EUAN McCOLM: In praise of JK Rowling - the one-woman crowdfunder backing women who told truth about sex and gender
Companies and public bodies, captured by the demands of extremist trans activists, have exacted cruel punishments on those expressing perfectly mainstream - and legal - views on sex and gender.
Inevitably, tribunals have followed a number of these cases. During these, we've heard horrifying details of women treated abominably by employers in thrall to campaigners who urged and enforced the illegal adoption of self-ID policies when it came to single-sex spaces.
We've heard of women bullied and shunned for questioning the right of those born male to self-identify into women's spaces, from changing rooms to domestic violence refuges.
Equally inevitably, those women capable of fighting back have been winning legal actions.
But even a rock solid case does not make it easy to retaliate. Good lawyers are expensive and the process is draining, both physically and emotionally.
For every woman who has triumphed in court, there are many more for whom launching a legal case seemed impossible.
The establishment by the novelist and philanthropist JK Rowling of a fund to support women's legal protection of their rights immediately removes any financial barriers to action for those with viable cases.
The intervention of Ms Rowling should, right now, be concentrating minds in human resources departments across the country.
Since the Supreme Court ruled, last month, that sex, in law, was a matter of biology rather than paperwork, a number of organisations - in both the public and private sectors - have issued statements announcing their decisions to 'consider' the implications for their policies.
This widespread and reckless complacency stands to cost companies - and taxpayer-funded bodies - dear. The facts are simple. If a service is offered on a single sex basis that means biological sex, not personal identity.
The law is the law and no further consideration is required in order for employers to meet their obligations under it.
A number of past legal actions after women were unfairly dismissed or bullied out of jobs for refusing to agree with the mantra 'trans women are women' were possible thanks to the support of online crowd-funding campaigns. Ms Rowling frequently promoted - and donated to - such fundraisers.
Now, she's a one-woman crowd-funder, ready to back the cases of every woman wronged at work for speaking the truth about sex.
The JK Rowling Women's Fund will transform the battlefield when it comes to women discriminated against for their legitimate, reality-based views.
At the heart of industrial tribunals there may be vulnerable people playing for high stakes but the human cost means nothing to the insurers underwriting employers' costs. For them, it's all about the bottom line and the prospect that every woman with a case now has access to the best lawyers in the business will, I suspect, encourage many to urge settlement rather than the humiliation, and inevitable cost, of more doomed defences.
If one required proof that women's rights are in need of the fiercest protection, it came in the response to the launch of Ms Rowling's fund.
With delicious pathos, one activist lawyer declared online that the Harry Potter creator had 'emerged from the shadows' as the funder of what he described as the 'anti feminist biology is destiny movement'.
Ms Rowling has never been in the shadows when it comes to her views on women's rights, has she?
Other responses were, predictably, more violent in tone.
The ongoing tribunal involving nurse Sandie Peggie, claiming discrimination and harassment against NHS Fife and trans-identifying doctor Beth Upton, brought the issue of the way so called 'gender critical' women had been treated at work to wide attention. This is a case that 'cut through' with the public and forced some politicians to address an issue they preferred to avoid.
Scottish Labour's leader Anas Sarwar and his deputy, Jackie Baillie, announced their support for Ms Peggie and declared their belief in the importance of biological sex.
If they'd known what they know now, they added, they would not have voted in favour of the SNP's ultimately doomed plan to allow anyone to self-identify into the legally-recognised sex of their choosing.
But while the Peggie case and the subsequent ruling on the legal meaning of sex by the Supreme Court may have forced a humiliating U-turn by the Labour leadership on the matter of biological reality, others remain stubbornly committed to defiance of the law.
Naturally, the Scottish Greens - a great Wodehousian satire of a revolutionary cell - remain committed to the use of single-sex spaces by anyone who feels they belong to that sex.
There have been recent statements of resistance from trade unions, too. Unison has permitted a trans woman to run for a women-only position on its national executive council.
But every act of performative defiance by well-funded trade unions - or taxpayer-funded local authorities and health boards - is another costly legal action in the making.
It should not have been necessary for JK Rowling to guarantee to underwrite the legal costs of women discriminated against for their views on sex and gender. Nobody should ever have lost a job, a promotion, or a contract on the basis of their view that sex is immutable and important.
Nor should the novelist have felt it necessary to establish, in 2022, Beira's Place, a women-only support service for victims of sexual violence in the Lothian area.
Ms Rowling's decisions to fund Beira's Place and to underwrite the legal costs of women discriminated against for believing in the reality of sex are acts of feminist philanthropy which, in a world not made batty by gender ideology, would have been hailed by our political leaders.
I know that recognition is the last thing on the writer's mind but isn't it downright weird that, when he talks of the achievements of successful Scots, First Minister John Swinney never mentions the support Beira's Place has given to hundreds of women?
Money is not the only thing women taking action to defend their rights need. Ask anyone who has been through the tribunal process and they'll tell you that the emotional support of friends and allies is essential.
This comfort will not be in short supply for those women who receive backing for their cases from the JK Rowling Women's Fund. The writer is part of an international network of campaigners, fighting to protect women's rights against the demands of trans activists, and calls to action and support do not go unheeded.
Let the nation's human resources departments brace themselves. A most remarkable plot twist has just been written.
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Sky News
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7/7 bombings: Stories that define the bravery of victims and responders 20 years on
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He didn't yet know that one of the bombers had just set off the explosive in their backpack. "Instinctively, I decided to see if there was something I could do to help," he told Sky News. Paul, who was a former firefighter, made an announcement to those standing outside the station, telling them to stick together if they had been affected by whatever had happened and to wait at a shop near the scene until they had spoken to a police officer. Many had black soot on their faces, he says, adding that he initially assumed it was due to a power surge. Eventually the store was evacuated, so Paul went with the victims to a nearby hotel, and it was while doing so that photographers snapped the famous photos of him comforting the victim with a gauze mask, who had been badly burned. He started noting down the names and details of those who had been injured, along with the extent of their injuries, so that he could pass them onto the emergency services. 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'What is haunting are those screams' Sajda Mughal is a survivor of the bombing that hit a Piccadilly line train between King's Cross and Russell Square. She tells Sky News that about 10 seconds after leaving King's Cross "there's a massive bang… which was the explosion". "The train shook as if it was an earthquake, and came to a sudden standstill. I fell off my chair to the ground, people fell forward, lights went out." 1:22 Sajda adds: "The black smoke that was coming through, it was really intense. And then all I could hear was screams. I could hear people screaming, I could hear people shouting, someone grabbing on to me saying, 'are you okay'." She was "frozen and just going into that thought process of we're going to die, and then me thinking I haven't said bye to my loved ones, I haven't got married, I haven't had kids, I haven't seen the world." She says that "what is haunting from that morning are those screams and hearing 'blood, she's hurt, he's hurt'". 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Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Terrorists teaching prisoners how to make bombs
Terrorists inside British prisons are teaching organised criminals how to make bombs, according to a study. In return, extremist inmates are learning from gang members how to launder money, use the dark web and obtain weapons that could be used in terror attacks. It comes amid increasing warnings about the rising threat of Islamist gangs following attacks on prison officers in jails. Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, said: 'Extremists and career criminals now operate with near impunity inside some of this country's highest-security prisons. 'That is a complete failure of leadership – and a dangerous abdication of one of the state's core duties: maintaining order behind bars. 'When Islamist terrorists and organised crime figures are left to forge alliances, we aren't just witnessing a security lapse – we're watching a national threat incubate in plain sight. This cannot be allowed to continue.' Prisons have often been thought of as operating like universities of crime, with inmates learning how to become more accomplished thieves, fraudsters and even drug dealers. But according to a new report, that knowledge exchange is starting to take place between ordinary criminals and terrorist inmates. Described as the prison crime-terror nexus, a study has found terrorists are learning illegal financial techniques to better fund their operations, while gang members and organised criminals are discovering how to assemble devastating new weapons to use against their rivals Drawing on interviews with prison officers, former governors, counter terror officials and prisoners, the research suggests divisions that may have once existed between terrorists and other inmates are beginning to break down. Dr Hannah Bennett, author of the study, said: 'Some prisoners are coming out knowing how to make a bomb. Others are learning how to use the dark web or commit financial crime. For many, it's about protection – but it's also about opportunity.' The study warns that a failure to identify and disrupt these exchanges risks allowing violent alliances to flourish both inside and beyond the prison walls. In some cases, released prisoners have continued hybrid activity – either joining gangs with ideological leanings or aiding terror networks in evading surveillance. The report points out how the terrorists behind the devastating 2004 Madrid bombings financed the operation through drug dealing while al-Qaeda operatives have also been known to raise money through sophisticated credit card fraud operations. Dr Bennett warned that the most fertile institutions for such a crossover are maximum security prisons where there is evidence of corruption, violence and a lack of oversight. She described these prisons as 'black hole' environments, adding: 'Where you have violent, chaotic prisons with no consistent regime and inmates who are co-located without proper oversight, the risk is exponentially higher.' One inmate who was interviewed for the study said the authorities seemed oblivious to what was going on. He said: 'We are blind to it. There are prisoners coming out more radicalised, more connected and more capable – and no one's clocking it.' Prof Ian Acheson, a former prison governor who also served in the Home Office as the director of community safety, said: 'We have several 'black hole' prisons where a combination of weak authority, inexperience and poor leadership means the state has effectively surrendered the environment to prisoners. 'The Chief Inspector of Prisons keeps identifying these places and it is extremely concerning to see some of our high-security prisons are in that number. 'Here, ideologically inspired offenders and organised crime leaders can mix freely. Where you have such lethal capacity cheek by jowl with people with the capability to obtain weapons and help escapes there is an enduring risk to national security. 'It's a perfectly rational partnership for those whose only interest is profit. And it can happen in prisons where ferocious violence and staff retreat is becoming the norm.' The findings come after several high-profile attacks on prison officers and reports of drones delivering drugs into prisons. In April, Hashem Abedi, the Manchester Arena bomber, who is serving life for 22 murders, attacked three officers in a separation unit at the high security HMP Frankland, in Co Durham. And in May, Axel Rudakubana, the Southport killer, allegedly threw boiling water from his kettle over an officer at HMP Belmarsh. Dr Bennett's report calls for urgent reform of prison intelligence strategy, including improved staff training, a clear operational definition of the prison nexus threat, and a structured assessment tool to identify high-risk jails. She concluded: 'The risk is not just ideological or criminal – it's both. If we continue to treat them in silos, we're going to miss what's happening in the overlap.' Ministers must pay attention to this insight into how terrorists and criminals work together in prisons By Prof Ian Acheson Prisons are traditionally places where alliances are made between criminals who see incarceration as an occupational hazard. Criminologists find this opportunistic behaviour, if distasteful, perfectly rational. When I worked in the prison service in the 1990s, an inordinate amount of my time was spent trying to disrupt and deter organised criminals and paedophiles from networking to extend their power on either side of the prison walls. This cosy old paradigm has been changed forever by the inclusion in the prison population of increasing numbers of terrorist offenders. People who kill for ideas are very different from those after money or sexual deviants. But the idea they cannot cooperate is dangerously naive and woefully under researched. This is why newly released research into the Prison Crime Terror Nexus by Dr Hannah Bennett is so significant. Dr Bennett is one of those rare researchers who combines theoretical and operational experience. We met at the University of Staffordshire and I have supported her work which I am glad to see published. Ministers should pay great attention to this study. Today's prison environment is poisoned by drugs and extreme violence. Terrorists attacks on prison staff have avoided death by millimetres and seconds. The potential for those with the capability to give support to those with the capacity for terrorism is not an abstract idea, it is a real and present danger. Dr Bennett has offered an insight into how terrorists and criminals work together in the prison environment for mutual benefit. Her findings are the result of multiple interviews with prisoners and prison professionals, many detailing a chilling degree of mutual cooperation and a high degree of dysfunction in intelligence collection and dissemination from the front line to the HQ boardrooms. In part this breakdown reflects the different objectives of the prison service and policing. I know from personal experience just how difficult it is to get senior officials at the headquarters level to understand their primary role in protecting national security. Too many prison professionals at senior levels subscribe to a kind of 'reclamation theology' that puts saving souls ahead of hard nosed threat management. This cultural blindness contributes to what Dr Bennett calls with rather more delicacy than I am capable as the 'intelligence capability gap'. This lack of appetite to join the dots and do something about it is most apparent in how Dr Bennett adopts and extends the theory of 'black hole prisons'. These places are akin to failed states where rampant instability, weak or absent authority, corruption, poor leadership and a rampant drugs economy create voids of power quickly filled an exploited by stronger forces such as gangs and extremists. Dr Bennett has taken this theory and applied it to identify the meeting points of organised crime and terrorism in some of our allegedly most secure prisons. These are places like HMPs Belmarsh, Long Lartin, Whitemoor and Frankland that hold the majority of our terrorist offenders in close proximity to crime family bosses and postcode gang leaders. These are not places where it possible to say the state is fully in control. Cooperation between these groups is likely when shared opportunities and goals transcend ideological differences or any adverse consequences. This is not an altogether new phenomenon. In 1994 at Whitemoor prison, shortly after it opened, IRA terrorists escaped the prison briefly with a London gangster Andy Russell. Russell was serving a sentence for hijacking a helicopter to spring two prisoners from HMP Gartree some years before. All had been held in the special security unit (SSU) a supposedly escape proof prison within a prison. Staff there had been so intimidated the gang was able to smuggle in weapons and explosives. In some of the high-security prisons I have listed today, cell window drone deliveries make it at least theoretically possible that the drugs payload they have controlled by organised criminals could have weapons and ammunition included. We are closer to ths reality than any official is prepared to admit. Dr Bennett has offered a framework for prison bosses to identify where this nexus is likely to emerge. 'Prisoners are in control' When I worked in prison order and control at a national level, our preoccupation was identifying the characteristics of prisoners who would cause riots and ensuring that there was a balanced mix across all establishments to prevent disorder. It is somewhat paradoxical that the threat or widespread disorder has receded today in large part because prisoners are in control of an environment where drugs are easily available and authority is in retreat. This Faustian pact will not hold where ideologically motivated prisoners are located. For many, not all of these terrorist offenders, the war against the state goes on and the targets have merely changed from civilians to the men and women in uniform looking after them. It is vital that meticulous research like Dr Bennett's is seen and considered by ministers and not through the lens of bureaucrats who have allowed this nexus to flourish. Terrorists and organised criminals have worked together before and will do so again. The stakes are very high.
