Times: Girl ‘driven out of school for questioning trans ideology’

‘Having read the original article I have to admit it seemed at best one-sided and at worst completely fictitious to me.’

It was one-sided. In what way did it seem like it might be invented? That’s a serious charge.

It would be… unusual for the Times to write a fictional article including full, detailed quotes from the parties concerned.

I wonder if the article has been changed to be about JKR because they haven't been able to verify the story.

It'll be interesting to see if Daily Mail (who have also run the story) change it

Having read the original article I have to admit it seemed at best one-sided and at worst completely fictitious to me.

Well done, Sajid Javid. I wish he were correct that you could ask any doctor or nurse...

LOJ is off on one of his rants, I see. The ‘moral panic’ I see when a girl is bullied out of education by sixty of her classmates for stating biological facts is a very different one to the one he sees. Obviously there is a chance this story has been distorted or invented by TT and The Times (I acknowledge that) but he seems completely unwilling to revisit his rhetoric in light of the implications if it is actually true. He insists trans people are the victims in even this situation, but he insists those who understand what sex us and how many of them there are are ‘obsessed’.

What has the Baroness done wrong? I disagree utterly with her views, but the Times article and Transgender Trend piece both make it clear that she and the girl parted on good terms. She didn’t incite the bullying.

The whole point about free speech is that everyone has to be allowed to exercise it, not just people we agree with. Calling for someone you disagree with to be prosecuted for a non-existent crime is straight out of the TRA playbook. No thank you.

Spot on!

Sajid Javid has just retweeted the times article saying 'biological sex matters. Ask any doctor or nurse. Facts matter. Respectful debate matters. This growing culture of shutting people down is deeply disturbing and must be challenged'

The second article linked is credited to

'Nicola Woolcock, Education Editor | Laurence Sleator'

I disagree that the bullies shouldn’t be held responsible for their behaviour.

Withholding public criticism doesn't mean that the school can't hold them accountable for their behaviour.

If the worst bullies (such as the ones who spat on the girl) were suspended, they’d have space and time to think about the dangers of mob mentality.

The school plausibly would not be able to do that without attracting legal action from the parents if it were to interfere with the girls' exam prep or their exams and any offers that they have.

I find it hard to believe that a school leadership team would deal with this incident so appallingly.

I would second a decent investigation of what happened here. It sounds horribly akin, in many ways to how the adults in the Child C incident abdicated their professional and adult safeguarding responsibilities to that young woman.

I disagree that the bullies shouldn’t be held responsible for their behaviour. How old are they, 17 or 18? That’s old enough to know right from wrong and have basic empathy for other people. Many of them will be drivers, with all the responsibility that entails, and the chances are that a few will become parents in the next few years.

If the worst bullies (such as the ones who spat on the girl) were suspended, they’d have space and time to think about the dangers of mob mentality.

The school are worse, of course. But I find it hard to believe that a school leadership team would deal with this incident so appallingly.

I don’t believe she would have maliciously done it either @EmbarrassingHadrosaurus . But I do think a wake up call is in order. Adults are losing their grip and failing to behaving with gross irresponsibility.

Othwr linda of bullying, violence and harassment are policed much more vigorously.

Whichever Baroness it was, I can not for a moment accept that what happened to the young woman involved was something that they would consider acceptable. It would not be conduct that befits a member of the HoL and the respect that goes with that office.

I know that a cynic is a romantic who has been hurt but please allow me one of my remaining illusions that no responsible adult would do this to a child, in full sight of other responsible adults.

(And, yes, the looming scandal about PBs should have disabused me of this but these are my remaining shards of a belief in decency and I cling to them.)

Good point @Signalbox , did the Baroness insight violence through illegal speech? Police should look into it.

YouTuber Owen Jones, baying mobs’ rights campaigner.

Wow, thousands of pounds a term to learn that open discourse is not allowed.

Money well spent.

From Mole at the Counter

It's a disgrace that a national newspaper hasn't sacked a journalist working for it who has supported the bullying of a schoolgirl. #theguardiansupportsbullyingschoolgirls should also be trending.

And if it wasn't so sad, and so terrifying, it would be almost comical that OJ wants to talk to the 60 girls who shouted and spat at this girl. Yes, let's hear the bullies speak! The voice of bullies is so under-represented in the national media. Poor dears.

The only people demonised as Nazis these days are feminists. The extremists like OJ and his coterie rarely (if ever) use the word "Nazi" to describe racists or Islamist terrorists or indeed actual Nazis. It's a word reserved entirely for a group of largely mild-mannered, peaceful, law-abiding women who sometimes meet up to defend their sex-based rights.

I think that probably tells you everything you need to know about these people.

He's already written his story, drawn his conclusions, decided who the good and the bad guys are. Even if he finds that things happening exactly as put down in the Times article.

I used to like Owen Jones writing. Back when the Guardian was a serious newspaper and I could still read the print editions. When the comments were worth reading instead of not there at all most of the time.

How could anyone read this article and not feel anything but sympathy for the 'minority' involved.

Perhaps I've misjudged him and this will be a wake up call for him.He doesn't have to change his views but he has to realise whose been victimised in this.

I’d like to see the school named and shamed.

Owen Jones Is A Bully is currently trending on twitter

When I read this I felt sick. I've have been having looooong discussions with my kids about gender ideology and encouraging them to ask questions and challenge (respectfully) if they feel like something doesnt make sense or feels 'weird'.

This is a mass gang up in school - with teachers being petrified to put a stop to it. Where are the bloody adults in this?

Julie Bindel:

"I am in touch with the young woman who was bullied out of her 6th form school.
She considers that she is being bullied by Owen Jones as well. Nice journalism, much?"

twitter.com/bindelj/status/1526599080591429632?t=LlY77K9WLzg87KZImzejpQ&s=19