Thames Magistrates Court on Thursday

Hi there

It's been a mildly frustrating month. I last wrote to you three weeks ago and feel like I've done nothing productive since, though I've had a number of good conversations.

On Wednesday I paid a visit to Thames Magistrates Court to witness a plea hearing by Matthew Heath, otherwise known as Legal Gengar. Matthew is a citizen journalist who has done some astounding work outside the gender wars on his Grift Watch website. Matthew has a knack of spotting something which isn't quite right, and then pursuing it.

Unfortunately, after a series of online articles and interactions involving a trans activist called Stephanie Hayden, Matthew found himself charged with the criminal offences of stalking and harassment.

I cannot quite believe our overstretched criminal justice system is wasting the state's time and resources to police what is essentially a twitter spat, but here we are again. Unless I've missed something important, I simply do not know how persons unknown within the police and Crown Prosecution Service felt this case was in the public interest and met the evidential test. I suspect that Matthew has become the victim of Path of Least Resistance Theory, which states that when required to make a decision, 95% of people will choose the option with the least personal consequence for them (especially in terms of effort), disregarding whether it is objectively and/or morally the wrong choice to make.

It looks to me like individuals within the police and CPS took a brief look at the complaint and decided in terms of thought, care, investigation and consequence for them, the easiest thing to do was to make it someone else's problem by pushing it down the pipe. Bringing the matter to a close would require a proper examination of the evidence and clear-sighted legal judgment.

Professional buck-passing happens all the time, but when it's the criminal justice system, it is unforgivable. Thankfully Heath is backed by the Free Speech Union. I have met his legal team. He is in the safest possible hands.

A one-day trial has been scheduled for June, but Heath's legal team told the court they will be submitting a substantial amount of material to the CPS before then. This will attempt to persuade the CPS that the prosecution case does not meet the public interest or evidential test.

The usual suspects

Matthew has already been subjected to a great deal of stress. Facing a criminal charge is horrendous (ask Mandy Clare, Graham Linehan or any Subpostmaster) and it can place serious strain on your mental health. I wonder if anyone at the CPS will bother to look at Heath's evidence until the day before or the day of the trial. Why would they? They're overstretched.

Although Hayden was not in court on Wednesday, Sophia Brooks was. Brooks was the complainant in Graham Linehan's case (and was supported in court during that trial by Stephanie Hayden). On Wednesday Brooks took some shots of Heath outside court and someone posted them to this twitter account.

After the hearing I found Matthew, Helen Joyce, David Stickland and Cathy Larkman in a nearby pub. Helen, David and Cathy had come to the hearing to show their support for Matthew. Both Helen and Cathy know how trans activists can twist captured police forces to their own ends. Cathy was interviewed in the Times about her experience and Helen has written a superb piece for The Critic about what happened to her here.

It was good meet Matthew and Cathy and see David and Helen again. I took the opportunity to congratulate David on his open letter to KCL (his university) about their involvement in the (currently paused) puberty blocker trial. He is looking for more signatures from anyone concerned by the trial. If you want to, you can read the letter and add your name here.

The Corporate Stupidity Files: Infinity Loop

As well as wandering around East London this week, I have finally got another blog post over the line. It is another tale of corporate madness. I found this story particularly interesting because it demonstrates how gender ideology persuades organisations to act directly against their own interests, either by alienating and offending their customers, promoting vindictive cockwombles or victimising competent and talented staff. I am still kicking myself for not calling it "What Katie Did". I am very grateful to Charlotte R for sharing her letter to John Lewis in the comments to the blog post and very keen to expand the Corporate Stupidity Files with more stories like this. If you know of any, please get in touch.

Cross sex hormone ban for u18s

One othere story I am keen to stand up is the rumour that the government is going to stop the NHS prescribing cross sex hormones to under 18s on the basis there is little to no evidence they improve health outcomes. I am told by a credible source that the decision has been taken, but hasn't yet been announced. It would be nice to get some clarity on the matter (it's still a rumour and may be entirely baseless), but if anyone reading this knows anything, or knows exactly who I should be asking questions of, please let me know. Just hit reply to this email and it will go straight to my inbox. Any communication will be dealt with in complete confidence.

Thanks, as ever, for being a subscriber. Do please share this email to people you think might be interested in joining the mailing list. I am hoping the conversations I've been having over the last three weeks may convert themselves into more publishable stories. Every new person who signs up makes that process a little easier.

Onwards!

Nick