Joanna Williams

In 1984, I was Middlesbrough’s most eager Brownie. Such was my enthusiasm, I happily chomped my way through raw potatoes after an older girl, having failed to light the campfire, ordered us to tell Brown Owl: ‘This is how we like them!’ That was sisterhood, and I was deeply committed. So imagine my horror upon discovering, a few years ago, that Brownies and Guides were now admitting boys. Not the rough and tough fun kind who probably could have got a fire started, no problem at all. But the drippy ones who like to wear dresses and call themselves girls. I was horrified, but not surprised. The organisation’s woke capture became clear when the promise I made, ‘to do my duty to God’, was replaced by the insipid pledge ‘to be true to myself and develop my beliefs’.

You don’t need a PhD to see that censorship thrives in universities. In the past few weeks alone, a professor has been banned from the University of Manchester and described as a ‘potential risk to colleagues’ for having allegedly used ‘the n-word’ in a disciplinary meeting; a sociology lecturer at Abertay University has been subjected to a smear campaign for inviting a speaker critical of Scotland’s rape laws; and pro-Palestinian student activists at City, University of London have called for the dismissal of a Jewish professor because he completed compulsory military service in Israel during the 1980s.

Readers who woke to Radio 4’s Today programme at around 6:30 a.m. can be forgiven for leaping out of bed in alarm. ‘There has been a coup at the BBC!’ cried presenter Nick Robinson, or words to that effect. Clearly, as we lay snoozing, a hostile takeover of our state broadcaster was underway. ‘These are not,’ Robinson informed us, ‘normal times’. Indeed, they are not.  His monologue began: The boss of the organisation which remains, despite all the rows about bias, the most trusted news organisation in the country – perhaps also across the globe – has quit, along with the head of news, after a row in which the President of the United States denounced what he called ‘doctoring’ of what he had said in a speech featured on a BBC Panorama programme.

The national Covid-19 inquiry rumbles slowly onwards. Module 8, examining the impact of the pandemic on children and young people, drew to a close last month. Blast-from-the-past appearances from Matt Hancock and Boris Johnson meant the decision to shut schools and stop exams from going ahead for the best part of two years was subjected to scrutiny and buck-passing in equal measure. Since lockdown ended, concern has, rightly, been raised about so-called ‘ghost children’, who continue to be persistently absent from school rolls. Far less attention has been paid to the gaps in the education of those pupils who did turn up when schools reopened. Perhaps understandably, no one wants to be seen to undermine the efforts of hard-working children and teachers.

Remember when feminists rallied behind the mantra ‘Believe All Women’? It was back in 2017, at the peak of the #MeToo movement that rightly brought down serial sex offenders such as film producer Harvey Weinstein. But then the net was cast more widely, tripping up men like comedian Aziz Ansari for boorish behaviour on a date and allowing women who had been touched on the leg to label themselves victims. Critics, like me, who urged against such blurred lines, were told that women do not lie about being victims of sexual assault. I had to shut up and believe. But the years since have shown that feminists themselves have double standards when it comes to believing victims. Some women are to be taken at their word, while others are to be forever doubted.

How best to commemorate the horrors of October 7th, 2023? How to mark the day on which hundreds of Hamas terrorists invaded Israel, slaughtering almost 1,200 people, injuring thousands more, and taking 251 hostages? For students at the University of Liverpool, the answer seems to be a ‘bake sale’. That’s right. In remembrance of the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, students will eat cake and raise money for Palestine. ‘Time for Dessert’ is the event’s sickening slogan. Protests are expected to take place today at universities throughout the UK Sadly, Liverpool is far from unique. Protests are expected to take place today at universities throughout the UK. Not demonstrations against Hamas, or the states that harboured and funded the October 7th militia.

‘I have never hated someone so much.’ ‘I hope you commit suicide.’ These are just two of the messages I received back in 2020, when I argued that schools should remain open despite the pandemic. Now that the interminable national Covid-19 inquiry is finally getting round to considering the experiences of children, school closures are in the spotlight. Education was massively disrupted as schools shut their doors to all but the children of key workers and those considered most vulnerable. Between January 2020 and July 2021, children were kept out of the classroom for extended periods, missing almost half of the time they should have been in school.

Does the Labour party have a problem with women? It’s not just Conservatives – who enjoy comparing their own three female prime ministers with Labour’s failure to get any woman into the top job – who seem to think so. It turns out many on the left think their side of the aisle is riddled with sexism. Women on the left need to wake up to the fact that not all criticism directed their way is ‘sexism’ As Labour members head to Liverpool for this weekend’s party conference, all eyes are on the battle between Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson and former Leader of the Commons, Lucy Powell, for the position of Deputy Leader. Phillipson, initially seen as the frontrunner and assumed to be the Prime Minister’s choice, has been losing support.

Is it really the case that a majority of Gen Z have experienced mental health problems? Researchers from University College London certainly seem to think so. A YouGov survey they commissioned finds that almost two-thirds (64 per cent) of people aged 16 to 25 have either experienced or are currently experiencing mental health difficulties. Women seem to suffer most: 72 per cent said they had mental health difficulties compared to 56 per cent of young men. Rates are highest among 20 to 21-year-olds: 40 per cent of this age group are currently experiencing difficulties, while 31 per cent have had problems in the past. Women seem to suffer most: 72 per cent said they had mental health difficulties Certainly, this aligns with other research.

Labour’s attack dogs have Nigel Farage firmly in their sights. A vote for Reform will leave women and girls at risk from all manner of online nasties, is their latest salvo. Apparently, only Labour can offer us women the protection we need. Well, as one such woman, I would far sooner have a pint with Farage than be looked after by Starmer. When it comes to protecting women and girls in real life, the Labour government does not have a leg to stand on First came technology secretary Peter Kyle, who, at the end of July, accused the Reform leader of ‘wilful disregard for the safety of children online’ after he proposed repealing the Online Safety Act. Angela Rayner then ramped up the panic.

The Labour party’s long flirtation with extending the franchise to 16-year-olds smoulders on. As Starmer told this week’s Liaison Committee: ‘We will definitely get it done, it’s a manifesto commitment and we intend to honour it.’ If true, this will be the largest change to the electorate since 1969 when the voting age was reduced from 21 to 18. It will mean around 1.5 million potential voters being added to the electoral roll. Seducing teenagers began when Labour was last in office. Back in 2007, Julie Morgan, then-MP for Cardiff North, used a Private Members’ Bill to suggest amendments to the Representation of the People Act which would lower the voting age. Despite receiving support from over 100 MPs, her Bill did not progress beyond a second reading.

Call me old-fashioned but if I ever have the misfortune to be stuck inside a burning building, I want a fireman to come to my rescue. As the temperature rises, I won’t give two hoots as to whether my particular fireman is black, white, gay, straight, male or female. I just want someone brave enough to ignore the flames and strong enough to carry me down flights of stairs. A bit of Stoicism might be good too; I don’t want to have to hand out tissues to my weeping saviour. But a firefighter with a decent manicure? I’ll be honest, that comes way down my wish list. Perhaps I have misunderstood what a fire service is for nowadays Not, it seems, in Nottingham.

When America sneezes, Britain catches a cold. Luckily for us, we have Wes Streeting on hand with the tissues. Within days of Donald Trump signing an executive order putting a stop to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programmes across the US government, our own Health Secretary has diagnosed the NHS as suffering from a similarly bad case of DEI-itis. There are ‘some really daft things being done in the name of equality, diversity and inclusion’, Streeting declared this week.

The tenth anniversary of the slaughter of Charlie Hebdo journalists reminds us that the literary establishment has long been equivocal when it comes to defending free speech. So news this week that the Royal Society of Literature is in ‘meltdown’, after singularly failing to defend its members when under attack, sadly comes as no surprise. Indeed, the departure of the once-great society’s chairman and director, shortly before a forthcoming annual general meeting that was expected to have seen calls for their resignation, should be welcomed by all who support artistic freedom.

Good on Rishi Sunak. At long last we have a Prime Minister who has come out swinging in defence of free speech. When JK Rowling shared her opposition to Scotland’s new hate crime legislation yesterday, Sunak was quick to defend her right to speak out. If the PM truly believes that the Conservatives are the protectors of free speech then he's been asleep at the wheel Rowling declared that: ‘It is impossible to accurately describe or tackle the reality of violence and sexual violence committed against women and girls, or address the current assault on women’s and girls’ rights, unless we are allowed to call a man a man.’ And Sunak, it seems, agrees. ‘People should not be criminalised for stating simple facts on biology,’ he announced.