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For all of you who don't understand the disgust with the Daily Mail...

853 replies

Spero · 02/01/2014 17:57

I have just been told they have published an article about John Hemming in which they name me. Both my real name and my user name.

Luckily for me I don't care. Luckily for me I decided long ago I would never put anything on line that I would be ashamed/upset/frightened for anyone else to read.

But for lots of people this would be a complete and utter disaster. People post really personal and sensitive stuff on this site about the worst times of their lives, looking for help and support. They must know that.

Note that they never bothered contacting me to find out which category I fell into.

So if anyone wants to start another wide eyed innocent thread - o I just don't understand why you all hate the Daily Mail so much!

Does this kind of thing help you understand a little more?

I will link to the scum bags but only because I hope people might leave some 'helpful' comments about JH.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2532649/MP-John-Hemming-banned-Mumsnet-posting-Italian-woman-forced-courts-caesarean.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490

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Spero · 03/01/2014 10:20

Ok. FWIW here is the letter I am going to send to Duncan Hames on Jan 6th as he does not appear to be replying to my emails. Anyone is very welcome to use any part of it in a letter to their own MP.

Dear Mr Hames.

Further to my previous emails you may be aware that the activities of Mr John Hemming on the mumsnet forum have attracted considerable media interest in the first week of January 2014.

He has been suspended from the site following his attempt to reveal the identities of a number of women who post there. I was one of those women. He chose to name me in his blog and I have now been named in the national press.

The media reporting of his behaviour has concentrated on the fact that he revealed on line the name of the mother in the 'forced Caesarean' case and that he was posting while drunk.

That is behaviour which alarms me from an elected politician, posting on an internet forum in his own name. However, my concerns about Mr Hemming's behaviour are much more serious than this. It was not simply the mother's name he revealed on line but the name of her baby; this child was the subject of a reporting restrictions order in the High Court which said she should not be named. Mr Hemming claims publication of her name was 'inadvertent' but I note he has expressed no remorse and made no apology for putting a vulnerable child potentially at risk of identification.

But my concerns about Mr Hemming are not limited to this one incident, serious though I think it is.

For a number of years now Mr Hemming has been a self professed 'crusader' against injustice in the family law system. On mumsnet and elsewhere he repeatedly asserts that up to 1,000 children a year are 'needlessly' adopted and are removed from loving homes so that Local Authorities can meet their 'adoption targets'. He continually asserts that the system is 'corrupt' and that professionals working within it collude to remove children and will tell lies to achieve this end. He advises people to leave the country rather than deal with Children's Services. He has close campaigning links with a number of very worrying individuals such as Ian Joseph whose recommendations include thinking very carefully before reporting even the sexual abuse of your child. He has never provided any evidence to support the very serious allegations he makes.

If any of this is true, it is shocking and I need to know why it is not being investigated at the highest level. If however, as I suspect, none of this is true then I am horrified that Mr Hemming is allowed to continue in this vein as a serving MP, using his position to give his 'advice' extra credibility.

I have been contacted directly by women who received 'advice' from Mr Hemming not to co-operate with Children's Services. They now very much regret following that advice.

As your constituent, I would like to know what the position of the Liberal Democrats is regarding a politician who campaigns in this way, under your banner.

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Catkinsthecatinthehat · 03/01/2014 10:26

And if Hames doesn't reply, go to his constituency surgery and see him face to face. It's a drop in, first-come first-served event, so he can't prevent you getting an appointment.

Given the recent farce with Lord Rennard and the Lib Dem failure to investigate inappropriate behaviour within the Party, you think they'd have learned lessons. Clearly not.

Spero · 03/01/2014 10:28

Yep, if I don't get any reply I will go and see him face to face.

I stress I am not trying to stifle debate or 'free speech'. But JH simply cannot carry on in this way as a politician. He must provide proof for his assertions or shut up.

He will now be over at net mums. We won't see him here again I don't think. But he will still have a huge audience of vulnerable women who want to listen to him.

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BoreOfWhabylon · 03/01/2014 10:31

Oh well done Spero, very well done! Flowers

I will most certainly be using extracts from that.

Would you object to your message being forwarded in it's entirety to some news outlets I've already emailed about this?

Spero · 03/01/2014 10:33

I would not object to anything I have ever said about this man and his activities being sent to anyone anywhere ever.

I would be very pleased if it was. I have a marching band still on standby.

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BoreOfWhabylon · 03/01/2014 10:37
Grin
Devora · 03/01/2014 10:38

Spero, I believe Duncan Hames is currently on paternity leave and may be stepping down from his ppps role in order to have more time with his new baby. He is still your constituency mp, though.

Spero · 03/01/2014 10:41

ooo, forgot Lime's link re making a complaint!

I will add last para to my letter

I bring to your attention Art 3.1(b) of the Federal Constitution of the Liberal Democrats.

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Spero · 03/01/2014 10:42

That's lovely he wants to spend some time with his new baby, but I hope he has appointed someone else to steer the ship in his absence so that other babies in his constituency have someone looking out for them...

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gertrudetrain · 03/01/2014 10:45

If this is what is happening, if politicians and the media can out posters (posters who use this forum not only for the laughs but because they or their children are vulnerable) then it will be to the detriment of MN. It's absolutely the hand holding and the tangible practical support that makes it different to other online gibbering.

CarpeVinum · 03/01/2014 10:57

it will be to the detriment of MN

It already has been. My inbox is fit to pop with the number of people too justifiably concerned with the potential for their privacy being invaded, or the possibility of being in his cross hairs .... to post publically.

And I don't blame them. Without Big Pointy Alps, I'd be similarly inclined.

When people are afraid of crossing an MP even on a forum, it really is time for a much bigger ban hammer than MNHQ's to swing.

ExitPursuedByAChristmasGrinch · 03/01/2014 11:31

Story repeated in the telegraph this morning, but without mentioning any names.

Groovee · 03/01/2014 12:04

Email sent to my MP.

CarpeVinum · 03/01/2014 12:05

The Times just tweeted their vesion if anybody can get past the pay wall, would love a sysnopsis of what they said.

Nancy66 · 03/01/2014 12:05

Have you contacted Kathryn Hudson? The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards?

That makes more sense to me than your local MP

Groovee · 03/01/2014 12:06

And a complaint sent to the libdems complaint email.

BoreOfWhabylon · 03/01/2014 12:16

Excellent idea Nancy66, thanks Flowers

Here are the contact details for the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards

Spero · 03/01/2014 12:26

I contacted the Parliamentary Commissioner in 2012.

they sent quite a rude letter back saying they would only investigate allegations of financial impropriety.

So I am not bothering with them again.

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CustardoPaidforIDSsYFronts · 03/01/2014 12:27

sent complaint to libdems :) will post any reply

CarpeVinum · 03/01/2014 12:31

If anybody has not yetceen it, this may be one of the reasons why Mr Hemming is getting tense in The Times comments.

The heat has been turned up in so many areas and chickens may be coming home to roost. cos the advice given was acted upon

Well worth tweeting that link to anybody who is showing interest in The Naughty Step et al.

Spero · 03/01/2014 12:35

I love the fact that the Times said he posted the children's names while drunk.

he may well have been, but he didn't actually admit he was drunk until much later.

But the more he flaps about trying to say 'I wasn't drunk then!' the more attention he brings to this.

Excellent. I am sure he is stupid enough to make a fuss whereas if he just stayed quiet no one would care about this story by end of week.

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CleoBrown · 03/01/2014 12:36

Ok, letter to my MP's has been sent, I'll show any response, but a little nervous about what it will be/where my information will go! Hey ho, I feel strongly enough about it to want to do it though :)

I hope every little helps!

CarpeVinum · 03/01/2014 12:36

So the Times actually said the children not the mother (like wot everybody else did) ?

Opps, I tweeted them with the synospis sort of saying "get it RIGHT will you".

S'not my fault they have a paywall.

CleoBrown · 03/01/2014 12:37

Just read the link to the blog - can the ICO not look at it as a breach?

CarpeVinum · 03/01/2014 12:38

I wasn't drunk then

Well even less excuse for indecent haste and irresponsible managment of other people's sensitive and confidential legal docs if he did it stone cold sober.