the restaurants, walked through loads of areas where people are like statues whilst high but are in a terrible state coming down or needing their next fix whilst so many were homeless because they can't work in that state. It was tragic, unsettling and downright wrong. I just can't support a party who supports the legalisation of all drugs like the Greens having seen what happens when you do.

Biscuitmuncher

Didn't he used to hypnotise women to achieve bigger boob's

Yes ;and on that basis alone I think he isn't a contender for public office. It's way below Trump's comment on 'grabbing them by the pussy' but definitely on that same page. (And yes I know ZP is gay.)

We disagree, twaddle. I don't think that talk of legalising murder is a poor analogy. It uses exactly the logic that you are using for legalising sex work - that it is going to happen anyway, so may as well be done in a controlled manner. Whether or not you want to protect one group over another is not really the point - the logic remains.

Similarly, claiming that sex work is like other forms of work falls apart when people (not just you) are only happy for 'other people' to do it. The fact that you don't want your daughter to do it shows that you are aware of the dangers and/or that the nature of it is such that you see it as not being something you are comfortable with her doing. So why is it ok for my daughter, or anyone else's on here to do it? Or is it just the vulnerable you are happy to see fulfilling the needs of people who have to pay for sex?

Who would you have keeping 'safe spaces' safe, and how would they do it? Isn't anywhere where a man and woman are alone in a private space risky by definition, particularly when they are naked and the woman is being paid to perform sex acts at the behest of the man?

Oh dear....I find the responses on here very alarming. I was hoping that more people would be concerned about the continuing decline in our country and would be supporting a party which will bring us back from the brink. It seems the opposite is true. If the old biddies as well as young people are quite happy to have even more moral decline, then there is simply no hope for this country. No wonder so many are fleeing abroad. Soon, the only people left here will be drug addicts, sex workers and men masquerading as women.

Defence / NATO. Prostitution as “sex work”/ Women’s rights. A hypnotherapist with good PR. That is enough negative for me.

"I agree with *Galaxy andIam that the principle that women are commodities whose bodies can be rented is harmful to all of us, and the fact that there are those who are ok with other people's daughters doing it but not their own doesn't alter that. If sex work were really on a par with other ways to make a living it wouldn't be the poor and vulnerable who end up doing it."

This is a strawman argument! I'm not at all OK about anybody being a sex worker, but the fact is that some women end up being sex workers and that has absolutely nothing to do with me. Whether there are legal brothels will make absolutely no difference.

Talking of legalising murder is not a good analogy. I don't want to protect murderers, but I do want to protect sex workers as far as possible.

Your third paragraph refers to girls on the streets, which is precisely where they end up because there are no (relatively) safe spaces.

Murder has always happened, and always will, so should we legalise that?

It's very difficult to control sex, as it is a universal drive, but that is why there is so much money to be made from it. If a woman wants to come to a financial arrangement with a man, that's up to them - goodness knows there are all sorts of ways in which that happens - but when someone (usually a man) is raking in money from vulnerable women having sex with men who can't get it elsewhere then I do think the law needs to protect the women. And that applies to men and boys coerced into sex work too.

I agree with *Galaxy andIam that the principle that women are commodities whose bodies can be rented is harmful to all of us, and the fact that there are those who are ok with other people's daughters doing it but not their own doesn't alter that. If sex work were really on a par with other ways to make a living it wouldn't be the poor and vulnerable who end up doing it.

I know we hear about 'high class call girls', but I'm not sure how commonplace they are outside of TV drama. Even if every hotel has working girls, it doesn't alter the reality of the transaction, and I'd put a pound to a penny that (a) there will be men making more than the 'girls' themselves, that (b) when their looks start to go many will end up on the streets, and (c) that they are still at a very high risk of both physical and sexual assault.

There advert was in Urdu which flummoxed me a bit. They want to declass grade A drugs, he thinks he can grow women’s breast through hypnotism. Hannah delights in telling people she’s working class but lives in millionaires row. They stand for trans yet love Islam which to me is very confusing as a follower of Islam would throw a trans person off a cliff in a heartbeat. They are a very dangerous party.

To be honest, petra, I don't think they are the only ones. I've been divorced 25 years and have occasionally joined dating sites to find a partner. I've been in contact with about 100 men during the time and it's quite shocking how many of them are married men looking for sex. They join a dating site because they're not even prepared to pay for sex. They just want it for free. Quite honestly, if they're that desperate, I think I'd rather they paid for the service in a straightforward business transaction. At least the woman would benefit financially.

ViceVersa

twaddle

ViceVersa

I agree with you, Iam64. And I do wonder how many of those in favour of legalisation would be happy for their own daughter or granddaughters to be involved in the sex industry.

I wouldn't be the slightest bit supportive if my daughter were to be involved in the sex industry, but that's not the point. Not having legalised brothels hasn't deterred women (and some men) in the past and the "industry" will continue whether or not there are regulated brothels. I don't really see that my daughter has anything to do with it. I don't think she'd become a prostitute, whether or not there are legal brothels.

So, let's say for the sake of argument that all sex work is legalised, would you be happy for it to be a career choice to be discussed like any others in school, for instance? If it's not a 'career' you'd be happy for your daughter or granddaughter to follow, then why is it ok for someone else's? That's hypocritical to say the least.

No, I don't think it's OK at all, but my opinion or disapproval isn't going to stop prostitution. Ideally, I would want to stop all exploitation of (mainly) women by men, but as I keep writing that just isn't going to happen.

Brothels were actually regulated in the UK in the Middle Ages, even though prostitutes were stigmatised. It wasn't until the 18th and 19th centuries and the sensibilities of the times that they were criminalised, but prostitution still carried on.

I don't think it's OK for anybody to feel that the only way they can make money is by selling sex, so what alternatives are people suggesting?

Apparently one in ten men pays for sex at some time in their life. They find a way now even without regulated brothels. I don't know whether that percentage would increase if prostitution weren't "underground". What it would mean is that sex workers would have a safe haven and regular health checks.