Mermaids, Barclays' Mumsnet Boycott, Jeffrey Epstein... Malcolm does a deep dive

[YouveGotNoBloodyIdea]

Malcolm Clark has done his usual excellent job of researching the murky connections between the TRAs and those in positions of power.

open.substack.com/pub/malcolmrichardclark/p/jeffrey-epsteins-mermaids-connection?

The senior executive who signed off on the Bank’s alliance with Mermaids- which led to its advertising block on MN - was a mate of Jeffrey Epstein.

The bank has now attempted to scrub all mentions of Mermaids from its web presence- not entirely successfully.

Dodgy bloke in position of power, same old, same old...

https://archive.ph/uGSqa

'Parents of children who have used the transgender youth charity Mermaids have complained to the watchdog after a worker posted explicit images and sexualised pictures “as a schoolgirl” online.
Darren Mew, digital engagement officer at the children’s charity and who identifies as “they/them”, posted an image of himself on Instagram with an upwards view through his short skirt with the words “Sorry I can’t hear you. I’m just out here living my fantasy” and the hashtag “nonbinaryfinery”.
Mew was also featured in a collage of six pictures of himself naked, holding his erect penis, from the rear and with pairs of breasts with penises protruding from them for a shot for Haus Magazine, an LGBT publication.'

'A parent whose daughter was once a user of Mermaids said that she had serious safeguarding concerns about Mew, given the explicit content and his role at the charity which enables him to attend residential events.'

'She said in her complaint to the Charity Commission that in the pictures, Mew was “seemingly hairless like a young boy… the graphic clearly presents the imagery of amputated breasts. In another Darren wears a Hentai style schoolgirl skirt and adopts a provocative pose and appears to be broadcasting sexualised little girl vibes.” She called for an investigation.'

https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/mermaids-appeal-raises-thousands-as-probe-is-significantly-impacting-finances.html

'A Charity Commission spokesperson said: “Our inquiry into Mermaids remains ongoing and as such, we can’t comment further.
“Our inquiries conclude only when we are satisfied that all regulatory concerns have been sufficiently investigated and resolved.”'

Article from July 2024.

Investigation was opened in Dec 2022.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/regulator-announces-statutory-inquiry-into-mermaids

Does there not come a point where an investigation decides that a charity has not resolved the issues and further action needs to be taken?

Can an 'investigation' just burble on indefinitely, no matter the issues?

Not to deny that transphobia exists; of course it does. But unfortunately the term has been 'weaponised' as they say and is often used with no evidence or reason other than to try and shut people up.

"You can't say that it's transphobic" can be a thought terminating cliche in the same way as "trans women are women". Its purpose in these cases is not to explain but to silence.

It sure is taking a long time to investigate and resolve those "regulatory concerns". I would imagine they could have produced a list and given it to Mermaids telling them to "do better" by a given time.

Where are the investigative journalists from newspapers/tv news programmes? Why are they not also doing deep dives like Malcolm Clark? Why does this issue get a free pass from so many intrepid journalists who have investigated all sorts of scary subjects and people? Why don’t they want to ensure that people aren’t being influenced, why don’t they want to make sure there are no healthcare scandals in the making, why don’t they want to follow the money and see where it leads?

We know that someday, when the levee breaks, the big name investigative journalists will be all over this subject with their grey-toned archive film, their handheld camera gotchas in the street, with actors playing the roles of real people in dramatic recreations, but why not investigate NOW when it could really bring some facts to light that would help prevent bad things happening to vulnerable children and adults???

Well done Malcolm and thanks for your hard work! And well done to journalists like Hannah Barnes and Julie Bindel and Helen Joyce and Jo Bartosch and Suzanne Moore and Hadley Freeman and Victoria Smith….gosh, (innocent face) so many women sounding the alarm and being ignored by national media and big name investigative journalists, isn’t that strange?

Wow, well done Malcolm

Maybe if the commission found evidence of criminal activity they would have to inform the police and maybe that's why it's taking so much time because they can't do anything until the police conclude their investigation.
You never know it could happen. 😁

There's some discussion of Darren on the link below

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4649165-mermaids-being-investigated-by-the-charity-commission-thread-2?reply=120607782&utm_campaign=reply&utm_medium=share

And a daily mail article

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11302231/Parents-children-used-trans-charity-call-probe-worker-posed-explicit-images.html

At the time, Miriam Cates asked Liz Truss (yes, that's how long ago this was!) whether the police would investigate. In fact we are almost at the two-year anniversary of that question.

12 Oct 2022:

"Over the past week, serious safeguarding failures by the children’s charity Mermaids have come to light, with revelations that the charity sent breast-flattening devices to young girls behind their parents’ backs, promoted harmful medical and surgical procedures to children and hired a trustee with links to paedophile organisations and a digital engagement manager who posted pornographic images online, including of himself dressed as a schoolgirl. For years, despite whistleblowers’ raising the alarm, Mermaids has had unfettered access to vulnerable children. Does my right hon. Friend agree that it has taken far too long for these concerns to be taken seriously, and does she also agree that it is high time there was a police investigation into the activities of Mermaids and its staff?

It is very important that under-18s are able to develop their own decision-making capabilities and are not forced into any kind of activity. On the subject of the investigation that my hon. Friend raises, of course, those matters should be raised and looked at properly."

hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2022-10-12/debates/A4F24C85-AC0D-4BC0-BC23-EF09A009FD85/Engagements

So, I appreciate all the research and oversight.

Is it possible that there’s a six degrees of separation thing going on here?

I only ask because I’m getting very wary. There is so much fabricated scandal- and so much scandal- and so much mudslinging as distraction… the world is starting to look like a big conspiracy theory and I’m considering becoming a hermit.
Ive lost the ability to discriminate.

There might also be a similar phenomenon to that of lay lines happening. Effectively that there are so many ancient sites in the UK (we are old and crowded) that if you draw a line from one to the other it goes through loads of other ancient runes on the way. Creating a false picture of significance. So the same phenomenon but for paedophiles basically. Which is a depressing thought.

Did you read it?

Malcolm only deals with facts - he was a documentary film maker (Panorama IIRC?). Fact that the boss of Barclays who signed off on the Mermaids alliance and MN boycott was a friend of Epstein 🤷🏼‍♀️

But a more realistic alternative to the Qanon style conspiracy theories is not so much that there is a massive cabal of paedophiles spread out globally and all working together, but that bad people are depressingly predictable. Like starlings in a murmuration don't all get together and say "right first we will make a mushroom shape then dereck and team b will fly left and down to make it look like and arrow etc etc". But each starling acts in a similar way to specific things (the actions of its immediate neighbours, a crow flying towards them, shifts in wind speeds) and it creates these seemingly deliberate patterns.

So I don't think the CEO of Barclays was in a "team" that included Epstein and also included the creepy photo guy in mermaids and the people in mermaids that believe surgery is OK for trans teens. And they all conspired to help Mermaids flourish, and persecute Mumsnet. But rather that the CEO was, at best (hmm), utterly disinterested in children's welfare and naturally inclined to take the sides of very bad men against their persecutors (especially interfering women). (see the texts he sent epstein for evidence of how sorry he felt for him.)
There are conspiracies-Epstein was part of one. But also bad people will act in similar, predictable ways that all on its own creates a pattern.

Yes it's one degree of separation in this case.

i think the starling analogy is perfect

That’s helpful, thank you. The world is looking weird where I’m sat at the moment.