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Original poster

Mermaids being investigated by the Charity Commission - thread 2

1000 replies

ResisterRex · 06/10/2022 05:55

The first thread, towards the end of which there was a discussion about having a second thread but it wasn't added:

Mermaids being investigated by the charity commission
http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/4644323-mermaids-being-investigated-by-the-charity-commissionn_

There's been a new development so maybe a second thread would be useful:

Lottery pauses trans charity cash during investigation

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/c959a286-44e4-11ed-8885-043c27446b97?shareToken=6d482edb1a386656502f33453da5c230

OP posts:
Thread gallery
117
Birdsweepsin · 07/10/2022 19:13

BewaretheIckabog · 07/10/2022 19:09

The recent incidents we know about that are serious safeguarding and reputational harm are:

An adult able to pretend to be child to join a chat room
Moderator recommending users move to a non-moderated platform
Offering to send a binder to a child without parental consent or knowledge
The appointment of JB and lack of vetting
The pause in funding from the lottery

I’d hazard a guess volunteers were taken off the rota due to insufficient vetting, lack of DBS and inadequate training.

Have I missed anything?

Volunteers realising exactly who they were giving their time and energy to, and walking away...?

TheClogLady · 07/10/2022 19:16

That the digest emails sent to forum users included everyone’s personal email, everyday? (ie something as basic as using cc rather than bcc?)

plus the massive data leak? (although that perhaps isn’t recent enough?)

BewaretheIckabog · 07/10/2022 19:25

@Birdsweepsin I fear some of the volunteers may have walked away because they didn’t want the scrutiny.

BewaretheIckabog · 07/10/2022 19:29

@TheClogLady

I was only doing very recent. If we go back more than a month I’ll be typing til midnight.

TheBiologyStupid · 07/10/2022 19:34

BewaretheIckabog · 07/10/2022 19:25

@Birdsweepsin I fear some of the volunteers may have walked away because they didn’t want the scrutiny.

This, I fear.

Birdsweepsin · 07/10/2022 19:34

Remember this headline? Yeah, they meant it the other way....

Mermaids being investigated by the Charity Commission - thread 2
TheClogLady · 07/10/2022 19:41

BewaretheIckabog · 07/10/2022 19:29

@TheClogLady

I was only doing very recent. If we go back more than a month I’ll be typing til midnight.

Good point, well made!

it really is a spectacular shit show.

BettyFilous · 07/10/2022 19:42

BewaretheIckabog · 07/10/2022 16:40

Charity Commission confirms Mermaids have filed serious incidents on a number of matters.

Suggests the chat and phones were not closed due to abuse of staff and volunteers to me.

I was thinking this morning they would have had to close them anyway. Once the lack of safeguarding hit the media every nonce in the country would have made a beeline for it.

nilsmousehammer · 07/10/2022 19:43

the NSPCC did not have anywhere near the sheer catalogue of fails that Mermaids are demonstrating right now

And have over a very long period of time.

In safeguarding terms, there is a point at which the 'whoops, we didn't know/didn't think to do that/forgot that/the dog ate that bit' starts adding up past what can be accepted as really quite mindbending naivety and mistakes.

Particularly when you look at the document from 2018 in which a lot of these tactics were described and laid out as an intentional action plan to achieve specific desired social change.

Birdsweepsin · 07/10/2022 19:45

Where was the sixth sense that you normally get around abusive, manipulative men? How did Susie Green and Nancy Kelley fail to notice the paedo-adjacents?

BewaretheIckabog · 07/10/2022 19:51

In fairness the NSPCC have done some good work and helped rather than harmed children.

Siameasy · 07/10/2022 19:52

Thanks for this thread. It’s all unraveling now.
So Mermaids had/have West Yorkshire Police in their pockets, just like Savile?
Jesus!

PronounssheRa · 07/10/2022 19:53

BettyFilous · 07/10/2022 19:42

I was thinking this morning they would have had to close them anyway. Once the lack of safeguarding hit the media every nonce in the country would have made a beeline for it.

Show quote history

Significant safeguarding failures can often lead to the swift closure of a service even if on a temporary basis so the problem can be fixed.

It's entirely possible this is what has happened with the mermaids chat and phone lines. Also rumours of twitter that a number of volunteers walked out.

mcduffy · 07/10/2022 19:58

I know the "came for the babies, stayed for the feminism" quote is an overused one but my god no wonder they hate this place. Incredible posts and research by formidable women with safeguarding front and centre.
I feel a bit emotional and I've been here six years. Keep fighting.

TheClogLady · 07/10/2022 20:01

It’s interesting that Mermaids have wiped their staff and trustees page, and their corporate partnerships, page, and their brand sponsorships page.

Yet they’ve left their patrons (all of whom are trans) page up.

You’d think Mermaids would prioritise trans people over brands, if they actually cared about the cause they claim to care about?

if I were one of those patrons, I’d be wondering about legal action over reputational damage…

mermaidsuk.org.uk/patrons/

Also, couple of screenshots of the FAQ page - apparently all the chat room staff are employees, not volunteers.

Mermaids being investigated by the Charity Commission - thread 2
Mermaids being investigated by the Charity Commission - thread 2
BewaretheIckabog · 07/10/2022 20:03

And so many of the non-thinkers on Twitter still shouting that JKR caused this.

If Mermaids had been operating properly they wouldn’t have had to do anything.

Did JKR recommend or select an unsuitable Trustee?

The real irony is they if MM hadn’t taken LGBA to court much of this would not have been unearthed.

If it hadn’t been for those pesky Terfs they’d have gotten away with it.

TheClogLady · 07/10/2022 20:04

PronounssheRa · 07/10/2022 19:53

Significant safeguarding failures can often lead to the swift closure of a service even if on a temporary basis so the problem can be fixed.

It's entirely possible this is what has happened with the mermaids chat and phone lines. Also rumours of twitter that a number of volunteers walked out.

Show quote history

They did say ‘intolerable abuse’ and MimmyMum said ‘from men’ so maybe they got some phonewankers? (I remember a FWR member posting about how the volume and persistence of phonewankers made volunteering on the Samaritans lines unsustainable long term).

nilsmousehammer · 07/10/2022 20:05

BewaretheIckabog · 07/10/2022 20:03

And so many of the non-thinkers on Twitter still shouting that JKR caused this.

If Mermaids had been operating properly they wouldn’t have had to do anything.

Did JKR recommend or select an unsuitable Trustee?

The real irony is they if MM hadn’t taken LGBA to court much of this would not have been unearthed.

If it hadn’t been for those pesky Terfs they’d have gotten away with it.

The problem isn't a massive safeguarding disaster. The problem is people pointed it out.

BewaretheIckabog · 07/10/2022 20:08

They had hidden the link to trustees and staff early this morning. However, the Trustee list will be different by Monday. I have a feeling resignations have already happened.

OP posts:
Original poster
ResisterRex · 07/10/2022 22:05

ResisterRex · 07/10/2022 18:52

That was posted here:

twitter.com/ripx4nutmeg/status/1578438973310894080?s=46&t=wXULvoGJkE1ZVIcLEXhaJA

Here's a reply to it:

twitter.com/louisewluddite/status/1578445584633323520?s=46&t=wXULvoGJkE1ZVIcLEXhaJA

OP posts:
ArabellaScott · 07/10/2022 22:37

ripx4nutmeg - who deserves a medal, frankly - has posted this informative thread on previous employees of Mermaids:

twitter.com/ripx4nutmeg/status/1578386104323022849

Dreikanter · 07/10/2022 22:39

BewaretheIckabog · 07/10/2022 20:08

They had hidden the link to trustees and staff early this morning. However, the Trustee list will be different by Monday. I have a feeling resignations have already happened.

Staff lists were hidden on the website a couple of days ago. I looked on the Tuesday and you could see staff, that disappeared not long after.

Wrt to Trustee lists, Breslow was removed PDQ on the CC site - he wasn’t there on the Tuesday afternoon following his resignation Monday evening. Charities can update their own info online so this would account for the rapid update.

I suspect that either Mermaids didn’t know of Breslow’s background (epic safeguarding fail) or they did know and ignored it (in this case FUUUUUCK) and the Mermaids “investigation” on Monday was a response to The Times telling them that they were going to out Breslow.

RedToothBrush · 07/10/2022 22:48

Meanwhile another trustee appears to have doubled down on queer theory...

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11293125/Biological-sex-just-concept-says-trustee-trans-charity-Mermaids.html

NHS doctor and trustee of controversial Mermaids charity sparks fresh trans row after describing biological sex as a 'concept' - as furious campaigners hit back: 'It's a fact of nature... every human being is either male or female

Mermaids have apparently declined to comment on these latest comments by this other trustee.

FlibbertyGiblets · 07/10/2022 22:48

Absolutely boggling at these revelations, I am properly gobsmacked at the tentacles of connection between so many.

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