Tribunal Tweets - Maya is tweeting from the Kirstie Higgs' recusal hearing

[Madcats]

I really shouldn't have looked at Twitter about an hour ago, but got sucked in.

The background to the recusal (seeking to get Edward Lord OBE as one of the lay panel members) is outlined here:
christianconcern.com/ccpressreleases/kristie-higgs-employment-tribunal-to-scrutinise-role-of-anti-free-speech-lgbt-activist-in-appeal-case/

The judge is a female, Edward is non-binary

Lifting directly from 3 of the recent tweets:

"Counsel for the Attorney General interjects - discomfort at Richard o'Dair's use of he and him, when Mx Lord's pronouns are they and them.

JE - Advocates have to treat parties with respect. Advocates sometimes slip on pronouns used. As a female judge you get used to it"

"JE - I hear what is said. No difficulty in saying the "Laymember" - perhaps you could be a bit more careful with the language.

ROD - I will, but my intellectual energy should go into stating the case for my client"

"JE - yes that is why i said, i have sat here for years being referred to by male pronouns and not said a word about it. But it is a fair point."

I like to think that Maya's enjoying herself.

Lardy Lord?

works for me. I’d hate to be disrespectful

Mucks Lardy, surely? Lord is just the surname

@Delphigirl I totally get your point about abuse of process and picking one's judge but if I were in that situation I just don't think it's worth the fight (or waste of court time). I mean if it was we want Pianist to recuse herself because she wears green shoes or whatever it'd be nuts, but if it's we want Pianist to recuse herself because she's been campaigning for X or Y change of law is an entirely different thing and I'd respect that and do something else. Anyway, surely justice and politics need to be kept separate.

I see that Mx Lord is happy to identify as male for the purposes of attending (exclusionary, but only of old-fashioned women, so that's OK) Masonic lodges, of which "they" are a member of several.

I believe Mx Lord is also a member of at least one City Livery Company, and it was certainly the case until very recently that only males could join the really old ones.

Also, of course, Mx Lord was/is the partner of the estimable Dr MegJohn Barker, also nonbinary, also well known to FWR regulars.

Couldn't it leave the court decision open to further challenge on legal grounds?

Brilliant! Can you not post THAT on Twitter?

I seem to remember that Lord said Lord was striking a blow for women's equality by being a non binary person who was a Freemason. That gives you an idea of how much credence you should give Lord.

Hmm the Masons allow transwomen but not transmen. If, as presumably Lord would claim, TWAW then there is already equality in the Masons. It's possible of course that the Masons, just like Lord, know the difference between men and women but I'm just speculating now.

Thanks for the explanation ManderleyAgain, and love the name. Rebecca is great.

Thanks for your kind words, @Blowthemandown - I'm not on Twitter, I'm afraid. (I should apply for a job with Garden Court!)

Do we know when the wonderful JE will be making a ruling about the recusal? I was expecting it to be a fairly swift case management type of decision.

them is also a mason aren’t them?

god I hate mangling the English language for these fools.

@TheBiologyStupid I had the feeling that it would be fairly quick.

The public domain evidence seemed pretty compelling to me.

I'm guessing that Lord doesn't admire Tribunal Tweets....or Mumsnet.

Thanks, Madcats.

I had no idea how illustrious some of the Tribunal Tweeters are until I heard Helen Joyce describing how her jaw had dropped so much that it got in the way of her typing hands while she was covering Allison Bailey's tribunal when the emotional support dog and solicitor, and invisible friend, were revealed before Kirren Medcalf(sp?) started giving evidence. And now Maya is on duty. Their devotion to the retention and spreading of sunlight is incredible - very definitely above and beyond.

D'oh, I forgot Kirren's poor mother!

And the support cat!

I mean, dog, of course. The notion of a support cat in an employment tribunal would be ludicrous.

The Judge's cat frequently tried to get in on the action, I reckon it was most miffed on hearing that a mere dog had been accommodated.

If ever I have the misfortune to appear in any Court I am taking a support peacock with me - noisy and they could fan their tail feathers to cover my face.

But of course.

Saw that. No problem at all being in a fraternal organisation as a freemason. Needs smelling salts at the mere though of being referred to as 'he', yet happily a member of a male bastion which doesn't allow women. All the bros networking among themselves. One could view membership of such a networking organisation that bars women as tacit approval for discrimination against women? All these fauxgressives.

Misquoting the 'Josey Wales' line. They're peeing down your back and telling you it is raining.

Interestingly looking at some info about when Lord and a few others decamped from the Tories to the Lib Dems in 2003. It states that ...their contacts and old-boy networks were a boon to the internal party coup being undertaken at the time by the right-wing Liberal futures/Orange bookers... The masons be good for the old-boy networks alright.

Info according to The Prostitute State - How Britain's Democracy Has Been Bought by Donnachadh McCarthy:

Seems that there was an administrative error which meant that lay members were not appointed in the usual manner and that Edward Lord volunteered hiself for this tribunal- as per TT twitter.com/tribunaltweets/status/1539544484547121153

Wow, the dodgy little misogynist volunteered?! Hmm.

Should be even more of a red flag that he had the gall to put himself forward.

Thems got very high opinion of themselves. How unpleasant.

I'd missed that detail. I'd vaguely assumed he had just been appointed and was coming over all performatively huffy at the mere thought that someone as upstanding as himself might be biased and should have to step back. Figured something about the position being "withdrawn" was maybe triggering something not entirely rational in what is clearly a narcissistic personality.

To actually put himself forward given the clear conflict of interest suggests at least outright bad judgement. Or maybe his judgement is fine and he's showing the actual bias we're worried about - he's just desperate to have his say in this case.

From reading TT, the Judge seems to be a sensible sort. So, I'm hoping it's a slam dunk for Kristi, cos there's plenty of evidence to demonstrate that he cannot possibly be impartial.

A blindfolded man, sitting in a safe should be able to see that he's not only heavily biased. But his campaigning is actively hostile.
His misogyny is off the fucking charts.