Sarah Phillimore suspended from twitter

[anothermimsyborogove]

Barrister, women's right campaigner, mumsnetter @spero, and hero, Sarah Phillimore has been suspended from Twitter. Actor David Paisley and others are gloating about it.

@Manderleyagain thanks for the tip! My account was closed - I opened it just this morning too. I had to create a new account, all new details, from a new browser!

My awakening was from 2 more radical fem friends than I, who told me the issues, and even then I was thinking, "hmm, really?". But on my favourite Brexit memes page, there was an aggressive TRA admin (who lives in Canada, it subsequently transpired! so no real interest in Brexit - I guess was just infiltrating. Cutesy girl-with-a-knife anime profile pic and pseudonym), and when I asked why they were posting TRA stuff on a Brexit memes page, flipped out - muted me, insulted me, then when we had an argument about it via messenger, blocked me, and doxxed me. A kind-hearted follower of the page sent me the screen shots which were of my furious exchanges in the Messenger chat, but not theirs. They referred to my transphobia (non-existent by the way) and must have trawled through my 99.9% political timeline to pick up a post I had shared re trans women in sports - specifically rugby.

I was incandescent with rage, so angry I could hardly see straight! That's what I love about @spero 's attitude, as it is so natural to me. "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned"! So I read up, started following pages (I had so little idea I started with JK Rowling's fan club!), and have launched myself into the movement even though wary for my safety. In face I removed ALL personal details from my FB page. I am self-employed with a large client base which gives me a big advantage too in that I don't have to worry about losing my job.

Have stuck my shovel in - good luck Spero

The digging is going well! Almost £16,000 raised of an initial £20,000 target. Keep at it terven.

Well done Spero. Nearly at first target well within 24 hours!

I dug a little last night. Delighted to see it's going so well.

Yup and yup.

Thanks everyone. I am really pleased. Have confirmed to solicitors I want to proceed and they are sending me a letter of engagement and have started to go though all the material I have provided.

Good luck.

Sending support Spero - you're right, the courts is where real change will happen on these issues.

I'm sure you've seen this Spero but Paisley is still doubling down.

Have dug a bit and watched your interview with Glinner, Helen Staniland and Arty Morty.

Yes, I have seen. Either he's a fool or he's been advised I have no case - but I think that would be bold advice on the kind of intelligence Paisley will give.

The key thing here is that he will have to prove what he says. Fair Cop is demonstrably NOT a 'hate group'. The High Court has already ruled on Harry's activities and he is back in the Court of Appeal in March. If he wins there, he is utterly vindicated and any suggestion of 'hate group' must surely be out of the window.

For every person I have found on line saying I am a hideous anti Semite, I have found another who cannot see anything anti Semitic in what I have posted.

We will see. I trust my solicitor who is calm and sensible and has talked me down before when I wanted to rush ahead. If he thinks I have got a case, then I will proceed.

If he doesn't, then I back away and four very worthy causes get a nice donation. I've been asked to consider For Women Scotland as well and i certainly will - its our sisters in Scotland who are facing some of the most frightening new laws right now.

All I can do is keep on keeping on. I will fight this with whatever I have and however I can. The victory is a return to the rule of law and the recognition of reality.

No truer word ever uttered 👏

@EdgeOfACoin

Have dug a bit and watched your interview with Glinner, Helen Staniland and Arty Morty.

Yes they were all brilliant. Will do a spot of gardening Friday .

I don’t think this is quite as black and white or clear cut as Sarah thinks it is. I hope that if she receives advice that the case is not very strong that she discontinues the action and refunds the remaining money. It can feel tempting to go in with the big guns but I don’t see this as the slam dunk case that others evidently do.

What do you base that opinion on @Leanandmean31?

Btw, Spero has already said if she's advised against proceeding she will donate the money to charities.

I think I have a very strong case. If my solicitor disagrees, I will listen to him carefully and probably take his advice.

I started the crowd funder early because I wanted to see if it would be supported. I didn't expect so many to donate so quickly.

I appreciate that if I don't proceed then probably a large chunk of what has been raised will not be spent. I have already had to transfer £1,800 on account for my solicitors to do some preliminary work. I suspect that it is going to cost at least £5K just to get to the stage of being properly advised about what is the strength of my case.

No one has to donate. There is no compulsion. I have been very clear about what stage I am at and indicated where the money will go if this action does not proceed. I very much hope it will.

The average donation appears to be about £20. No one should donate if they can't afford it - you can support in other ways, such as posting a link on social media or discussing this with your friends.

If you don't wish to donate, don't. But others are allowed to use their money as they wish. And a great many people appear to have been very glad to pay £20 just to make it clear that they do not accept what is currently being done to the rights of women and girls.

Strong support from us Sarah. This case matters for every one of us - thank you for your strength in deciding to take it forward.

You were stunning on Lineham BTW. It'll be a sad day if women like you are silenced by ranting misogynists.

We'll keep digging.

The initial target's been met. Will there be a stretch target now?

Thank you all. So very much. You give me hope.

I will update the crowdfunder now and say don't donate until I know I am definitely going forward with this.

 best of luck Spero

I hope that if she receives advice that the case is not very strong that she discontinues the action and refunds the remaining money.

I trust that any monies I send her way will be spent on good, female positive causes, if not on barristers fees.

So do many of us.

Sisterhood is powerful.

Not everyone understands that.