Yes. Janice Turner has been a fantastic ally.
Partly because she's a very influential writer in a mainstream newspaper, partly because she's a bloody fantastic wordsmith but also, because she genuinely was on our side.
And I think she still is.
The benefit of mumsnet is that you get, quite literally, potentially thousands of women questioning what you say.
The thrashing out of these issues here, is, I genuinely believe, second to none.
You hear all sides of the argument. You hear all the expertise. You hear all the individual people who are impacted. As a resource, it's invaluable. And, of course, you also hear all the TRA arguments, with relentless monotony.
it makes you question everything, it gives you information, it gives you knowledge that you would otherwise not acquire, it brings you to a cohesive, comprehensive argument.
And then, it does something extra. It makes you evolve. It makes your argument evolve. In real time, you see the impact of what you thought was okay, that suddenly isn't okay.
Because you hear from women who you might never have considered, and realise that they too, are impacted.
I have no other way of saying this that doesn't sound a little patronising, but maybe Janice Turner (and Andrew Doyle), might benefit from a spell on here.
To thrash out what they think. To hone their argument. To listen to people who are not like them, maybe.
What was interesting to me was that James Kirkup, another brilliant writer and ally, wrote an article that women here, including me, didn't quite get. And we criticised it, and he bloody well showed up here to explain.
It was good that he took that step.