Canadian professor records 'emotionally disturbing' video lecture railing against gender-neutral pronouns
'If the standard transsexual person wants to be regarded as he or she, my sense is I'll address you according to the part that you appear to be playing'
In 2015, the University of Tennessee switched its official gender pronouns from he and she to xe and ze to encourage a culture of inclusion
(
David Silverman/Getty
)
A professor at the University of Toronto has been heavily criticised after he refused to use gender-neutral pronouns.
Jordan Peterson came under fire when he spoke out against Canadian human rights legislation that prohibits discrimination on the grounds of gender identity.
In a video lecture released in September, the psychology professor criticised the usage of alternative pronouns such as “they” “ze” and “zir” to address people who identify as trans or nonbinary in their gender identity.
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However, since its publication, Dr Peterson has had his office door glued shut and received complaints from students calling his comments “unacceptable, emotionally disturbing and painful”.
Protests also erupted at a free speech rally in October where he reiterated his views.
The University of Toronto said it supported Dr Peterson's right to academic freedom and free speech, however it warned he could be in breach of the Ontario Human Rights code and urged him to stop repeating the controversial views.
"If the standard transsexual person wants to be regarded as he or she, my sense is I'll address you according to the part that you appear to be playing,” Dr Peterson told the BBC.
"I've studied authoritarianism for a very long time - for 40 years - and they're started by people's attempts to control the ideological and linguistic territory. There's no way I'm going to use words made up by people who are doing that - not a chance."
World news in pictures
Show all 50
World news in pictures
1/50 23 January 2019
Demonstrators hold a huge banner reading 'Madrid's taxi demands that the law has to be enforced' as drivers protest outside IFEMA Convention and Congress Center, against the regulation of ride-hailing and car-sharing services such as Uber and Cabify
EPA
2/50 22 January 2019
French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel shake hands after signing a French-German friendship treaty in the town hall of Aachen, western Germany. France and Germany signed a new friendship treaty seeking to boost an alliance at the heart of the European Union as Britain bows out and nationalism advances around the continent
AFP/Getty
3/50 21 January 2019
Target of a suicide bombing claimed by Isis, a military vehicle from a US-Kurdish convoy burns at the roadside in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province. Five people were killed and two US soldiers injured
AFP/Getty
4/50 20 January 2019
Protesters take part in a demonstration near the Greek Parliament against the agreement with Skopje to rename neighbouring country Macedonia as the Republic of North Macedonia, in Athens. The proposal faces resistance in Greece because of what critics see as the implied claims to Greek land and cultural heritage. For most Greeks, Macedonia is the name of their history-rich northern province made famous by Alexander the Great's conquests
AFP/Getty
5/50 19 January 2019
A man, injured during clashes with French police, is given help during a demonstration in Paris, called by the yellow vests (gilets jaunes) movement in a row of nationwide protest for the tenth consecutive Saturday against high cost of living, government tax reforms and for more "social and economic justice."
AFP/Getty
6/50 18 January 2019
Palestinian women from the village of Kfar Qaddum, near Nablus in the occupied West Bank, scuffle with Israeli soldiers as they try to release a boy from their custody, during clashes following a weekly demonstration against the expropriation of Palestinian lands by Israel
AFP/Getty
7/50 17 January 2019
Three people have been injured in a massive explosion on the roof of a La Doua university building in Lyon, France
AFP/Getty
8/50 16 January 2019
Sri Lanka's Special Task Force members perform during their passing out parade in Kalutara
Reuters
9/50 15 January 2019
Cars are seen on fire at the scene where explosions and gunshots were heard at the Dusit hotel compound, in Nairobi, Kenya
Reuters
10/50 14 January 2019
Emergency workers and people near the wreckage of a Boeing 707 military cargo plane which crashed on the west of the Iranian capital, near Fath airport. At least 15 people were killed
Tasnim News Agency/Reuters
11/50 13 January 2019
Thousands of people march during a demonstration organized by the citizen's network Sare, which is calling for an immediate end to the dispersal policy and the violation of rights suffered by ETA prisoners in Bilbao, Spain.
Getty
12/50 12 January 2019
Firefighters extinguish a fire after the explosion of a bakery on the corner of the streets Saint-Cecile and Rue de Trevise in central Paris
AFP/Getty
13/50 11 January 2019
Workers shovel snow out of a restaurant after an avalanche at Santis-Schwaegalp mountain resort, in Switzerland
Reuters
14/50 10 January 2019
Supporters of Felix Tshisekedi, leader of the Congolese main opposition party, the Union for Democracy and Social Progress who was announced as the winner of the presidential elections; celebrate along the streets of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo
Reuters
15/50 9 January 2019
Philippine Coast Guards keep watch as Roman Catholic devotees cross the bridge in a raucous procession of the Black Nazarene to celebrate its feast day in Manila. Tens of thousands of mostly barefoot Filipino Catholics joined the annual procession of a centuries-old statue of Jesus Christ to celebrate the Feast of the Black Nazarene which usually ends before dawn the next day
AP
16/50 8 January 2019
A car trapped in snowdrifts in southeastern Poland. Many cities in whole Poland have been affected by snowfall
EPA
17/50 7 January 2019
Actor Kevin Spacey pleaded non-guilty to sexual assault charge at Nantucket District Court in Massachusetts. The Oscar-winning actor is accused of groping the teenage son of a former Boston TV anchor in 2016 in a crowded bar at the Club Car in Nantucket
Reuters
18/50 6 January 2019
A gentoo penguin is seen during a promotional event during an annual ice festival in the northern city of Harbin, Heilongjiang province, China
Reuters
19/50 5 January 2019
Snow covers the statue of Alexander the Great at the seaside promenade of Thessaloniki, Greece
Reuters
20/50 4 January 2019
Firefighters try to extinguish a fire at a commercial market in Jalalabad, Afghanistan
Reuters
21/50 3 January 2019
AFP/Getty
22/50 2 January 2019
Two men walk past a damaged cargo train after an accident in Nyborg, Denmark. Several people were killed in the crash on a bridge connecting two islands in Denmark, police said
AFP/Getty
23/50 1 January 2019
Emergency officers transporting a baby survivor after a gas explosion rocked a residential building in Russia's Urals city of Magnitogorsk. Russian rescuers have been forced to temporarily halt the search for dozens of missing people in the rubble of a collapsed high-rise apartment block as the building risked crumbling further, officials said, with the incident claiming at least seven lives. Part of the 10-storey building collapsed following a gas explosion on the morning of December 31, in the industrial city of Magnitogorsk, east of Moscow in the Ural mountains
Russian Emergency Situations Ministry/AFP/Getty
24/50 31 December 2018
Fireworks explode over the Sydney Harbour during New Year's Eve celebrations in Sydney
AP
25/50 30 December 2018
Bangladeshi army personnel drive a military vehicle through a street adorned with election posters near a polling station in Dhaka. Bangladesh headed to the polls following a weeks-long campaign that was dominated by deadly violence and allegations of a crackdown on thousands of opposition activists.
AFP/Getty
26/50 29 December 2018
Egypt's Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli speaks to journalists as he arrives at the hospital where Vietnamese victims of an attack on a tourist bus where taken, in Al-Haram district in the Egyptian capital Cairo's western twin city of Giza. - Three Vietnamese holidaymakers and an Egyptian tour guide were killed on December 28 when a roadside bomb blast hit their bus as it travelled close to the Giza pyramids outside Cairo, officials said.
AFP/Getty
27/50 28 December 2018
Bright blue light is seen after a transformer explosion at an electric power station in the New York City borough of Queens
Reuters
28/50 27 December 2018
The Opal Tower at Sydney Olympic Park, Australia. Residents of the tower have been told to leave for a second time in four days to enable the company and investigators to conduct a 'comprehensive investigation' into a crack on the tenth floor of the building. Emergency services were called on the afternoon of the 24 December after residents of the building had heard cracking sounds throughout the morning
EPA
29/50 26 December 2018
A young man dressed in a Father Christmas suit distributes gifts to children in the old city of Mosul
AFP/Getty
30/50 25 December 2018
A participant in a Santa Claus costume jumps into the water during the 109th edition of the 'Copa Nadal' (Christmas Cup) swimming competition in Barcelona's Port Vell. The traditional 200-meter Christmas swimming race gathered more than 300 participants on Barcelona's old harbour
AFP/Getty
31/50 24 December 2018
US President Donald Trump speaks on the telephone as he answers calls from people calling into the NORAD Santa tracker phone line in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington
AFP/Getty
32/50 23 December 2018
An aerial photo shows damaged buildings in Carita after the area was hit by a tsunami on December 22 following an eruption of the Anak Krakatoa volcano. The volcano-triggered tsunami has left at least 222 people dead and hundreds more injured after slamming without warning into beaches around Indonesia's Sunda Strait. Officials voiced fears that the toll was set to rise
AFP/Getty
33/50 22 December 2018
Protesters wearing a yellow vest (gilet jaune) stand next to a burning barricade as they demonstrate against rising costs of living they blame on high taxes at the A9 highway toll of Le Boulou, southern France. The "Yellow Vests" (Gilets Jaunes) movement in France originally started as a protest about planned fuel hikes but has morphed into a mass protest against President's policies and top-down style of governing
AFP/Getty
34/50 21 December 2018
A Palestinian man wearing a Santa Claus outfit hands a flower to man in a wheelchair during a demonstration near the border between Israel and Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip
AFP/Getty
35/50 20 December 2018
Moroccan authorities investigate the scene of the grisly murder of two Scandinavian women at the foothills of the Atlas Mountains. The suspects in the killings have pledged alleigance to ISIS
AP
36/50 19 December 2018
Supporters of Democratic Republic of Congo opposition leader Martin Fayulu gesture number four (the candidate number on the electoral list) as they protest in Kinshasa after campaigning was called off by the authorities on security grounds
Getty
37/50 17 December 2018
Pyongyang residents prepare to lay flowers at the statues of late North Korean leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il during National Memorial Day on Mansu Hill. North Korea is marking the seventh anniversary of the death of Kim Jong II
AFP/Getty
38/50 16 December 2018
Firefighters work on site where a large explosion occurred at a restaurant in Sapporo. According to local media reports, an explosion that triggered a fire occurred at a restaurant in Sapporo in the evening of 16 December. At least 20 people have been reported injured and taken to hospitals.
EPA
39/50 15 December 2018
A supporter wears a cast on her broken wrist with 'I (heart) Obamacare' written on it . A federal judge in Texas ruled that the US health care law known as Obamacare is unconstitutional -- a ruling that opposition Democrats vowed to appeal. US District Judge Reed O'Connor's ruling came in a lawsuit filed by several Republican state attorneys general and a governor opposed to the federal government health plan, known officially as the Affordable Care Act
EPA
40/50 14 December 2018
A Palestinian carries a flaming tyre amid clashes with Israeli forces. Israel carried out raids in the West Bank today in search of a Palestinian who shot dead two soldiers yesterday
AFP/Getty
41/50 13 December 2018
Yemen's foreign minister Khaled al-Yamani (L) and the head rebel negotiator Mohammed Abdelsalam shake hands during peace talks in Sweden that are being overseen by the UN
AFP
42/50 12 December 2018
Baby monkeys play on a wall of India's parliament in New Delhi. Macaque monkeys have swarmed the parliament, destroying important documents, attacking government officials and generally menacing the state
Reuters
43/50 11 December 2018
German Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomes British Prime Minister Theresa May at the chancellery in Berlin. May postponed the Brexit deal Meaningful Vote, on 11 December due to risk of rejection from Members of Parliament. She is currently on a whistle stop tour of Europe calling on the leaders of the Netherlands, Germany and EU in Brussels looking for new guide lines for her Northern Ireland backstop
EPA
44/50 10 December 2018
Police investigate after an empty school bus crashed in the North Point district of Hong Kong. Two people were killed when a school bus mounted a pavement in a crowded Hong Kong neighbourhood, trapping passers-by underneath and injuring 13, police said
AFP/Getty
45/50 9 December 2018
A Boca Juniors' fan cheers at a viewing in Buenos Aires for the Copa Libertadores final against rivals River Plate. The match is being held in Madrid, a neutral ground, after it was twice delayed due to violence
AP
46/50 8 December 2018
Protestors wearing "yellow vests" (gilets jaunes) clash with riot police near the Champs Elysees avenue in Paris during a protest against rising costs of living they blame on high taxes. - Paris was on high alert with major security measures in place ahead of fresh "yellow vest" protests which authorities fear could turn violent for a second weekend in a row.
AFP/Getty
47/50 7 December 2018
Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer reacts after being elected to leader of the Christian Democratic Union, succeeding the 18 year reign of Angela Merkel
Getty
48/50 6 December 2018
Police use tear gas against protesters during a demonstration in Athens to commemorate the 10th anniversary of a fatal shooting of a teenager which sparked major riots in Greece in 2008
AFP/Getty
49/50 5 December 2018
The flag-draped casket of former US President George HW Bush is carried by military pallbearers past US President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump, former President Barack Obama, former first lady Michelle Obama, former President Bill Clinton, former first lady Hillary Clinton, former President Jimmy Carter and former first lady Rosalynn Carter as it arrives at his state funeral at Washington National Cathedral
Reuters
50/50 4 December 2018
High school students burn a barricade in front of their high school during a demonstration against French government Education reforms
AFP/Getty
1/50 23 January 2019
Demonstrators hold a huge banner reading 'Madrid's taxi demands that the law has to be enforced' as drivers protest outside IFEMA Convention and Congress Center, against the regulation of ride-hailing and car-sharing services such as Uber and Cabify
EPA
2/50 22 January 2019
French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel shake hands after signing a French-German friendship treaty in the town hall of Aachen, western Germany. France and Germany signed a new friendship treaty seeking to boost an alliance at the heart of the European Union as Britain bows out and nationalism advances around the continent
AFP/Getty
3/50 21 January 2019
Target of a suicide bombing claimed by Isis, a military vehicle from a US-Kurdish convoy burns at the roadside in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province. Five people were killed and two US soldiers injured
AFP/Getty
4/50 20 January 2019
Protesters take part in a demonstration near the Greek Parliament against the agreement with Skopje to rename neighbouring country Macedonia as the Republic of North Macedonia, in Athens. The proposal faces resistance in Greece because of what critics see as the implied claims to Greek land and cultural heritage. For most Greeks, Macedonia is the name of their history-rich northern province made famous by Alexander the Great's conquests
AFP/Getty
5/50 19 January 2019
A man, injured during clashes with French police, is given help during a demonstration in Paris, called by the yellow vests (gilets jaunes) movement in a row of nationwide protest for the tenth consecutive Saturday against high cost of living, government tax reforms and for more "social and economic justice."
AFP/Getty
6/50 18 January 2019
Palestinian women from the village of Kfar Qaddum, near Nablus in the occupied West Bank, scuffle with Israeli soldiers as they try to release a boy from their custody, during clashes following a weekly demonstration against the expropriation of Palestinian lands by Israel
AFP/Getty
7/50 17 January 2019
Three people have been injured in a massive explosion on the roof of a La Doua university building in Lyon, France
AFP/Getty
8/50 16 January 2019
Sri Lanka's Special Task Force members perform during their passing out parade in Kalutara
Reuters
9/50 15 January 2019
Cars are seen on fire at the scene where explosions and gunshots were heard at the Dusit hotel compound, in Nairobi, Kenya
Reuters
10/50 14 January 2019
Emergency workers and people near the wreckage of a Boeing 707 military cargo plane which crashed on the west of the Iranian capital, near Fath airport. At least 15 people were killed
Tasnim News Agency/Reuters
11/50 13 January 2019
Thousands of people march during a demonstration organized by the citizen's network Sare, which is calling for an immediate end to the dispersal policy and the violation of rights suffered by ETA prisoners in Bilbao, Spain.
Getty
12/50 12 January 2019
Firefighters extinguish a fire after the explosion of a bakery on the corner of the streets Saint-Cecile and Rue de Trevise in central Paris
AFP/Getty
13/50 11 January 2019
Workers shovel snow out of a restaurant after an avalanche at Santis-Schwaegalp mountain resort, in Switzerland
Reuters
14/50 10 January 2019
Supporters of Felix Tshisekedi, leader of the Congolese main opposition party, the Union for Democracy and Social Progress who was announced as the winner of the presidential elections; celebrate along the streets of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo
Reuters
15/50 9 January 2019
Philippine Coast Guards keep watch as Roman Catholic devotees cross the bridge in a raucous procession of the Black Nazarene to celebrate its feast day in Manila. Tens of thousands of mostly barefoot Filipino Catholics joined the annual procession of a centuries-old statue of Jesus Christ to celebrate the Feast of the Black Nazarene which usually ends before dawn the next day
AP
16/50 8 January 2019
A car trapped in snowdrifts in southeastern Poland. Many cities in whole Poland have been affected by snowfall
EPA
17/50 7 January 2019
Actor Kevin Spacey pleaded non-guilty to sexual assault charge at Nantucket District Court in Massachusetts. The Oscar-winning actor is accused of groping the teenage son of a former Boston TV anchor in 2016 in a crowded bar at the Club Car in Nantucket
Reuters
18/50 6 January 2019
A gentoo penguin is seen during a promotional event during an annual ice festival in the northern city of Harbin, Heilongjiang province, China
Reuters
19/50 5 January 2019
Snow covers the statue of Alexander the Great at the seaside promenade of Thessaloniki, Greece
Reuters
20/50 4 January 2019
Firefighters try to extinguish a fire at a commercial market in Jalalabad, Afghanistan
Reuters
21/50 3 January 2019
AFP/Getty
22/50 2 January 2019
Two men walk past a damaged cargo train after an accident in Nyborg, Denmark. Several people were killed in the crash on a bridge connecting two islands in Denmark, police said
AFP/Getty
23/50 1 January 2019
Emergency officers transporting a baby survivor after a gas explosion rocked a residential building in Russia's Urals city of Magnitogorsk. Russian rescuers have been forced to temporarily halt the search for dozens of missing people in the rubble of a collapsed high-rise apartment block as the building risked crumbling further, officials said, with the incident claiming at least seven lives. Part of the 10-storey building collapsed following a gas explosion on the morning of December 31, in the industrial city of Magnitogorsk, east of Moscow in the Ural mountains
Russian Emergency Situations Ministry/AFP/Getty
24/50 31 December 2018
Fireworks explode over the Sydney Harbour during New Year's Eve celebrations in Sydney
AP
25/50 30 December 2018
Bangladeshi army personnel drive a military vehicle through a street adorned with election posters near a polling station in Dhaka. Bangladesh headed to the polls following a weeks-long campaign that was dominated by deadly violence and allegations of a crackdown on thousands of opposition activists.
AFP/Getty
26/50 29 December 2018
Egypt's Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli speaks to journalists as he arrives at the hospital where Vietnamese victims of an attack on a tourist bus where taken, in Al-Haram district in the Egyptian capital Cairo's western twin city of Giza. - Three Vietnamese holidaymakers and an Egyptian tour guide were killed on December 28 when a roadside bomb blast hit their bus as it travelled close to the Giza pyramids outside Cairo, officials said.
AFP/Getty
27/50 28 December 2018
Bright blue light is seen after a transformer explosion at an electric power station in the New York City borough of Queens
Reuters
28/50 27 December 2018
The Opal Tower at Sydney Olympic Park, Australia. Residents of the tower have been told to leave for a second time in four days to enable the company and investigators to conduct a 'comprehensive investigation' into a crack on the tenth floor of the building. Emergency services were called on the afternoon of the 24 December after residents of the building had heard cracking sounds throughout the morning
EPA
29/50 26 December 2018
A young man dressed in a Father Christmas suit distributes gifts to children in the old city of Mosul
AFP/Getty
30/50 25 December 2018
A participant in a Santa Claus costume jumps into the water during the 109th edition of the 'Copa Nadal' (Christmas Cup) swimming competition in Barcelona's Port Vell. The traditional 200-meter Christmas swimming race gathered more than 300 participants on Barcelona's old harbour
AFP/Getty
31/50 24 December 2018
US President Donald Trump speaks on the telephone as he answers calls from people calling into the NORAD Santa tracker phone line in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington
AFP/Getty
32/50 23 December 2018
An aerial photo shows damaged buildings in Carita after the area was hit by a tsunami on December 22 following an eruption of the Anak Krakatoa volcano. The volcano-triggered tsunami has left at least 222 people dead and hundreds more injured after slamming without warning into beaches around Indonesia's Sunda Strait. Officials voiced fears that the toll was set to rise
AFP/Getty
33/50 22 December 2018
Protesters wearing a yellow vest (gilet jaune) stand next to a burning barricade as they demonstrate against rising costs of living they blame on high taxes at the A9 highway toll of Le Boulou, southern France. The "Yellow Vests" (Gilets Jaunes) movement in France originally started as a protest about planned fuel hikes but has morphed into a mass protest against President's policies and top-down style of governing
AFP/Getty
34/50 21 December 2018
A Palestinian man wearing a Santa Claus outfit hands a flower to man in a wheelchair during a demonstration near the border between Israel and Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip
AFP/Getty
35/50 20 December 2018
Moroccan authorities investigate the scene of the grisly murder of two Scandinavian women at the foothills of the Atlas Mountains. The suspects in the killings have pledged alleigance to ISIS
AP
36/50 19 December 2018
Supporters of Democratic Republic of Congo opposition leader Martin Fayulu gesture number four (the candidate number on the electoral list) as they protest in Kinshasa after campaigning was called off by the authorities on security grounds
Getty
37/50 17 December 2018
Pyongyang residents prepare to lay flowers at the statues of late North Korean leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il during National Memorial Day on Mansu Hill. North Korea is marking the seventh anniversary of the death of Kim Jong II
AFP/Getty
38/50 16 December 2018
Firefighters work on site where a large explosion occurred at a restaurant in Sapporo. According to local media reports, an explosion that triggered a fire occurred at a restaurant in Sapporo in the evening of 16 December. At least 20 people have been reported injured and taken to hospitals.
EPA
39/50 15 December 2018
A supporter wears a cast on her broken wrist with 'I (heart) Obamacare' written on it . A federal judge in Texas ruled that the US health care law known as Obamacare is unconstitutional -- a ruling that opposition Democrats vowed to appeal. US District Judge Reed O'Connor's ruling came in a lawsuit filed by several Republican state attorneys general and a governor opposed to the federal government health plan, known officially as the Affordable Care Act
EPA
40/50 14 December 2018
A Palestinian carries a flaming tyre amid clashes with Israeli forces. Israel carried out raids in the West Bank today in search of a Palestinian who shot dead two soldiers yesterday
AFP/Getty
41/50 13 December 2018
Yemen's foreign minister Khaled al-Yamani (L) and the head rebel negotiator Mohammed Abdelsalam shake hands during peace talks in Sweden that are being overseen by the UN
AFP
42/50 12 December 2018
Baby monkeys play on a wall of India's parliament in New Delhi. Macaque monkeys have swarmed the parliament, destroying important documents, attacking government officials and generally menacing the state
Reuters
43/50 11 December 2018
German Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomes British Prime Minister Theresa May at the chancellery in Berlin. May postponed the Brexit deal Meaningful Vote, on 11 December due to risk of rejection from Members of Parliament. She is currently on a whistle stop tour of Europe calling on the leaders of the Netherlands, Germany and EU in Brussels looking for new guide lines for her Northern Ireland backstop
EPA
44/50 10 December 2018
Police investigate after an empty school bus crashed in the North Point district of Hong Kong. Two people were killed when a school bus mounted a pavement in a crowded Hong Kong neighbourhood, trapping passers-by underneath and injuring 13, police said
AFP/Getty
45/50 9 December 2018
A Boca Juniors' fan cheers at a viewing in Buenos Aires for the Copa Libertadores final against rivals River Plate. The match is being held in Madrid, a neutral ground, after it was twice delayed due to violence
AP
46/50 8 December 2018
Protestors wearing "yellow vests" (gilets jaunes) clash with riot police near the Champs Elysees avenue in Paris during a protest against rising costs of living they blame on high taxes. - Paris was on high alert with major security measures in place ahead of fresh "yellow vest" protests which authorities fear could turn violent for a second weekend in a row.
AFP/Getty
47/50 7 December 2018
Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer reacts after being elected to leader of the Christian Democratic Union, succeeding the 18 year reign of Angela Merkel
Getty
48/50 6 December 2018
Police use tear gas against protesters during a demonstration in Athens to commemorate the 10th anniversary of a fatal shooting of a teenager which sparked major riots in Greece in 2008
AFP/Getty
49/50 5 December 2018
The flag-draped casket of former US President George HW Bush is carried by military pallbearers past US President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump, former President Barack Obama, former first lady Michelle Obama, former President Bill Clinton, former first lady Hillary Clinton, former President Jimmy Carter and former first lady Rosalynn Carter as it arrives at his state funeral at Washington National Cathedral
Reuters
50/50 4 December 2018
High school students burn a barricade in front of their high school during a demonstration against French government Education reforms
AFP/Getty
In 2015, the University of Tennessee switched its official gender pronouns from he and she to "xe" and "ze" to encourage a culture of inclusion.
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Independent Minds Comments can be posted by members of our membership scheme, Independent Minds. It allows our most engaged readers to debate the big issues, share their own experiences, discuss real-world solutions, and more. Our journalists will try to respond by joining the threads when they can to create a true meeting of independent minds. The most insightful comments on all subjects will be published daily in dedicated articles. You can also choose to be emailed when someone replies to your comment.
The existing Open Comments threads will continue to exist for those who do not subscribe to Independent Minds. Due to the sheer scale of this comment community, we are not able to give each post the same level of attention, but we have preserved this area in the interests of open debate. Please continue to respect all commenters and create constructive debates.