Morning, Clunkers!
On this day in 1091, London was struck by a tornado, the first reported in British history. London Bridge was demolished - well, it was just a wooden bridge - and the church of St. Mary-le-Bow in the city of London was badly damaged. Other churches in the area were demolished, as were over 600, mostly wooden, houses.
In 1651, Charles II fled to France after Oliver Cromwell defeated his army at Worcester. Not all by himself, obviously. He had a bit of help.
In 1727, John Wilkes, political agitator, was born in Clerkenwell. Although elected to Parliament four times, he was not allowed to take his seat. Eventually, working, and middle-class support secured him his rightful entry to Parliament where he fought for reforms and religious tolerance.
As Mayor of London, his motto was “Join Loyalty and Liberty”. He supported religious tolerance, opposed war with the American colonies and fought for the freedom of the press by getting a bill passed to end Parliament's ability to punish political reports of debates.
John Wilkes would have been none too pleased with newspaper owner Lord Beaverbrook then. On this day in 1936, Lord Beaverbrook promised Edward VIII that he would arrange for the British press to remain silent on the subject of his relationship with American divorcee Wallis Simpson. These days, it’s hard to hide anything for long on the internet - think of super injunctions for an example.
In 1985, the Law Lords, in the Gillick case, permitted doctors to prescribe oral contraceptives to girls aged under 16 without parental consent.
Victoria Gillick, a mother of ten, was opposed to children under the age of 16 being prescribed contraceptives without parental knowledge or consent. The Law Lords ruled that children under the age of 16 can consent to their own treatment if they're believed to have enough intelligence, competence and understanding to fully appreciate what's involved in their treatment. This is known as being Gillick competent. Otherwise, someone with parental responsibility can consent for them.
Mrs Gillick acted from her Catholic principles and although the ruling did not go her way, her case resulted in the Law Lords placing an important, although subjective, test that had to be met before health care professionals could treat a child under 16 without parental knowledge or consent.
Gillick competence is now under scrutiny as a result of the judicial review brought by that courageous young woman, Keira Bell, and led to Liz Truss stating this year that she believed that young people under 18 should be “protected from decisions that they could make, that are irreversible in the future”.
And so for her important contribution in helping to safeguard the children of today, we salute Victoria Gillick. 🥂