"Darlington Nurses" vs County Durham and Darlington NHS Trust Tribunal Thread 5

[ThreeWordHarpy]

Thread 1, 7-Oct to 23-Oct; pre-hearing discussion, KD (day 1 of evidence) and BH (day 2).
Thread 2, 23-Oct to 28-Oct; BH (day 2), CH, JP, MG (day 3&4), TH, SS, ST, LL (day 4), JS, AT (day 5)
Thread 3, 28-Oct to 29-Oct, AT (day 5&6), TA (day 6&7)
Thread 4, 29-Oct to 31-Oct, TA, AM (day 7) JB (day 8)

Five nurses working at Darlington Memorial Hospital have filed a legal case suing their employer, an NHS trust, for sexual harassment and sex discrimination. The nurses object to sharing the women’s changing facilities with a male colleague, Rose, who identifies as female. The hearing started on October 20th, with evidence starting on October 22nd and is scheduled to last 3 weeks. To view the hearing online requests for access had to be made by October 17th. The hearing is being live tweeted by Tribunal Tweets who have background to this case on their substack. An alternative to X is to use Nitter: nitter.net/tribunaltweets or nitter.poast.org/tribunaltweets

The Judge made clear at the start of the public hearing on Day 1 that only TT or press have permission to tweet. If online observers see/hear something in the court that isn’t reported by TT, we don’t mention it until the next time there’s a break. This is a very cautious approach to avoid any accusations of “live reporting” on MN. Commentary on the content of TT tweets is fine as soon as they’re posted on X.

Key people:
C/Ns - Claimants, the Darlington nurses
R/T/Trust - Respondent, County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust
J/EJ – Judge/Employment Judge Seamus Sweeney
NF - Niazi Fetto KC, barrister for claimants
SC - Simon Cheetham, KC, barrister for respondents
RH - Rose Henderson, trans identifying nurse
CG – Clare Gregory, ward manager
SW - Sue Williams, NHS Trust HR
KD – Karen Danson, first claimant to give evidence.
BH – Bethany Hutchison, claimant
AH – Alistair Hutchison, husband of Bethany
CH – Carly Hoy, claimant
JP – Jane Peveller, claimant
MG – Mary Anne (aka Annice) Grundy, claimant
TH – Tracy Hooper, claimant
SS – Siobhan Sinclair, witness for the claimants, retired from Trust
ST – Sharron Trevarrow, witness for the claimants, retired from Trust, former housekeeper and wellbeing officer
LL – Lisa Lockey, claimant
JP – Professor Jo Phoenix, expert witness
JS – Jane Shields, witness for the claimants
AT - Andrew Thacker, NHS trust Head of HR
TA – Tracy Atkinson, NHS trust HR.
AM – Andrew Moore, NHS Head of Workforce Experience
JB – Jillian Bailey, NHS Workforce Experience Manager

Can anyone who was viewing live work out what day was unaccounted for that may give us a clue when Rose may appear?
Would be good if the photographer (Ian?) was there as the newspapers used his photos in Fife

I once went to a play put on by the inmates at Holloway Prison.

During the intermission I went to the toilet and there were other inmates in there, a few of them I would assume were lesbians.

It was all perfectly pleasant, no fear or trouble.

Women are not bothered by changing or going to the toilet with other women, even the ones in prisons, some of whom at least will be in there for violence.

@Conxis The tribunal is not sitting on Thursday due to prior engagements.

Spot on the judge asked about this did’nt he.

i think there was no reason plausible for him too be there.

add in walking around with a phone in hand dressed in boxers…

not difficult to work out

And a bit of a key issue IMHO

I think it could be any day except Thursday when the tribunal is not sitting. There's enough elastic in the timetable they publicly discussed to slot him in.

They probably want to avoid him going part heard over the break in proceedings on Thursday so I would guess earlier in the week or Friday. Then Jo Phoenix's expert evidence on Monday 10th either in person or remotely followed by closing submissions.

This is all speculation on my part. I may be completely wrong.

The judge/barristers were discussing that they didn't want a particular witness to be part heard over Thursday but it wasn't RH. Can't remember who it was but they did name them.

That was Sue Williams. But I would expect them to have the same concerns about an unnamed RH as well.

Is Professor Phoenix definitely due to appear on Monday week? I thought there was some discussion at the end of last Friday’s hearing about whether it could be brought forward to this Friday, with appearing remotely as a possibility.

IIRC it was left open, so that she could be contacted and asked.

Yes, TT confirms Jo Phoenix may be on Friday. Also the witness who SC didn’t want to go part-heard over Thursday is Sue Williams.

(Click on the photo to see the whole thing, when it appears.)

It was left open. Which introduces yet more give in the timetable and the public is still a bit in the dark about who is appearing when.

Could you explain what you mean by "Man Friday'd"? I thought I had "got it" but actually I haven't at all 😳

Man Friday was a group of incredible women who were men on Fridays. I was loosely involved. The really brave ones self ID-ed into the men’s pond in Hampstead. One in a mankini. Early days of comedy activism.

Comedy but with a serious point to make.

This is the post that made me realise I don't know what is meant by Man Friday'd

Hampstead ponds row continues on whether transgender demands are going too far | Daily Mail Online

Thank you! All is clear now

Amy and Hannah from Man Friday - such heroines.

I still have my Man Friday tote bag, which I use for my crochet stuff.

Yes, it was the Man Fridays who were here on MN that first drew my attention to this shitshow. Brilliant women. Reading that DM article, how far we've come.

So what we're saying is that if Jo Phoenix can give evidence a week tomorrow, then this Friday can be Man Friday.

I remember a small spate of Man Friday acts shared on Twitter. I did mine when dh and I went for afternoon tea at a local hotel and I opted for the Gentleman's Afternoon Tea option (I much prefer it, it had pork pies and battered fish sandwiches instead of finger sandwiches).

I've got a fake moustache somewhere (one that's rather more luxurious than my own real one😳). I might fish it out this week for a bit of ManFridaying about the house.

I thought Dr Phoenix was this Monday coming / tomorrow?

A lad I know was beaten up by his father when he came out as gay, that was 3 or 4 years ago. He didn't come out at school because his school was rife with homophobic bullying - which seems only to be getting worse, no matter how many rainbows & "Progress" flags get waved around.

Addressing stuff like that would have been a better use of Stonewall's resources but it's hard work & Ruth Hunt might not have got to attend drinks parties on the Parliament terrace doing such work.

Yes, I wasn't saying that the homophobic bullying had stopped or even got better. In fact, I have explicitly said on this thread that I believe TW behaviour is homophobic rather than just "old fashioned" as seemed to be suggested. She's not so old that she's lived through an era where no one knew what a lesbian was, or pretended not to at least. I feel I have been talking at cross purposes though. The original misunderstanding was probably mine though

It's next Monday 10th. Or maybe Friday 7th.