June 30, 2021 - 11:00am
Transgender activists who think they can libel and defame women with impunity were served notice earlier this week when a High Court judgment awarded damages of £45,000 to a women’s rights campaigner who is known publicly as Jean Hatchet.
For far too long, far too many people — mostly male — have hidden behind transgender-identification in order to bully, harass and intimidate women who stand up for their sex-based rights. The website terfisaslur.com documents the sickening and ongoing tirade of abuse against women, slurred as “TERFs.”
But this case was personal. On 10 October 2018 – almost three years ago – defendant Shanu Varma published two tweets:
- “Now you know where @jeanhatchet’s fundraising has gone !”
- “I raised this with her as my boss donated £1000 to her charity but the charity apparently only received a much smaller amount so she blocked me”
At the time, Hatchet was fundraising for a domestic violence charity. Those tweets attacked her integrity. Like me, Hatchet is a teacher; our careers depend on our reputation.
Hatchet told UnHerd that, “for more than two years my reputation and my work for women has been dragged through the mud since Shanu Varma’s tweets.” She was in no doubt why she had been singled out:
“This happens to feminist women on a regular basis because of our views on single-sex space for women which are perfectly legitimate and worthy of respect. It is a legal reminder to those aggressive trans activists and others that women not only “won’t wheesht” but sometimes they will also make you pay for the lies you tell about us.”- Jean Hatchet
The bill is eye-watering. Including costs, Hatchet’s calculation reached £115,595.40. But the accusation was serious — theft — and public defamation. Transgender people have significant rights in the UK. We have our own protected characteristic — gender reassignment — but that covers us against less favourable treatment; it does not permit us to defame others and get away with it.
False accusations can be made in ignorance, but a rapid retraction and apology usually averts legal proceedings before they start. This case has been ongoing since 2018. If trans rights are human rights — and I think they are — then trans responsibilities are also human responsibilities. They include the obligation not to defame others, including women like Hatchet who “won’t wheesht” when their rights are under threat.
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SubscribeBoris will never make a speech as powerful as Margaret Thatcher’s on climate change for one very simple reason.
Margaret Thatcher, for all her faults, was also a qualified scientist and worked as a research chemist.
Boris did the classics.
What an accurate summary of Boris; it also describes why he is not suitable to be PM. The fact he is a liar also disqualifies him; if he consistently lies to his family who he loves in some way, he will definitely lie to me who he has never met.
Which politicians don’t lie? Now think of the US who gets such huge coverage. For 4 years I listened to people moaning about how Trump lied. Now there is Biden and the lies are coming thick and fast.
You are right. However, Boris and Trump both seem to be narcissists, a trait which Biden has not yet shown.
I get the impression that Swedish politicians and scientists dont habitually lie which is why their population did not need to lockdown – because their honesty was trusted !! A rare phenomenon…
If a prerequisite to being a politician was never having lied, not one person on earth would be fit for office
Boris Johnson was singlehandedly instrumental in saving Brexit and ensuring that it took place. If he did nothing else as PM he has achieved more than any other PM which I regard. As regards lies. Are these some of the same lies which the press and opposition accused Boris Johnson of when he promised to “get the job done” but then was thwarted in achieving that promise by the opposition and press who then accused him of being a liar when he did not “get the job done”? Despite being a coal miner’s son and lifetime labour supporter (up until I was totally turned off politics by Tony Blair) I decided to vote for Boris in the last election. The BBC’s John Curtice was arbitrarily declaring the vote as being a “binary” choice for either a new referendum or Boris’s plans. The “binary” choice was actually one for democracy (by respecting the 2016 vote) or the absence of democracy so I voted for democracy and Boris Johnson (and the avoidance of the national bitterness which would have followed the overturning of the 2016 referendum vote).
One person who is definitely not fit for office of Prime Minister (or any other public office) in telling us lies and taking us to war with Iraq on the basis of the lies of the existence of weapons of mass destruction is Tony Blair
Boris has the rare ability to say memorable things. In one day he made his view on Macron’s AUKUS histrionics (Donnez moi un break etc) and his preference for technical innovation not behavioural change to tackle emissions (It is easy being green) in vivid, humorous ways. I bet you can’t remember anything any other politician said on the same day. That is why he is tough for his opponents to beat.
You make valid arguments, but there are many people who are emphatically put off by preachy, doom-laded, science-heavy speeches – and this one managed to lighten the message, get lots of coverage, and quote one of the late-20th century’s better comedy double-acts.
I’m out of the loop: don’t know who Kermit or Miss Piggy are, so his speech is lost on me. Is this not a good example of dumbing down? The comparison of character between the two PMs is Premier League to First Division.
You overlook the point that Margaret Thatcher was a Christian, as well as being scientifically trained, hence the tone of her comments.
As for her legacy, she almost single handedly changed the post war ‘Butskellite’ consensus. Yes there were intellectuals before her, like Hayek, and intellectual politicians like Keith Joseph, but Thatcher actually implemented, over time and with the opposition of much her own party and cabinet, the enormous reforms needed to see those ideas work. I think her reputation, along with Attlee (whether you agree or not with their policies) is therefore entirely well deserved. It is her policies, not joining the EU, that led to a huge improvement in Britain’s economic performance.
Typed after a few glasses of red wine and through a pile of pistachio nut shells, however, my view of Thatcher was that she flogged off the family silver. Just like Darwin, much of what she/he put forward would have been discovered anyway. Sorry! They were ideas whose time had come. Maybe we would have been better off had we hung on to the family silver a little longer when world capitalism caught up to Thatcherism. Googling I find that Ted Heath took us into Europe. So yes, probably Thatcher deserves some credit for standing up to Europe when we were in it. Still think that Boris is the No1 PM post 1960 which is my own living memory.
Are you serious or just looking for entertainment?
Not nearly as disappointed as I am watching all the virtue-signalling mendacity of our corporations and industry in all the years following that speech !!!!!!!!!!