"Darlington Nurses" vs County Durham and Darlington NHS Trust Tribunal Thread 6

[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)
Thread 5, 31-Oct to 04-Nov; JB (day 8), SW, CG, JR (day 9)

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, NHS 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
AT – Anna Telfer, NHS Deputy Director of Nursing
SW – Sandra Watson, Matron for General and Elective Surgery
JR – Jodie Robinson, manager of Rose

😀

The very embodiment of make entitlement.
My hackles are rising watching him. Every fibre of my being is shouting at me 'danger, danger' and that's just observing remotely. F me, there's no way I would go in a changing room with him, I'd be waiting outside.

male, not make.

In the break:
Poor Rose's eyes and throat got very dry when we got to the poster. Fortunately Rose was able to blink a lot and drink lots of water.

Can anyone tell me what "SEAL" means?

Yes

I've watched 95% of the live broadcast so far and have never noticed this. I do often don't get "into the room" before the witness starts though so I could ahve missed it.

It wasn't just the water cup info though - very delicate hand holding going on there

He is very smug. He was definitely there to intimidate the hateful bigots.

All the faux "I would have no reason" bullshit. 😡

Surgical Elective Admission Lounge

I'm not watching but from the descriptions I'm getting "Bab's Cabs" vibes.

Does everyone agree Rose is smug?

I watched Dr. Upton and he was unbelievable.

Arrogant, smug, unsettling.

Yes, he has made an effort to put earlier witnesses at their ease but in fairly business like tones. He had a much softer approach with RH, almost like dealing with a child.

Oh he is not yet on par with the smugness of Upton.

Thank goodness for the break, my AirPods were about to run out of battery.

The sound kicked in before the video, and a very manly voice floated into my shell-likes…

Has any reason been given for the late start today? Did The Fragrant Rose have to be coaxed into position like a jittery racehorse?

Usually comments on personal appearance are not acceptable, so I'm fending off any objections to the descriptions of Rose by saying that it is relevant to know how a biological male is attempting to present as a woman, how much effort he has made, and whether or not it is convincing.

It is also relevant to contrast with other photos of him where he hasn't dressed up for the occasion.

Smug
It’s a feature
Not a bug

Can I ask people in the profession, whether or not a judge would take all this into account?

Do they have to just listen to the words. Or can they, and do they, form legitimate opinions based on their perception of the person.

Here is what I conclude from watching Rose:

He is absolutely sure he is going to get away with this.

He feels absolutely confident that if a woman or thirty women say he's done something, he can just say he hasn't and have his word accepted as the truth.

He thinks he is duping everyone with his exceptionally lady-dee-like manners, and he is delighted by this.

Please, please don't let him be right about any of this. Please tell me the tribunal can see through this?

When sitting with hand clasped presentation is laydee like.

When moving to get a folder or water Rose has big beefy tatooed arms and movement is ungraceful.

He is quite non plussed - as why what is all the fuss about? I was doing my job. Some colleagues wanted to defend my lady honour with posters but I knew the bad DSU bigots wouldn't go easy.

The problem in his world it is all ok to get massive norks and a bad comb over and become a laydee. He has been told this by everyone in authority at the trust, by his hand maiden wife by online supporters. The fact that his is clearly a man in a dress with tufty wispy widow peaked shoulder length hair is lost on him.

@ThreeWordHarpy I know we are held up from live tweeting evidence but commeting on appearances of witnesses has been fair game so far. But I will heed your warning as thread Queen.

To be honest Upton took smugness to whole new stratosphere.

I'm not going to say anything about Rose as I don't trust myself.

In addition to what @DelusionalBeliefSystemMaintainedByBullying states, he also clearly doesn’t give one teeny tiny shiny shit about how the women adversely affected by his actions feel.

Which is the absolute defining feature of an entitled man.

Surgical Elective Admission Lounge? Mmmmm sounds nice! I bet they do good cocktails there😁

Hard agree. The affected, smarmy, entitled demeanour, coupled with the giant bloke stature is terrifying - and that's before you consider that if anything happens to you, he'll be the one playing and being accepted as victim.

Smug, very performative, holding himself like he thinks a woman would with carefully folded hands, 'soft' movements, brushes his hair out of his face when he doesn't need to. Keeping his gaze on NF. Not looking at the judge at all.
It was interesting that the video cut before he got up but the sound carried on for a while afterwards while they left the room. The first time that has happened.