By now you've probably all seen, or at least heard about, Karen Ingala Smith's wonderful contribution to the Women & Equalities Select Committee yesterday. If not, you can see it here:
parliamentlive.tv/event/index/0d07ff13-636e-4b51-a946-2877e583dc4c
You may NOT have seen this re one of the other contributors, Diana James. Diana works with refuges in the south West. On the train to the Select Committee yesterday, Diana wanted to shop online for sex toys. Diana wasn't happy that GWR blocked the online sex toy shop from their WiFi, due to the adult nature of their products. We know this because Diana publicly tweeted to GWR to complain.
That Diana thinks it appropriate to visit an adult site on a public train is disturbing. That Diana thinks it's a good idea to broadcast this publicly is odd. That Diana thought GWR would bow down to Diana's demand to access adult content on their WiFi is downright bizarre.
Diana was invited to give evidence about provision of services for survivors of domestic violence and that makes behaviour even more worrying than if we were talking about a teenage boy or suited commuter.
Diana can of course do as Diana pleases within the bounds of the law. That said, this is a red flag.
When someone in Diana's position thinks this kind of behaviour is appropriate we must ask questions. The first question is probably the most obvious: why ask a this person, with questionable boundaries, to speak for vulnerable abuse survivors?
It's a small mercy that at least GWR seem to have their heads screwed on.