Ben Cooper QC - Lawyer of the Week (in the Times)

[Justme56]

Sorry I can't share the article, but liked this:

What is the funniest thing that has happened in your job?

As a result of my work in this area, apparently becoming an object of admiration on Mumsnet [the Internet parents' forum] - improbable in many ways.

😁

I laughed incredibly loudly when I got to that bit.

I hope he has read through the threads ☺️

One of the brilliant things about MN is that it provides a real time record of all sorts of things. In this instance, it's a frame by frame breakdown of Ben's exceptional performance - his quips, his arguments, his gotchas, his responses, his calm, dignified demeanour and his grace under fire. I hope he enjoys reliving a difficult case via the medium of MN and the wit of the vipers!

I've a feeling that both versions were in play. One for Maya (the '"it would be unkind of me to ask how that's going for you now") and similar for Allison.

And YY to the need for recordings of these proceedings. Open Justice needs it in general and, in particular, for ETs and we so nearly had it. <groan>

Copium on your part I'm afraid.

You're right @whereareyounow AB didn't win against Stonewall, and yes her crowd funder did use Stonewall as the headline. So in that respect I'll agree it was a loss. However, you cannot think that the text of the judgement (I'm assuming you've read it) is anything other than terrible for Stonewall.

Stonewall didn’t need to lose for AB to beat them. GCC needed to lose, and they did. Copium.

This is brilliant, thanks for sharing.

There's also an article in the Times law section with the headline

Firms 'should quit LGBT scheme'

If someone can share?

😂

Stonewall are already shaky and they became a national laughing stock with Metcalf, who they were happy to throw under a bus, showing their tip top ethics. I'm very happy with how it went. It was always going to be very difficult to implicate Stonewall as an outside org in the discrimination GCC have been found to have caused to Allison. The publicity was golden though.

Yayy Ben!

I agree. The judgement was absolutely clear that Stonewall ideology discrimates against women. It's being reasonably well covered in the HR publications. Fingers crossed that no sane EDI department will touch them with a ten foot barge pole (sadly this leaves a lot of insane departments and plenty of equally crazy Stonewall offshoots but we progress).

*discriminates - doh! 🤦‍♀️ oh for an edit button

And it's yet more reinforcement that it's not appropriate to discriminate against people simply for holding and expressing gender critical beliefs. The tweet that GCC sent was inappropriate.

The comments by Allison about the cotton ceiling were considered a protected act even though people found them offensive.

Julie Bindel wrote:

Although GCC claimed that the language used by Bailey went beyond the belief that sex rather than gender is fundamentally important, the tribunal found that all of Bailey’s pleaded beliefs, not just the belief that “woman is sex not gender”, are protected (this protection was established by the Employment Appeal Tribunal in the case brought by Maya Forstater).

unherd.com/2022/07/how-allison-bailey-crushed-stonewall/

There's a link upthread (ResisterRex at 08:25)

Just off to read the article(s) but stopping by to say...

I love you Ben!

It's hilarious that people still drop into these threads to insist that Allison didn't win 😂

Yey! Ben's bloody great!

From the second article:
”the tribunal said Bailey’s belief that women were defined by sex, as well as the contrary position that gender was a matter of self-identity, were protected by equality legislation”

WHY is it so difficult to report accurately? Those two positions are not contrary. If journalists mean sex, they should write “sex”.

“Gender” can’t be anything else than a matter of self-identity. 🙄

Jeez, if you can read the judgement and view what Stonewall did as a win, your bar is so low, you might want to take limbo lessons.

Ben is great.

But another great find is the other Ben Cooper on Twitter.

Two for the price of one.

I take that's a couple of "Dry martini[s], enjoyed in good company", Errol!

😂

Jeez, if you can read the judgement and view what Stonewall did as a win, your bar is so low, you might want to take limbo lessons.

Remember the proposed Olympic sport of "ducking under a bar" Datun? For a fair go for the ladies if we couldn't excel in athletics etc, from a former poster on this site?

That's right!! We should only enter sports that were tailored to our physique, if I remember.

Ducking under a bar being the first, and if my memory serves, only one, the poster could come up with.

Frankly, it seems like a sport far more suitable to those who think Stonewall is winning at this, or anything, tbh