Debbie Hayton

The year 2021 has been an annus horribilis for Stonewall. For much of the last decade, the charity could do no wrong in the eyes of those who mattered. Stonewall's influence cut straight into the heart of government. As Nikki da Costa, Boris Johnson's former director of legislative affairs, pointed out: 'There is no other organisation — no business, or charity, no matter how big — that can pick up the phone to a special adviser sitting outside Boris Johnson's office and get that person to speak directly to the Prime Minister. But that is the kind of access that Stonewall has' Through its Diversity Champions Programme, Stonewall advised businesses, police, NHS Trusts and universities.

To those of us who know Quidditch from the fantasy world of the Harry Potter books, the idea of grown-ups running around a field with a broomstick clasped between their legs is a bit ridiculous. But make no mistake: this is serious stuff. The sport has its own governing body, the International Quidditch Association, that manages its rule book. And there's also a World Cup, currently held by the United States, which has won the tournament three times. But now, there's trouble brewing in the world of Quidditch. As the sport has grown, a problem has emerged. The name Quidditch is trademarked by Warner Brothers.

How should police record a rape where the culprit has male genitalia? The answer might appear to be straightforward: a man is responsible. Yet in Scotland, where the SNP's obsession with avoiding offence appears to trump reality, things could soon be more complicated. Police Scotland have said that they may log rapes as being carried out by a woman if the alleged culprit identifies as such. This absurd situation was revealed by Gary Ritchie, assistant chief constable, who set out scenarios where this might happen. It includes 'where a person born male obtains a full gender recognition certificate (GRC) and then commits rape' and 'where a person born male but who identifies as a female and does not have a full GRC...commits rape'.

Dr Adrian Harrop, a 31-year-old GP, has been suspended from practising medicine for a month. Harrop, a so-called trans-ally, had conducted a personal crusade online, supposedly to protect trans rights. But woe betide anyone who happened to disagree with him. Harrop called one woman who took a different view 'a venomous transphobic bigot'. He said her central aim was to 'demonise trans people' while 'excluding them from public life'. In another message, he wrote: 'Cis people, on the whole, are just awful and there needs to be a massive state-sponsored programme of re-education'. Trans people like me will have to pick up the pieces He condemned women who defend their sex-based rights – 'terfs' (or trans-exclusionary radical feminists), he called them.

Eddie Redmayne was nominated for an Oscar for his performance in The Danish Girl, but now he is having second thoughts about the role he took on. Redmayne played the part of Lili Elbe, a Danish illustrator who is remembered as one of the first recipients of gender reassignment surgery. Highly experimental at the time, the procedure eventually led to Elbe’s death, aged only 48. Now, Redmayne has said he was wrong to play the part he did:  'I made that film with the best intentions, but I think it was a mistake.'  Redmayne should not worry about upsetting the trans lobby Why?

What is a witch? How do we spot witches? And how might we drum up the courage to talk to a witch? Cambridge Students' Union Women’s Campaign has the answers. Their new pamphlet, How to Spot TERF Ideology, doesn’t call these people witches, of course. It calls them TERFs – but the sentiment is much the same. Women with minds of their own, experience of life, and the audacity to speak up for their rights are being subjected to appalling campaigns of intimidation and abuse. The TERF (which stands for trans-exclusionary radical feminist) hunts are real and they are happening now. The baying mobs might not be demanding heads, but they appear to be on a mission to trash reputations and livelihoods.

Transphobia is defined as the fear or hatred of trans people. But all too often, it is applied much more widely than that. Disagree with a trans person, and you could well be labelled as transphobic; look at us a 'bit funny' and we may report you for hate crime. Poke fun at us, and heaven help you. Comedian Dave Chappelle pulls no punches when it comes to the transgender community. In The Closer – his latest Netflix special – he is direct and uncompromising. But – and this is important – he plays the ball rather than the man. His target is not us but the ideology that has sprung up around us: a pseudo-religious doctrine that demands everyone believe that a man can become a woman just because he says so.

Andrew Marr’s question was simple and straightforward, '[Is] someone who thinks that only women have a cervix welcome in the Labour party?' As a party member who still clings to science and reason, I willed Keir Starmer to give a simple and straightforward answer. Instead, he blustered: Well, Andrew, we need to have a mature, respectful debate about trans rights and we need to, I think, bear in mind that the trans community are amongst the most marginalised and abused communities. It’s not true, Keir. Some of us in the trans community are doing rather well for ourselves, certainly in the UK. We have robust legal protections — we even have our own protected characteristic under the Equality Act — and most people wish us well.

News that Rosie Duffield will be missing the Labour Party conference over threats to her personal security brings to a head an appalling situation where a female Labour MP cannot stand up for the rights of women without triggering opprobrium. Keir Starmer cannot and must not sit on the fence any longer. Maybe he is trying to sit tight and hope that this goes away? This seems unlikely: Duffield’s opponents are motivated by an evangelistic zeal to silence those who dare to disagree with them. Thankfully, Duffield isn’t taking the hint On Friday, she spoke more sense into the debate: https://twitter.com/RosieDuffield1/status/1436276240500105219?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw https://twitter.com/RosieDuffield1/status/1436276243167580160?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw https://twitter.

What is your sex? It is a simple question and one that we can all surely answer. When it comes to filling out a census, ascertaining a person's sex is particularly important. Working out the number of men and women living in an area allows for the appropriate provision of public services. But in its approach to conducting Scotland's census next year, the Scottish government risks undermining this. Astonishingly, according to guidance published this week, the 2022 Scottish census will allow some respondents to essentially answer what they think best. It says: 'If you are transgender the answer you give can be different from what is on your birth certificate. You do not need a Gender Recognition Certificate.

On Thursday, teachers planning residential trips were told that it may be just fine for teenagers of the opposite sex to share a room.  In 25 years of teaching, I have seen many daft ideas trickle down from government, but the Scottish government’s latest guidance, ‘Supporting Transgender Pupils In Schools’, takes the biscuit. Of course it promotes affirmation of transgender identities. This is Scotland, after all, where Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP seems to be in thrall to transgender ideology. The party previously enacted legislation that talked about people ‘becoming female’. But while that law took liberties with the rights of women, this latest guidance impacts the safeguarding of children.

Today’s A level results are unprecedented, but not unexpected. On Friday, Professor Alan Smithers  of the Centre for Education and Employment Research at the University of Buckingham said, ‘The early signs are that it will be another bumper year for grades.’ He went on to suggest that this might be, ‘justified as compensation for all the disruption suffered’. The impact of Covid-19 on the education of children cannot be dismissed as mere disruption. While adults might now be returning to the office after 18 months working from home, children struggled through two terms of lockdown learning and two more cocooned in bubbles. Grades will be high but they have been earned. Teachers held it all together too.