Lance Armstrong has been accused of staggering hypocrisy after wading into a public debate about transgender representation in sport. The disgraced former cyclist, who was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles in 2012 after being found guilty of multiple doping offences, boasted on Twitter that he was “uniquely placed” to speak about divisive subjects. Announcing the launch of a special series of his podcast ‘The Forward’, he tweeted: “Of all the controversial and polarizing subjects out there today, I'm not sure there are any as heated as the topic of Trans athletes in sport. “Is there not a world in which one can be supportive of the transgender community and curious about the fairness of Trans athletes in sport yet not be labelled a transphobe or a bigot as we ask questions? Do we yet know the answers? And do we even want to know the answers? “I do. Hence these conversations… a special series of The Forward, beginning Monday, where I dive into this issue with an open mind in an attempt learn as much as possible from all sides of the debate.” He ended his thread: “I hope that for those who have been reluctant to have this conversation, this somehow feels safe. Be fearless.” Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter His announcement has not gone down well with fellow social media users, countless of whom have picked up on his eyebrow-raising choice of wording. Here’s what they had to say about his so-called curiosity about the “fairness” of trans sportspeople’s inclusion in competitive events: The furore comes just weeks after World Athletics (WA) announced a banon transgender athletes who have been through male puberty from female category events, following similar codes to those of rugby and swimming. At the end of March, the organisation’s president, Lord Sebastian Coe, said that the decision was driven by the need to “protect the female category”. “We cannot in all consciousness leave our transgender regulations as they were,” he said. Elsewhere, Alun Williams, Professor of Sport and Exercise Genomics at Manchester Metropolitan University, agreed that athletics’ previous approach of allowing transgender women to compete in female events with reduced levels of testosterone did not equate to fairness. He told the PA news agency: “There are key biological differences that appear predominantly during male puberty due to elevated testosterone while growth is still going on. “Those differences seem to persist whatever happens for the rest of someone’s life, including if they then lower testosterone down to what is the typical female range. “The biological effects that are related to sport – like an increase in skeleton size, having larger muscles that are stronger, increase in the size of organs like the heart that help in all sorts of activity – those persist. “On that basis, the choice for the authorities like World Athletics is to make a decision – do they prioritise fairness or do they prioritise inclusion, but there’s no evidence at the moment that those two can be met at the same time.” However, critics of a blanket ban argue that not enough research has been done to draw such a conclusion. Liz Ward, director of programmes at Stonewall, which campaigns for LGBTQ+ rights and equality, said: “It is so disappointing to see World Athletics announce a unilateral ban on trans women in track and field events. “Their own statement recognises that there are no trans women competing at an international level and that they have no specific evidence to justify the ban. “It is vital that decisions about trans participation are based on robust evidence, specific to the sport played and the athletes competing at that level of the sport. “We stand with trans people who now have the door closed on their chance to compete in athletic sports at an international level.” Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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Taylor Swift is playing her last US shows on her Eras Tour in LA this month and as you can imagine there is an unprecedented demand for tickets. For those who missed out during the chaotic Ticketmaster US ticket sales back in January, fans remain determined to hear the popstar's biggest hits and are attempting to bag last-minute tickets for the sold-out shows at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood. Originally, face-value tickets sold for $49 to $449, but according to the LA Times, tickets for the first show were on sale from $800 to a whopping $11,000 each on StubHub. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter As the first show is due to take place tomorrow (August 3), tickets are continuing to rocket in price with the most expensive listing currently being priced at $25,677 for floor seats while a Level 1 suite is $102,070. Swifties have since been taking to social media to share their tips on how to secure face-value tickets on Ticketmaster which occasionally releases tickets last minute. @joecurtains how to get eras tour tickets day of for face value on ticketmaster: aka what I did to score floor seats only 2 hours before the show started. hoping this finds the right audience so fans can get in and beat the scalpers #taylorswift #erastour #swifttok #taylorsversion #tserastour #tickets #ticketmaster #erastourphilly #guide #howto #fyp #fypシ @Taylor Swift So who's in charge of the ticket prices? Well, there are a number of different factors at play. Promotors are the ones who officially set the prices and get money from ticket sales, but given it's Taylor Swift we're talking about she would also have a hand in choosing the venues and informing the promotor where to set prices. Venues charge a facility fee for hosting the concert and are paid by the promoters for this role, some venues have exclusive deals with certain promoters while others do not. And then there are the ticket companies like Ticketmaster who sell tickets with dynamic pricing where the price of a ticket changes according to demand - a move that has received criticism (though artists can opt out of this, as Swift did). On top of this, there is also the service fee for buying the ticket online, a processing fee that "covers miscellaneous expenses associated with online ticketing", and a facility charge for the venue to host the shows. According to Ticketmaster, input is given by the artist on the service fee and facility charge. Finally, there are the resellers who purchase tickets with no intention to attend the show but rather buy tickets to turn a profit by making listings on marketplaces like StubHub and SeatGeek. Prices can shoot up as there are no limits as to what the seller can charge. “This is a truly market-driven platform,” StubHub spokesperson Jessica Finn told LA Times. “So this is really about what sellers think that the price, the value of the ticket is, and what buyers think the value of the ticket is, and they effectively agree on it with a purchase... It’s very much a dynamic marketplace, prices go up and down and we don’t meddle with that.” A team of people or software bots can be used by the reseller to nab batches of tickets - hence why Swift decided for her UK tour to do album order presales, get fans to sign up for the general sale, and have staggered ticket sales throughout the day to try and stop bots and resellers. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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