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Articles / More than 10,000 COVID conspiracy theorists gather in London: Huge crowd of ....

« on: August 29, 2020, 07:32:03 PM »

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8676875/Thousands-anti-maskers-believe-pandemic-HOAX-march-against-lockdown-London.html

More than 10,000 COVID conspiracy theorists gather in London: Huge crowd of anti-vaxxers led by David Icke gather to argue that virus is a lie spread in secret global plot organised by Bill Gates

    Huge crowd gathered in front of National Portrait Gallery to protest against government's Covid restrictions
    Mass demonstration is one of several taking place around the world today as Europe cases continue to surge
    Demonstrators hold signs claimeing masks reduce immunity and some likened restrictions to 'child torture'

By Katie Feehan For Mailonline

Published: 14:41, 29 August 2020 | Updated: 17:54, 29 August 2020

More than 10,000 Covid-19 conspiracy theorists who believe the virus is a hoax have gathered in London's Trafalgar Square to protest against lockdown restrictions and vaccination programmes.  Demonstrators in the 'Unite for Freedom' rally which started at noon in the capital are calling for an 'end to Government lies' and the restoration of all freedoms.  Pictures from the demonstration show Trafalgar Square almost full of protesters none of whom are wearing masks holding signs that brand the pandemic as a 'hoax'. When full, the square holds up to 35,000 people.   Other signs claimed masks reduce immunity and likened the restrictions to 'child torture'. One person held a homemade placard on which he had scrawled 'no to mandatory vaccines.'  Jeremy Corbyn's brother Piers and conspiracy theorist David Icke were in attendance, the latter of whom urged police to 'stop serving the psychopaths' and join those protesting in a speech addressing the cheering crowd.  The event is set to march past Downing Street towards the Houses of Parliament where speakers are expected to address the crowd.   Video from the scene showed organisers label the government as 'terrorists who are waging a war on the people of this country'.

One man says: 'This is a political agenda to commit mass genocide on the population. That is their agenda.'

A poster advertising the event read: 'Nothing is more important as time is very short the Government are voting for a two-year extension of their emergency Covid-19 powers in September 2020.  The first six months was a disaster this must not be allowed to continue! We have to take a stand.'

It lists its priorities as 'no more lockdowns, no social distancing, no masks. No track and trace, no health passports. No mandatory vaccinations, no 'new normal'. Restore all human rights that have been violated.'  The poster lists 'top world class doctors and nurses speaking out with real truth on Covid-19 against GMC constraints'.  Sonia Poulton, who was part of the protest, shared a video to Twitter to urge people to attend.  She said: 'People are coming today to make their voices heard against mandatory vaccinations, mandatory masks, mandatory anything really. No more lockdowns, no more second wave business'.

It is understood Jeremy Corbyn's brother Piers and conspiracy theorist David Icke are in attendance.  Icke, who was scheduled to speak at 3pm outside the Houses of Parliament, hit headlines in May after he made controversial unproven claims about the virus on several internet platforms, including one that it is linked to the 5G mobile network.  Both YouTube and Facebook deleted his accounts citing violation of their respective policies in relation to disputing the existence of Covid-19.  A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: 'Police officers are with a group of protesters at Whitehall.  We have already provided the group with a letter explaining they are at risk of committing a criminal offence.  We are now asking the group to disperse.'

An open letter from the Metropolitan Police to organisers and participants of public gatherings reads: 'The MPS strongly advises people not to attend any large gathering for the protection of yourselves and others. We are still in the middle of a global pandemic.  Please be advised that you may also be at risk of committing a criminal offence. Under the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (No. 2) (England) Regulations 2020 (as amended), no person may participate in a gathering which consists of more than 30 persons either indoors, on a vessel, or in a public outdoor place, unless certain exemptions apply.'

It goes on to say: 'If you attend a gathering of more than 30 persons, you may be committing an offence, which is punishable by a fine. If you hold a gathering over 30 persons you might be committing an offence under new changes to the Regulations. It is also an offence to encourage others to unlawfully participate in a large gathering.  It is your responsibility to check the position and ensure you are not committing an offence by being involved in a large gathering. We urge anyone arranging a gathering to inform your local police.  We all need to continue to do our part to prevent the spread of the virus.'

In April, Icke landed London Live with a sanction from regulator Ofcom after the outlet aired an interview with the former footballer.  In the interview, Icke aired unsubstantiated theories about the virus and suggested mandatory vaccination would be 'fascism'.  Ofcom said it was 'particularly concerned' by Icke 'casting doubt on the motives behind official health advice to protect the public from the virus'.  'These claims went largely unchallenged during the 80-minute interview and were made without the support of any scientific or other evidence.'

Speaking at the event, Icke accused the police present of enforcing fascism and subjecting the people to a psychopathic regime.  Jeremy Corbyn's brother Piers is also a well-known conspiracy theorist who has spouted claims that the coronavirus is linked to 5G mobile networks.  In June, he faced charges for his part in a similar May demonstrations at Speakers Corner, Hyde Park, involving 50 people which breached lockdown rules.  The Metropolitan Police have dedicated a large police presence to monitor the demonstration and have written an open letter to those organising protests this weekend.  It reads: 'The MPS is aware that the coming bank holiday weekend may see a number of large gatherings in indoor or outdoor spaces.  The MPS strongly advises people not to attend any large gathering for the protection of yourselves and others. We are still in the middle of a global pandemic.'

It goes on to remind the public that it is their responsibility to ensure they are not committing an offence.  'Please be advised that you may also be at risk of committing a criminal offence. Under the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (No. 2) (England) Regulations 2020 (as amended), no person may participate in a gathering which consists of more than 30 persons either indoors, on a vessel, or in a public outdoor place, unless certain exemptions apply.  We all need to continue to do our part to prevent the spread of the virus.'

The demonstration is one of several taking place around the world under the Unite for Freedom banner.  Berlin police on Saturday disbanded a mass protest in the German capital against coronavirus curbs a few hours after it had begun after marchers failed to heed their orders to keep their distance and wear masks.  The protest came as infections rise across Europe, with similar protests during the day in Paris and elsewhere.  In Denmark, protesters take part in a demonstration against the use of face masks and other Covid-19 related restrictions near the Danish parliament building Christiansborg in Copenhagen.  Across Europe, countries including France, Spain and Italy continue to see increases in the number of coronavirus cases.  Yesterday France added 5,429 cases overnight, government figures showed, marking the country's largest single-day increase since April 14, and the third-largest daily rise since the pandemic began.  Meanwhile Italy, which had some of the lowest case totals in Europe after reopening its economy, registered 1,367 cases its largest rise since May.  Spain registered another 7,296 cases, enough to push the country above the US the world's worst-affected nation in number of cases per million inhabitants, based on a seven-day rolling average.  The latest figures show the pandemic has killed at least 842,000 people worldwide since surfacing in China late last year.  In the UK, more than 331,644 people have been infected and 41,486 people have lost their lives to the virus.
 
Coronavirus conspiracy marches are held across Europe as Berlin police break-up 18,000 marcher for failing to socially while droves of anti-maskers storm Paris and Copenhagen

By Luke Andrews For Mailonline

Berlin police have broken up protests for failing to wear face masks and socially distance as up to 18,000 descend upon the German capital.  The demonstrators, who were calling for an end to coronavirus restrictions, flooded into the square in front of Brandenburg gate before marching down a main street.  They blew whistles and brandished placards declaring 'Merkel must go' and 'stop the corona lies!' as they called for a return to pre-lockdown life.  They were joined by hundreds thronging the streets in London, where they declared coronavirus was a 'hoax' invented to establish a 'new world order'. And 200 more in Paris held an anti-mask rally alongside hundreds more in Berlin.  The angry march comes as Europe prepares to enforce lockdown restrictions to avoid a second wave, as the number of cases recorded kicks up to highs not seen since March.  Pictures show thousands angrily crowding onto the streets in Berlin to demand a reversal of the rules.  The city had banned the demonstration earlier in the week, but a German regional court overruled the decision.  As many as 3,000 police officers were deployed to disperse the protesters after they failed to wear masks and maintain social distancing, in breach of guidelines.  Unfortunately, we have no other option', Berlin police said on Twitter, adding that they had failed to comply with the safety conditions of the march.  Many were dispersed peacefully, although there was conflict when a construction container was set on fire and some roads were briefly blocked.  Until now Germany has managed the coronavirus crisis better than many of its European counterparts, with rigorous testing helping to hold down infections and deaths.  But new daily infections have accelerated in recent weeks, as in much of the world. Germany recorded 1,571 new cases yesterday, the highest figure since 22 August, when 2,000 were declared.  On Friday, Chancellor Angela Merkel urged citizens to keep up their guard against the virus.  'This is a serious matter, as serious as it's ever been, and you need to carry on taking it seriously,' she said.

In London, several hundred demonstrators gathered in Trafalgar Square calling coronavirus a hoax and demanding an end to lockdown restrictions.  Many carried banners saying 'Fake News', or 'Masks are Muzzles' and rejecting any mandatory vaccination programmes.  The virus has killed more than 40,000 people in Britain.
 
Matt Hancock warns the UK could go back into nationwide lockdown this winter as SAGE 'worst case scenario' plans for 81,000 deaths - but experts slam the alarming model for being 'implausible'

Nationwide restrictions cannot be ruled out should England see a spike in coronavirus cases this winter, the Health Secretary has warned.  Matt Hancock also hinted that restrictions may not be eased over Christmas to avoid an 'uptick' in the number of Covid-19 cases.  Mr Hancock said countries in others parts of the world were already experiencing a second wave, adding it was 'a very serious threat'.

Meanwhile, Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood said 'draconian action' could be needed if the public do not stick to social distancing rules, hinting the Government could take stronger action than local lockdowns.  It comes as SAGE - the government's advisory group on scientific emergencies has estimated up to 81,000 people could die from Covid-19 this winter in the very worst case scenario.  The scientists warned the figure was 'a scenario and not a prediction' that under the worst possible conditions there could be 81,000 deaths from Covid in England and Wales. In that scenario the fatality rate would be 0.7%.  Carl Heneghan, from Oxford University, told the BBC that the model was 'implausible' and that it assumed that 'we've learnt nothing from the first wave of this disease'.

The government told the broadcaster that its plans were under constant review, and were driven by the latest scientific advice.  At the start of the outbreak it was forecast that up to 500,000 Britons could be killed by the virus, the current death toll stands at 41,486.  But Mr Hancock said the UK was managing to keep the number of new cases 'flat' through the test and trace system and local lockdowns.  Describing the worst-case scenario, he said the UK could be battling bad flu and a growth in coronavirus as people spend more time indoors.  He continued: 'Cases go up again, and we have to use very extensive local lockdowns or take further national action.  We don't rule that out, but we don't want to see it.'

His comments come as local Covid-19 restrictions were eased in northern England, which will allow social gatherings between two homes from Wednesday in Bolton, Stockport, Trafford, Burnley, Hyndburn and parts of Bradford, Calderdale and Kirklees.  Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood warned the public that stricter measures could be imposed.  He told Times Radio: 'It's an enduring emergency and until a vaccine turns up there is a national resolve, there is a responsibility, a duty of every individual also the Government needs to keep the nation safe and that's where Matt Hancock's work comes in and then Rishi Sunak needs to make sure the economy is working.  If the nation, if individuals aren't following the rules then ultimately we cannot break the chain of spread and therefore draconian action is required to take place.  We'd prefer it to be local but absolutely, if that R-rating does go too high, this is a warning for every single listener: ensure that you do socially distance so we can actually contain it.  This is an enduring emergency, I repeat. Until there's a vaccine this is the new normal that we've got to get used to.'

Mr Hancock told The Times a second wave could be 'avoidable but it's not easy', with schools reopening next week presenting new challenges in stopping the spread of the virus.  In an interview with ITV News, Mr Hancock said: 'We're doing a huge amount of planning to make sure that the NHS is prepared and can cope to make sure that people can have as much freedom to enjoy Christmas, to enjoy winter, as possible.'

But when asked whether there will be special rules to allow more people to visit one another over Christmas, Mr Hancock suggested it could lead to a rise in the number of people catching the virus.  'The danger of a rule like that is that it increases the spread of the disease,' he said.

'I mean, there are an awful lot of things I'd love to be able to do, but the risk of them is that we see an uptick in the disease.  Hence, we've had to take decisions that you wouldn't ever want to.'

On vaccines, the Health Secretary said there is potential for it to be available this year, but that it is more likely next year.  He continued: 'It's a very difficult science, it's thankfully one that our scientists are up to, and each sign at the moment is going well and going in the right direction.  But we don't want to raise people's hopes too much.'

The Government is responding to 'an increase in anti-vax messages and anti-test messages', he said, with a programme under way to tackle 'these sorts of conspiracy theories' which he branded as 'wrong'.

When asked about the Government's U-turns on a number of policies recently, Mr Hancock said he believed people would have been 'really cross' if they did not happen.  'We're dealing with a crisis that is entirely unprecedented,' he responded.

'We're dealing with a disease that didn't even exist, as far as we know, before December last year.  And so, we're taking decisions guided by the science on it.  I think people would, what people would get really cross about, is if a government refuse to change even if evidence came up that there was a better option.'

Meanwhile, BBC2's Newsnight reported that a 'reasonable worse case planning assumption' presented to the Government said there could be up to 85,000 excess deaths directly attributed to Covid-19 between July and next March across the UK, with 81,000 in England and Wales.  The broadcaster said the figures were in a document signed off by the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) for the Cabinet Office at the end of July.  The document stressed that the figures represent a scenario, not a prediction, and aim to help the NHS and local authorities prepare for the coming months, Newsnight said.  The report goes on to state that while other restrictions could be in place until March 2021, schools are likely to remain open across the country.  It also said the Government's tracing, isolation and quarantine measures would only be 40 per cent effective in cutting the spread of Covid outside households, the BBC said.  Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Friday that schools were safe to attend as he encouraged every pupil to return to the classroom.  'The evidence is overwhelming that it is in the interest of the wellbeing and the health of children, young people, pupils, to be back in school rather than missing out any more,' he said.

'So, it is the healthy, safe thing to do.'

It comes as more than one million people can again mix in different households from next week, after Covid-19 restrictions were eased in parts of northern England.  From Wednesday, social gatherings can take place between two homes in Bolton, Stockport, Trafford, Burnley, Hyndburn and parts of Bradford, Calderdale and Kirklees.

The decision came after local political leaders submitted their recommendations to the Government's Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC).

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: 'We brought in measures to protect people in these parts of northern England, and I want to thank residents who have worked so hard to get on top of this virus.  We're seeing the positive results of our local approach, and are able to bring in increasingly targeted measures.  It is vital we can maintain this good progress.  I have every faith people across the country, especially in areas where we are seeing higher numbers of cases, will continue to play their part by following local rules, and self-isolating and requesting a free test as soon as they get any symptoms.'

Data showed coronavirus cases per 100,000 decreased during the week ending August 20 in Burnley from 52 to 24.6, in Bolton from 25.6 to 18.9, in Stockport from 23 to 15.1 and in Trafford from 27.1 to 17.8, said the Department of Health and Social Care.  The lifting of the measures in Bradford, Calderdale and Kirklees excludes the Bradford city area, the Keighley town area, Halifax, Dewsbury and Batley.  Residents in Manchester, Rochdale, Bury, Tameside, Salford, Preston and Leicester will also still be banned from visiting others in their homes or gardens.  In addition, people in Oldham and parts of Blackburn and Pendle, where infection rates are the highest in the country, will still not be able to socialise with anyone outside their household anywhere.  Gary Hall, deputy chairman of the Lancashire Resilience Forum, which is leading the county's response to the coronavirus pandemic, said: 'If we continue on this path I am hopeful that all parts of Lancashire will have the remaining restrictions lifted soon, but this depends on people following the rules wherever they live in the county.'

Council leaders in Trafford told the Government at its now weekly review that restrictions should have been maintained, following advice from its own director of public health.  Andrew Western, Labour leader of Trafford Council, said: 'It is apparent that for all of their claims of working in collaboration with local authorities, the Government has decided to overrule the council and lift restrictions in Trafford.  'This action by Government makes a mockery of the claims of locally led decision-making and once again shows that local government is being ignored in spite of being on the front line of this crisis.'

The latest rolling seven-day rate of new Covid-19 cases in Trafford up to August 25 was 25.3 people per 100,000, compared to 19.8 up to August 18.  Last week, Mr Hancock announced a more targeted approach to Covid-19 restrictions, in which the views of MPs would also be sought to gain 'the maximum possible local consensus'.  He added this would allow local councils to focus resources on the wards which need more targeted intervention in order to drive infection rates down.  However the Labour council leaders in West Yorkshire criticised that approach as 'confusing' and said the intervention of Tory backbench MPs 'undermines council leadership'.

Who is David Icke? The conspiracy theorist who once claimed he was the son of God

David Icke is the notorious conspiracy theorist who often makes headlines for his controversial comments.  The 52-year-old former professional footballer has written more than 20 books and once tried his hand at punditry and sports reporting.  In 1991, he appeared on Sir Terry Wogan's TV chat show where he declared himself as the son of God in a now-infamous clip which he describes as a 'defining moment'.  It was from here that he began writing his books and making bold predictions including that the world would end in 1997.  Other bizarre claims he have made include that the royal family are lizards.  Icke also believes that an inter-dimensional race of reptilian beings called the Archons has hijacked the earth and is stopping humanity from realising its true potential.  The 52-year-old has said that the universe is made up of 'vibrational' energy, and consists of an infinite number of dimensions that share the same space, just like television and radio frequencies, and that some people can tune their consciousness to other wavelengths.  Most recently, he has suggested the coronavirus is linked to the 5G mobile network, a claim which has never been backed up by science.

Socialising with colleagues is a key reason to go back to work, Hancock says

Socialising with colleagues is a key reason to go back to work, Mr Hancock told The Times.  He said video calls could not compare to face to face meeting: 'Social relations that are part and parcel of an effective working relationship that you can only really build up face to face,'

'It's about building rapport because working effectively in many jobs you need to build a rapport. It's harder to build that rapport by Zoom.  I was in Downing Street yesterday because I had three meetings with the prime minister and it's far easier to have those meetings face to face because there's a better calibre, or better quality, of discussion.'

The Health Secretary also expressed concern for some people's livelihoods if workers stayed at home: 'One of the big challenges is there are big shifts in the economy.  'It's really worrying news about the job losses at Pret a Manger and other places on the high street, especially when you see that at the same time as some of the coffee shops in suburban areas where people are spending more time working from home are busier than they've ever been.  'These transitions are never easy. I worry about the economic consequence.'

He also said although he backed change in how people live their lives we need to be careful to think about the wider impact it may have: 'Whilst I am generally someone who is on the side of the future and seeing these evolutions as a good thing, we've got to take into account that they have a big impact when the change comes as abruptly as this one.'

107

General Discussion / Lockdown HAS affected babies' development and behaviour, a survey of 5,500 .....

« on: August 05, 2020, 03:34:24 PM »

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-8595703/Lockdown-affected-babies-development-behaviour-research-shows.html

Lockdown HAS affected babies' development and behaviour, a survey of 5,500 parents shows as mothers say their children have become 'clingy, upset and violent'

    Lockdown has affected the behaviour of babies across the UK, survey suggests
    The Babies In Lockdown report found some new parents felt 'abandoned'
    Others said babies have become 'clingy', 'violent' and 'upset' in recent months

By Stephanie Linning For Mailonline

Published: 12:54, 5 August 2020 | Updated: 13:53, 5 August 2020

Lockdown has affected the development and behaviour of babies across the UK, a study suggests.  The Babies In Lockdown report, commissioned by three leading UK children and parents advocacy groups, found some new parents felt 'abandoned' by the lack of care available during the lockdown.  Others said their baby had become more clingy or was crying more than usual.  More than 200,000 babies are believed to have been born when the lockdown was at its most restrictive, between 23 March and 4 July, according to the research.  The survey suggests the impact of Covid-19 on these babies could be 'severe' and maybe 'long-lasting' as both caregivers and the children themselves are impacted by the pandemic.  A third (34 per cent) of respondents believed that their baby’s interaction with them had changed during the lockdown period. Almost half (47 per cent) of parents reported that their baby had become more clingy. One quarter (26 per cent) reported their baby crying more than usual.  One 38-year-old mother, from Scotland, said: 'I have been crying for hours on end, having anxiety and panic attacks which are all out of the ordinary for me. This has affected my nine-month-old son who has seen me experience this and has been more tearful and clingy with me.  My son is hating me working from home because he doesn’t understand why mama is ignoring him when he can hear me and is now super clingy with me. He had never had screen time or seen me use mobile before this. Now, most of his social interactions are online and he doesn’t understand why I am locked away 35 hours a week in the bedroom.'

Another Scottish mother, 24, who has a two-year-old and is five months pregnant, added: 'My two-year-old has become violent and upset quite a lot of the time due to this. He’s finding it hard just seeing and being in contact with two people.  I fear for the effects this lockdown will have on him later in life.'

A third mother, aged 37, from Greater London, said: 'I planned to enrol my 15-months-old (in March) to a nursery to help him with his social skills he does not say words and is not responding to his name which worries me.  Not this is not possible [sic], I suspect his development is possibly behind but can do nothing about it at the moment. My 4 months old has only seen his brother, father and my face. I’m worried about his development also, I planned to take him to various classes, meet other mums with babies this is also not possible at the moment.'

Some parents also expressed concerns over the support they were offered before and after the birth. Over a third (34 per cent) of those who gave birth during lockdown stated that care at birth was not as planned.  The study was commissioned by Best Beginnings, Home-Start UK and the Parent-Infant Foundation.

Should parents be worried about lockdown? The experts weigh in...

WHY IS EARLY INTERACTION IS IMPORTANT?

Dr Sophie Niedermaier-Patramani, Co-Founder and In House Paediatrician at Little Tummy, said: 'Early social interaction can play an important role in a child’s development. It drives the development of communication and language skills.  Babies start to interact with their caregivers from the very first moment they are born. By bonding with the people closest to them they will develop a sense of security and resilience. The interaction between the primary caregiver and the babies themselves dominates social development in the first 18 months of life.  Children start playing next to each other around the age of 24 months and will loosely include other children into their play around the age of 3. This is when they start developing their social skills with peers of the same age and truly benefit from spending time around other children.'

Harriet Shearsmith, the founder of parenting website TobyandRoo, added: 'Babies and Toddlers are learning so much at such a fast rate and social interaction plays a vital role in developing their social skills, it can help improve their confidence and make a transition to preschool much easier.'

HOW COULD LOCKDOWN AFFECT BABIES AND TODDLERS? 

Dr Niedermaier-Patramani said: 'Babies under one enjoy growing up with a daily routine and a safe and caring environment. Therefore lockdown will not have had a major impact on their development. Most baby classes where parents learn how to support their little ones’ development have moved online, so parents still have access to guidance.  The wonderful thing about children’s brains is that they adapt easily to these challenging times. They will replace peers with parents or older siblings and still train their social skills, just in a different way. And once lockdown is eased, they will catch up quickly.'

Angela Spencer, a parenting expert with over 25 years' experience, agreed lockdown would have little impact on very young babies. She said: 'I am one of the old fashioned ones that believe the first six weeks for a baby is purely for bonding time with their mum and dad.  'Babies and children learn from their senses so by watching, hearing, and then doing what others around them are. There’s no right or wrong time for socialising for a baby, as long as they are getting positive interaction from those around them, social skills will develop from every experience they have, so a few weeks in lockdown won’t do any harm and you can introduce other babies and children as experiences allow.'

CAN A LACK OF INTERACTION MAKE A BABY CLINGY?   

Dr Niedermaier-Patramani said: 'Every baby will go through a phase when they appear to be more clingy for some it can be more extreme than others, but this is generally a personality thing. Separation anxiety happens around the age of 9 to 12 months and is a normal part of their social skill development.'

WHAT AGE GROUP WILL BE MOST AFFECTED?   

Dr Niedermaier-Patramani said: 'Children who have just started preschool have a period where they thrive in their development through the stimulation they experience at school. They will also be developmentally ready to learn from their peers and make impressive leaps. Narrowing the social circle to a few people will delay this period to a later point but will most likely not have a significant impact on the longer term.'

WILL CHILDREN DEVELOP 'STRANGER DANGER'?   

Dr Niedermaier-Patramani said: 'Once lockdown is loosened, children might go through a transitional period where they will get used to moving in a broader social network and meeting others. For anxious children, it might take longer to get used to the new environment and they will need extra support and reassurance from their parents. My prediction is that these effects are transitional and will be forgotten before the end of the year.'

Angela said: 'Children take their cues from their parents, and in particular the ones we don’t think are obvious such as our body language and our energy/feelings towards others and this is where the ‘stranger danger’ is more likely to develop.  It is a parent’s job to show children how to interact positively in this world, be confident and polite but aware of their boundaries and safety. This we can still do after lockdown.'

HOW ABOUT THE BENEFITS OF LOCKDOWN? 

Rather than focus on the unavoidable challenges of lockdown, I would look on the brighter side of things: Lockdown can be a great opportunity to strengthen the bond between family members. Strong families create strong, resilient children, helping them to adapt more easily to stressful situations later in life.  'Lockdown is also a great time to help babies reach new milestones, for example beginning the weaning journey, which can be great fun but also time-consuming. At Little Tummy, we work hard to provide advice and support for parents to help them when weaning babies onto solids. Now is a great opportunity to explore new flavours and food textures with the baby.'

WHAT CAN PARENTS DO TO HELP?

Harriet said: 'I would be encouraging lots of FaceTime and voice calls with friends and family to allow my child to hear other voices, and once we felt it was safe to do so, we would start meeting up for socially distanced walks and introducing our baby back into this new world.'

Dr Niedermaier-Patramani said: 'I encourage parents to reserve specific times of the day only for their children. It can be hard to juggle household chores, working from home and childcare at the same time and we often try to do everything simultaneously. Children will benefit from dedicated playtime where they can interact with their parents and have their full attention.  A lot of nurseries and schools give recommendations for activities at home. These include singing, arts and crafts or turning your flat into an obstacle course. Try to offer them a variety so you can stimulate all skill sets.  Minding your own mental health is so important. Where possible try to carve out a little time each day (even thirty minutes) to do something for yourself; a bubble bath; meditation; a video call with a friend. There is no denying that this situation is hugely challenging, so try to be kind to yourself.'

Angela said: 'This is an easy one! Interact and play! Think sensory and nature as they are the key philosophies of my company Babyopathy - sing, read, talk, play music, dance, show them the beauty of nature that surrounds them in the flowers (colours), plants (textures and shapes), animals (noises etc), play in the dirt with cars and animals, crawl through the grass, run through puddles, don’t be afraid to dance in the rain and make a fort to sit in the dark and play with torches and light! I could go on and on, the list is endless but most importantly just have fun!'

108

Adoption Legislation / Explainer: How hard is it to adopt in Australia?

« on: August 02, 2020, 08:22:53 PM »

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/the-feed/explainer-how-hard-is-it-to-adopt-in-australia

Explainer: How hard is it to adopt in Australia?

Adopting change: the difficulty of adopting foster children (The Feed)
12 Oct 2015, 7:30 pm
00:00 / 08:35

When politicians and lobbyists call for adoption reform in Australia, they often argue adoption should be easier and quicker. Adopting a child in Australia can be difficult, but whether barriers to adoption are always a bad thing is up for debate.
Updated Updated 05/04/2018
By Patricia Fronek

The numbers

Local and intercountry adoptions are the two main types of adoption in Australia.  The federal government is the central authority for intercountry adoptions, ensuring Australia complies with the Hague Convention on intercountry adoption and the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child. States have the responsibility for all adoption services.  The wait for intercountry adoptions depends on the country and takes between three and five years. Of the 315 adoptions finalized in Australia in 2016-17, 69 were adoptions from Asian countries such as Taiwan, the Philippines, and South Korea. The majority of children were under five years of age.  There are no waiting time statistics available for local adoptions, but we do know that 42 local adoptions were finalized in 2016-17.  Most local adoptions were of babies, maintaining the trend for young children.  Same-sex couples can now adopt locally in every state and territory in Australia, with the Northern Territory parliament legalizing same-sex adoptions last month. Single people can adopt in most states. For intercountry adoptions, the country of birth determines who can adopt.  In all adoptions, there is no guarantee that an adoption will take place. Sending countries can close or change their quotas or establish family preservation and domestic adoption programs.  In local adoption, the prospective parents or parent who can best meet the needs of a particular child should be matched. The child’s family should also be comfortable with the decision.

Are other countries doing better?

Policy directions in Australia have not changed since under the Abbott government, which promised to simplify adoptions, was ousted.

Lobbyists like actress Deborra-Lee Furness are still exercising influence to make adoption easier, albeit less in the public eye, and the attention has shifted from intercountry adoption to local adoptions.

Lobbyists lean towards the UK local adoption system and US approach to intercountry adoptions, where adoption services are delivered in the private market. But the English system is badly in need of reform, after years of policymakers promoting adoption as “risk-free in a happy ever after narrative”.

The US is also reforming its very broken system. It has been criticized for incidents of trafficking, child deaths, and rehoming, in which adopted children have been offered to strangers over the internet.  Countries that report higher numbers of adoptions deal with countries that Australia does not including countries that have not signed the Hague Convention. Among these, the US and Spain estimate high numbers of adoption breakdowns (“disruptions” are short term and “dissolutions” are complete breakdowns).  Most children made available for local and intercountry adoption have families. Adoptions that are non-Hague and facilitated in countries that have limited capacity to properly assess a child’s circumstances, and where corruption is rife, are open invitations to illegal and unethical adoptions.  Anecdotally, most adoptions in Australia are successful, but we do not know the true rate of breakdowns. Families are only followed up for one year after an adoption. But we do know there is insufficient support for families, foster families, adoptive families, and adoptees.

Adoption is hard for a reason 

I have written before about the dangers of adoption-driven systems, in which success is counted in numbers. Adoptions do become easier and faster, but safeguards are reduced. The consequences for children, first families, and adoptive families can be lifelong.  Adoptions are hard for good reasons. A sound, ethical process is necessary to ensure a child is legally and ethically available for adoption, consents are free from coercion, and parents are given adequate time to change their minds.

When it's not nuclear: the rights of rainbow families under the law

While Australia is bound by international conventions that protect human rights and those of children, there is no right to parent: children are the rights holders in adoption processes. Prospective parents must undergo preparation and assessment on their capacity to meet all the needs of an adopted child to uphold children’s basic rights.  Support for family preservation and culturally appropriate placements should always be explored. In recent years, the importance of culture and identity, especially for Indigenous Australians, has been undermined in political rhetoric.  Adoption generally has become synonymous with child protection. Child protection measures are actually interventions such as prevention, monitoring, or child removal, which occur well before an adoption takes place.  Consistent with global trends, intercountry adoptions in Australia are declining. This is due to compliance with international conventions to reduce illegal and unethical adoptions and the development of local adoption programs.

Outcomes for children

The support that enables children to stay with their families and within their culture is a positive outcome.  The number of adoptions in Australia is small because not all children separated from their families need adoption, so moral panic and distorted claims about the welfare of children should be resisted.  Adoption is a service for children. It is not a service for people to make families a subtle and important difference. A “hard” adoption process should be embraced, even if it takes a little longer. Making sure adoptions are both legal and ethical is better for everyone, especially the children.

Patricia Fronek is Senior Lecturer, School of Human Services and Social Work, Griffith University

109

Articles / Adoption: Couple's heartbreak after birth mum changes her mind

« on: July 29, 2020, 09:00:42 PM »

https://www.kidspot.com.au/news/adoption-couples-heartbreak-after-birth-mum-changes-her-mind/news-story/bcfbc6278413f375747d755c0986c41a?utm_campaign=EditorialSB&utm_source=Kidspot&utm_medium=Facebook&utm_content=SocialBakers

Adoption: Couple's heartbreak after birth mum changes her mind
Madeline Cox
July 27, 2020

Sean and his wife Jenae sat anxiously outside the delivery suite as they waited to meet the baby they thought would become their adopted son.  As soon as his birth mum gave the green light, the American parents rushed into the hospital room.  They made it inside in time to watch the newborn boy take his first bath and have his footprints taken.  Immediately they felt an incredibly strong bond with the tiny baby boy, which only grew stronger when they brought him home a few days later.  By the time Sean and Jenae had spent six weeks caring for him, the beautiful precious boy felt like he had always been a part of their family.  But then suddenly out of the blue, they received a phone call which would see their perfect world ripped apart in an instant.

"He was a total wreck"

It was the boy’s birth mum on the other end of the phone she told them that she had changed her mind.  Overnight Sean and Jenae lost their son as he was immediately removed from their home and sent back to his birth mum.  To make matters worse, as the birth mum had never terminated her parental rights and the adoption had yet to be finalized there was no way for Sean and Jenae to fight for the baby to be returned to their care.  “This period of time was devastating to our family, but especially to our nine-year-old son,” Sean first wrote on Love What Matters.

“This was his little brother. This was the baby he woke up to every morning, rubbing his feet, helping us feed him, talking to him about the future, and what we were going to do for the day.  To say he was a total wreck is a complete understatement.”

"We ALWAYS said yes"

Together, the family took some time to heal from the unexpected loss.  But despite their grief, Sean says that they were more determined than ever to adopt.  It only took a couple of months for them to put themselves back on the list to become adoptive parents.  “We would randomly receive phone calls where we would be asked about potential children we could bring into our home,” Sean said.

“Without hesitation, we ALWAYS said yes.  There were several times where the birth mother ended up picking another family.  As hard as it was to be told she had picked someone else, we knew when it was our turn - the right child would come our way.”

"The pure emotion on his face"

Sure enough, a couple of months later, the right call finally came through.  From the very beginning of the call, Sean and Jenae knew that this time was different from all the others they had received before.  For starters, the birth mum had actually already had the baby and had placed her son with a temporary foster family.  She immediately arranged to meet Sean and Jenae for lunch which went off without a hitch.  Before they knew it, they were on their way to meet their son for the first time and take him home.  “I can’t begin to express the emotions that came over all of us, especially my nine-year-old son,” Sean said.

“To see the pure emotion on his face when his new baby brother came in the room is something I will never forget.”

"Won’t she be sad?"

The family spent the next hour in the room with their baby boy and his birth mum.  It was an incredibly emotional time with everyone crying and laughing together.  They had already agreed to open adoption, which meant that when it came time for their son’s birth mum to leave they knew they would see her soon.  But it was still an incredibly hard moment for everyone.  “We watched as she gave our son one more hug and a kiss and then left the room,” Sean said.

“I could not imagine the emotions she was dealing with, the strength she had, and how she must be feeling.  Even our son was worried. He said, ‘Won’t she be sad?’ His love and genuine compassion for all parties involved truly touched all of us that day.”

"We hope to be able to help"

After the birth mum left, the new family dried their eyes and headed home with their baby boy, and quickly adjusted to life as a family-of-four.  “We have been humbled by this experience and every step of the entire process,” Sean said.

“We now hope to be a sounding board to families as they experience their own adoption journey.  We hope to be able to help in any way possible.  We just hope to be a part of someone else’s village when they need it!”

110

General Discussion / From Codependent to Independent

« on: July 29, 2020, 08:33:56 PM »

https://www.dailyom.com/cgi-bin/courses/courseoverview.cgi?cid=868&aff=92

From Codependent to Independent
By Mary Joye, LMHC

40,042 people have taken this course

Find yourself constantly trying to please other people, and seek their approval?

Are you the go-to person for everyone else's problems?

Or maybe you're afraid of being alone or abandoned, so you put up with unhealthy relationships to avoid it?

All these things are symptoms of what is called codependency, and by definition, it's a loss of self because you're too busy taking care of others. What's important to remember though is that you're a human being, not a human doing, and you simply can't do everything for everyone. This course explores and tackles ways that codependency has impaired your life and, more importantly, it will show you how to repair it. You'll be brought through a process of realization so that, finally, you can start to live your desired life on your terms.

You Can Give and Live Well

The world needs giving, loving, compassionate, and empathic people like you. However, you also need to receive love, kindness, and compassion in return. The concept of the cycle of receiving and giving is sometimes difficult for people who are codependents because they're often in one-sided relationships. However, you're disabling yourself from your authentic path and purpose when you continue to enable others this way and despite your best intentions, you're also depriving the person you're sheltering of the lessons they need to learn and grow. The truth is, you can only give so much for so long before you start suffering and need help yourself. Your need to be needed is actually an embedded fear of abandonment somewhere in your subconscious, but you can transform any fear of abandonment into abundance.

Some of the symptoms of codependency include:

    Approval seeking, or people-pleasing.
    Fear of being alone or abandoned.
    Feeling selfish, or guilty for not meeting the needs of others.
    Feeling not good enough, or too much or too little.
    Irritable when others don't take your advice.
    Diminishing yourself in order to lift up others.
    Being everyone's go-to person.
    Getting caught in others' trauma and drama.
    Rescuing or fixing others, to your demise.
    Giving ultimatums, or nagging to keep others out of trouble.
    Covering or taking a fall for others.
    Enduring unhealthy relationships to avoid loneliness.
    Giving of your finances and other resources to depletion.
    Having an addict, user, abuser, or narcissist in your life.
    Having self-limiting or self-sabotaging beliefs.
    Over-responsibility or doing more than your fair share.

I Can Do Anything, But I Can't Do Everything

Each lesson concludes with a musical affirmation to summarize and sublimate the lessons into your subconscious. An inner child healing meditation is also included, with guided imagery exercises, and tools and diagrams that will expedite your self-actualization. This course will not change your true personality. It is not telling you to give less. More than anything, it'll enlighten you on how to give and live well, without guilt or fear. You'll discover much more than just learning to say no to others. You'll learn how to say yes to yourself independently and interdependently and form healthy, reciprocal relationships.

This enlightening course is perfect for:

    Professionals and coaches who work with codependents.
    Empaths, and highly sensitive people.
    Anyone who is in a helping profession, or a personal caregiver.
    Anyone in a relationship with an addict, abuser, or narcissistic type personality.
    Those seeking to become self-actualized.
    Anyone who gives to others, without depleting themselves.

The 21 Lessons are:

    The Roots of Codependency.
    Regaining a Sense of Self.
    The Neuroscience of Codependency.
    Healing Family Secrets.
    Inner Child Healing.
    Compassion Fatigue Protection.
    Spiritual Healing.
    What do YOU Want?
    Revealing and Healing Unhealthy Relationships.
    Healthy Connections.
    Enlightenment of Your Gift of Giving.
    Developing Safe Boundaries.
    Servanthood vs. Servitude.
    Approval Seeking and People Pleasing Intervention.
    Zero Tolerance=Infinite Possibilities.
    Financial Independence.
    Peaceful and Powerful.
    Emerging Independence and Interdependence.
    You Are Good Enough.
    Belonging and Wholeness.
    Abandonment to Abundance.

What Others Are Saying About This Course

"Mary helped me confirm how I've been abused from conditioning with toxic relationships and what to do about it. She taught me how to get a safe distance from people who hurt me by going into "flight attendant mode" when confronting people. I learned they probably wouldn't change but I could change the way I reacted. I had read so much on codependency and narcissistic abuse but Mary gave me hands-on counsel to keep me safe from harm."

"I used to concentrate on others more than myself. I always knew what they were thinking but I wasn't listening to myself. Then I suffered. Through her counsel and coursework, I have learned not to say "yes" to others right away. I used to feel like I had to say yes. I now examine and edit my responses to people. We are all connected and dependent on one another but this has taught me to do it in healthy ways."

"I told Mary Joye I was getting sick to my stomach every time certain people called because I knew they always wanted something from me. She helped me recognize there was a physical part of feeling used. I now know to help others who want to help themselves but not constantly bail out the same people over and over. If I feel sick, I say no."

"At first I was skeptical I was codependent and that it was a lot like the addiction of the person I loved. I was trying to make someone I love get help so they would see how much I loved them and they would appreciate me saving them. I was angry but when I learned to detach and do nice things for myself, I look better and feel better."

"I'm so glad I came to see Mary Joye when I was so young. I was people-pleasing and didn't know it. I was had low self-esteem. I was trying to accomplish more and make my family proud of me but I felt like a failure. I acted out by people-pleasing it made me feel worse. She used a lot of things to show me how to trust and confide in myself and that is what self-confidence means. She helped me to choose a major and career that is healthy for the way I am without being overwhelmed."

"Mary helped me see I had compassion fatigue from caregiving. I was the only one in my family doing it. My (family members) didn't do anything but criticize me for how I was taking care of (my parent). It was hurting me so much emotionally and spiritually. Mary worked with me and my spiritual belief to help me listen to myself and find my voice. She helped me look to the future with guided imagery...I am now enjoying that future we saw long ago!"

"I was always arguing with the narcissist in my life...Mary taught me to detach and say and write less to him and do more for myself...I told her if she ever needed me to write anything about how she helped me with codependency I would do it and now I am."
About Mary Joye

Mary Joye is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and Life Coach. She employs traditional and creative therapies such as guided meditations in her private practice, and is also certified as a Florida Supreme Court Family Mediator. She is an author and speaker in her area and on self-help websites. Recently, Mary has also been a contributing author of "Becoming Whole Again" for DailyOM.

Mary worked in her father's psychiatric practice in her youth, when she thought she had to be an accomplished extension of her family's image. She went into the entertainment industry after earning her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Theatre and later earned a Master's in Counseling. From these combined viewpoints and disciplines, Mary personally and professionally learned how debilitating it can be to entertain or help everyone else while disregarding your own needs. She sought knowledge and enlightenment about giving and living well during the passing of a family member. It is her belief that others can learn to arrive from the conditioning of their past to a place of holistic abundance and enlightened fulfillment.

How Does It Work?

Starting today, you will receive a new lesson every day for 3 weeks (a total of 21 lessons). Each lesson is yours to keep and you'll be able to refer back to it whenever you want. And if you miss a lesson or are too busy to get to it that day, each lesson will conveniently remain in your account so you won't have to search for it when you're ready to get back to it.

Free Gift

As a free gift, when you sign up for this course, you will also receive the award-winning DailyOM inspiration newsletter which gives you daily inspirational thoughts for a happy, healthy and fulfilling day. We will also let you know about other courses and offers from DailyOM and Mary Joye, LMHC that we think you might be interested in.

Get Started Now

We are offering this course with the option of selecting how much you want to pay. No matter how much you pay, you'll be getting the same course as everybody else. We simply trust that people are honest and will support the author of the course with whatever they can afford. And if you are not 100% satisfied, we will refund your money.

111

Articles / 'Mummy dearest? No, I never want to see her again...' She was obsessed with.....

« on: July 24, 2020, 04:56:30 PM »

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8554481/Mummy-dearest-No-never-want-Daughter-cut-mother-ever.html

'Mummy dearest? No, I never want to see her again...' She was obsessed with money and status but didn’t show her children a shred of affection.  Now, in this devastating account, one damaged daughter tells why she’s cut off her mother forever

    Mariette Jansen shares her experience of growing up with a narcissistic mother
    'My world orbited hers, not the other way round,' she reveals in The Daily Mail
    Her new book; From Victim To Victor is available on Amazon and on Kindle

By Lucy Benyon For The Daily Mail

Published: 22:08, 23 July 2020 | Updated: 15:19, 24 July 2020

Pulling back my narrow shoulders, I clung to the handlebars of my little red bike as I watched the other children being hugged and kissed by their mothers.  I felt a ­familiar hollowness in my chest. It was my first day at school, and while every other child in my class was there with a parent, I was all alone.  To the other kids, I must have seemed tough, precociously resilient. If their parents had noticed the little girl arriving alone, they’d probably have wondered why.  Maybe they thought that my mother was ill or that I didn’t have one at all.  The truth was harder to explain. I’d arrived alone for one simple reason: my mother didn’t like getting up in the morning and couldn’t be bothered to take me to school.  Watching the other parents bid tearful goodbyes, I just shrugged, and thought: ‘What’s the big deal anyway?’

That’s just how it is when you grow up with a cold, narcissistic mother like mine you can’t allow yourself to feel, not really.  If you registered every daily hurt and disappointment, you’d never survive.  My mother’s lie-in was far more important than my first day at school I knew that.  I also knew that the moment I got home, I’d rush to find her, to kiss her cheek and tell her how pretty she looked in her dress.  She might nod, maybe even smile, but no way would she say: ‘Tell me about school darling.’

My world orbited hers, not the other way round.  Later, like every other evening, we’d sit at the dinner table me, my father, my older brother and my younger sister, all glued to my mother, telling her how good the dinner was and vying to make her laugh.  I’d flatter and cajole her and do anything to avoid one of her terrifying rages, the cruelty of her tongue.  I’d try to make her smile until the tension in my body would make my tummy hurt because all I wanted in the world was her approval, a gift as rare as rainbows.  As a mother myself, how I now long to reach out to that anxious, hurt child, to scoop her up in my arms and say: ‘This isn’t normal. One day it will stop.’

And now, finally, it has.  A year ago, at the age of 61, I decided to cut all ties with my nasty, narcissistic mother. If she’s still alive, she’ll be almost 90  and living alone in my native Holland.  I am her only surviving child and I know some friends are shocked by my decision.  ‘How can you turn your back on your own mother?’ is what they would ask.

I get their thinking, but really what’s unforgivable is neglecting your children, failing to show them any affection, deliberately pitting one against the other and that’s exactly what she did.  I know now that my mother has a narcissistic personality disorder (NPD).  I can see this from a professional perspective, having trained as a psychotherapist after meeting my English husband and moving to the UK nearly 30 years ago.  People with NPD display five key traits: they have an inflated view of themselves, they possess an overriding sense of entitlement, they attempt to control and manipulate others, they cannot handle criticism, and they lack empathy and emotional awareness.  My mother to a T.  NPD is rarely diagnosed. Because narcissists don’t suffer themselves, they have no need for a diagnosis.  They’re secure in the knowledge that they’re perfect and that the world should revolve around them.  It’s their victims who bear the brunt of their entitled and cruel behaviour, and it’s for them I’ve written my narcissism survival guide called From Victim To Victor, in which I share my own experiences and provide advice on how to escape from a narcissist.  Writing the book felt like I was lifting the lid on a terrible secret. So it was with relief that I read that ­Donald Trump’s niece Mary, has just published an explosive memoir of her dysfunctional family, too.  In it, she brands her famous uncle ‘a lying narcissist.’

Mary, who is a clinical psychologist, believes Donald developed narcissistic tendencies in order to impress his cruel and sociopathic father Fred who terrorized and divided his five children, contributing, she says to her own father’s early death from alcoholism.  The White House dismissed the damning memoir as ‘a falsehood’ and Trump’s younger brother Robert tried, unsuccessfully, to block the publication of the book.  Like Trump, my mother came from a large, wealthy family where money was everything, and weakness was scorned.  My grandfather owned a mill, and Mummy, as I used to call her, grew up in a huge house with a marble staircase.  She considered her siblings to be competition and was always desperate to outdo them.  She had to have the best-looking husband, the biggest house, the first child.  For her, the regular ski holidays in Davos and the extravagant gifts which my father a mild-mannered, gentle soul, who lived in his dominant wife’s shadow showered her with were quite simply her right.  Looking back at my entire childhood, I can only recall one moment of maternal kindness.  I was eight at the time, and I was recovering from tonsillitis and lying in bed with a temperature.  I remember my mother coming in and resting her cold hand on my brow.  It was a moment so fleeting that I was never quite sure whether it had happened or not.  But for years afterwards, I played that scene over and over in my mind.  She’d loved me for a second, hadn’t she?

For my mother, life was all about belonging to the best tennis club, talking to the most powerful person in the room, taking centre stage getting what she wanted.  I sometimes wonder if she’d married someone else whether she’d have turned out differently because Papa’s blind adoration only enabled her narcissism.  Handsome and mild-mannered, my father was a successful dentist, but he lacked Mummy’s confidence making him her perfect prey.  He was so grateful to be with such an attractive, self-assured woman that he’d do anything to keep her happy.  ‘Your mother is so sweet and loving,’ he told me as we were making her breakfast one morning when I was 10.

‘She does so much for us.’

How could his reality be so different from my own?

Keeping quiet was so much easier than speaking up. That was the first rule and the second was never, ever draw attention away from Mummy.  I did that once, not realising the mistake I was making.  I must have been 11 or 12 when I announced one night over the dinner table that I had some news. ‘I got top marks in the history test,’ I told my family proudly.

As Papa smiled, Mummy’s face hardened with fury.  ‘That’s nothing to brag about,’ she snapped. ‘If you have a good brain, the least you can do is to use it.’

If she was mean and unpredictable at home, the picture my mother presented to the world was very different.  She and my father worked hard to create the illusion of a happy, successful family.  We’d all play tennis together, and on Sundays, Papa would play the piano for the church choir, accompanied by us children on various instruments.  Whether we were at church or at the tennis club, I could always sense my parents smiling smugly at each other: ‘Look at us,’ they seemed to be saying. ‘Aren’t we just perfect?’

That was the thing with them both, everything was for show.

Every year on my mother’s ­birthday, my father would throw her a huge party at home, and the routine never changed: she’d sweep down late to make an entrance, he’d serenade her on his grand piano.

Then we’d all watch her unwrap her ludicrously expensive gifts.

You’d think that we siblings managed to find comfort in each other, but our mother drove a wedge between us.

While I was close to my brother, my younger sister and I never were, and that was just how Mummy liked it.

At 18, I finally escaped to go to university, to study communications, and it was then I discovered I could no longer hide from my feelings, and I developed bulimia.

For three days, I’d gorge on Mars Bars and crisps, which I’d follow up with three days of starvation — it was a routine I kept up for almost 20 years.

As an adult, I started to see Mummy more clearly.

On one level, I knew exactly what she was, but on another, I still craved her love, that cool palm against my forehead.

The self-doubt was excruciating.

That is the power of the narcissist, they make you question your own reality, to constantly strive for acceptance.

I guess that’s why it was so easy for me to fall for a man just like my mother. I spent nine years with a narcissist boyfriend.

Nine years of never being seen, of being mocked and ignored.

When the relationship finally ended, I was barely speaking to my siblings. My sister and I later discovered that our mother was telling us both lies about the other, keeping us at loggerheads.

I don’t know how my life would have turned out if I hadn’t met my lovely English husband Iain when I was 37, and later, moved to England to be with him and retrain as a psychologist.

After being so sure that I didn’t want children, I gave birth to my son James in 1999 and his brother Ollie three years later.

The love I felt for them was overwhelming although I was glad that they were both boys.  After my dreadful ­relationship with my mother, I was terrified of having a daughter.  With Iain’s love and support, I slowly conquered the bulimia and with therapy, I managed to work through the complicated feelings I had about my childhood.  I also faced my fears about becoming a narcissist myself. I was terrified that I’d subconsciously learned to be in some ways like my mother.  But although I’ve inherited her temper, I can now see we’re not at all alike.  My children are at the centre of my world and always have been.  I’m happy when they’re happy and that’s the way it should be. It was important to me that my parents got to know their only grandchildren, and I made regular trips back to Holland.  Not that there was much of a rapport. Papa was sweet enough with them, I guess, but Mummy soon grew bored with running around after ­little boys.   Over the years, I grew closer to my sister, Anneke, who revealed how much she hated our mother.  She died of lung cancer five years ago. She was only 52 and her life hadn’t been a happy one.  I lost my brother Janjo too, in 2008 when a heart condition he’d had since birth got the better of him.  Without the anchors to my family, I felt it was time to set myself free. ‘I can’t be part of your lives any more,’ I told my parents over the phone one night.

They tried to reason with me, my mother’s voice rising with rage, but after a lifetime of doubt, I was ­suddenly sure.  The last time I saw my parents were at my brother’s funeral in 2008. Papa died last year, and although I didn’t get to say goodbye, I ­definitely felt some grief.  I even called my mother to check how she was but that was it. I’ve had no contact with her since. I haven’t been tempted to call her during the pandemic either I don’t care how she is. If that sounds harsh, I make no apologies, because until you’ve dealt with a narcissist, it’s impossible to describe the relief of finally breaking away.

From Victim To Victor by Dr Mariette Jansen is available on Amazon for £12.95 (paperback) and £7.26 (Kindle).

112

Articles / Leader of Britain's largest Muslim charity quits after labelling Jews ....

« on: July 24, 2020, 03:47:55 PM »

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8554967/Leader-charity-quits-labelling-Jews-grandchildren-monkeys-pigs.html

Leader of Britain's largest Muslim charity quits after labelling Jews 'grandchildren of monkeys and pigs' and calling Egypt's president a 'Zionist pimp' in anti-Semitic Facebook posts

    Heshmat Khalifa said Jews are 'grandchildren of monkeys and pigs'  on Facebook
    Mr Khalifa described Egypt's president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi as a 'Zionist pimp'
    After being confronted with the Facebook posts he apologized and resigned
    Posts were written between 2013 and 2015 but came to light last night

By Joe Middleton For Mailonline

Published: 01:58, 24 July 2020 | Updated: 02:49, 24 July 2020

The leader of Britain's largest Muslim charity has quit after putting anti-Semitic posts on social media.

Heshmat Khalifa, a former trustee and director of Islamic Relief Worldwide, said the Jews are 'grandchildren of monkeys and pigs.'  Mr. Khalifa also described Egypt's president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi as a 'Zionist pimp' on his Facebook page, as reported by The Times.  And he called the Muslim president who ousted President Morsi in July 2013 a 'pimp son of the Jews' and a 'Zionist criminal'.  There were other posts on his page, written in Arabic, that promoted the work of the charity that has 100 offices in 40 countries worldwide.  His Facebook page has now been taken down.  The 63-year-old had been with the charity since 1999 and has held a number of senior roles within the organization which over the past five years has an annual income of £570million.  Islamic Relief is one of the largest Muslim charities in the world and on its website says its mission is to 'enable people to respond rapidly to disasters and fight poverty through our Islamic values, expertise, and global reach.'

The charity is currently running a number of high-profile appeals currently for funds to help those impacted by the conflicts in Syria and Yemen, as well as the ongoing issues caused by the coronavirus pandemic.  Mr. Khalifa who recently was Chairman of Islamic Relief Australia also used social media to described Hamas as  'the purest resistance movement in modern history'.

The Charity Commission has now opened a compliance case into Islamic Relief.  Mr. Khalifa resigned after he was confronted with the posts by The Times. He said that he was sorry for publishing the posts on social media and he regrets his actions.  He said: 'I did not intend to insult the Jewish community and neither do I hold views which are antisemitic.  I have dedicated much of my life's work to promoting tolerance and freedom of religion and beliefs.'

Islamic Relief told the newspaper that the Facebook posts, which were made between 2013 and 2015,  'contravene the values and principles of Islamic Relief Worldwide'.

The organization added: 'Heshmat Khalifa has resigned from the board of trustees of Islamic Relief Worldwide with immediate effect.  He will also play no further part in any other Islamic Relief boards.  We reject and condemn terrorism and believe all forms of discrimination including antisemitism are unacceptable.'

113

Articles / The Swinging Sixties marked the onset of forced adoptions

« on: July 20, 2020, 03:40:39 PM »

https://www.sundayguardianlive.com/culture/12592-swinging-sixties-marked-onset-forced-adoptions

The Swinging Sixties marked the onset of forced adoptions
Ian Josephs

Published : February 3, 2018, 10:32 pm | Updated : September 4, 2018, 1:06 PM

Thousands of British mothers are in despair because their babies and young children have been snatched by the state to “feed” the ever-greedy adoption and fostering industries that prosper in the UK.  Dramatic?

Yes. An exaggeration?

No!  My name is Ian Josephs, I am 86 years old, and I have a very sad story to tell you.  It all began for me in 1961 when I was elected as a Councillor for the County of Kent in south-eastern England. In what is now known as the “Swinging Sixties” the climate changed in the UK and most of the Western world. The waltz and the foxtrot were replaced by rock-and-roll, the tidy hairstyles by long shoulder-length hair for men, formal suits replaced by jeans and tee-shirts, and more important for our story, women were “liberated” by “the Pill”, the newly invented oral contraceptive, and old social taboos relaxed, leaving women feeling safe to have babies outside marriage.  Up until then the adoption and fostering industries fed off “illegitimate” children who had always been sent away to be fostered or adopted. But by 1962, with the advent of the Beatles, that source dried up as women began to keep their babies, whether married or not.  That is where our story really began, the day when a mother approached me as her elected Councillor to complain that her 12-year-old son who had an exceptionally high IQ had been taken away to an unknown destination by social workers for having missed school a few times. The boy was bored with school. The woman said that she had been refused all contact with her son.  When I made inquiries, I was told by Social Services to mind my own business! I found out from a friendly source that the boy had been placed in a private school owned and run by the deputy leader of the Labour group on the Council that charged extortionate fees. When I approached my own Conservative leader of the Council with this scandal I was slapped down and told, “We never wash our dirty linen in public.”

So I waited until the full Council meeting held in public and put down a public motion that if the mother could not see her son, I as her elected representative should at least be allowed to visit him to see if he was alright.  The motion was defeated 104 votes to one, but as I anticipated made headlines in most of the national newspapers the next day. So I was reluctantly allowed to visit the boy at his new school.  When we met, the boy asked me why his mother had not answered his letters or come to see him and I told him how she had written every day (care of Social Services) and never received a reply!  The boy told me how the school was terrible and had unqualified teachers who knew nothing. I asked him if there was anything at all good about the school and he replied: “Yes the money is good”.

I asked, “What money?” and he replied, “We get very well paid for sleeping with the teachers”.

Well, to cut a long story short I took my own Council to court, and the boy was restored to his mother.  As a result of the publicity over this case, I received requests for help from many other parents in Kent and elsewhere. I am not a solicitor or barrister. At that time I owned a language school, but I did have a law degree from Oxford University. So I began representing several parents whose children had been taken for superficial reasons. I appeared in court against Kent County Council and never lost a case! In fairness, I must admit that the climate was different in those days as the judges and magistrates often smiled at me and frowned at the lawyer for the authorities.

Nowadays, the contrary would be the case.  The problem for me was that I began to spend so much time helping these desperate parents that I neglected both my business and my wife. As a result, my language school began to go downhill and my wife ran off with someone else!  In 1967 I decided not to stand for election to the Council again and stopped all my involvement with these parents. I turned my business around and married again (a French girl). We had five children and are still married after 46 years. In 1985, I opened a language school in Monaco on the French Riviera.  There was no further involvement from me in helping parents until 2003 when a scandal broke in the UK about parents falsely accused of the murder of babies that died of natural causes and others that were adopted against the will of their mothers.  I wrote a letter to the Daily Mail in the UK saying that things seemed worse now than when I was involved back in the Sixties. After my letter came out, the Mail forwarded me letters from around fifty mothers claiming their babies had been snatched at birth by Social Services for “risk of future harm” and asking for my help!  I was by then older, and (I think) wiser, and also in a secure financial position. So I determined to help these parents and campaign for a change in the law.  I was horrified to find out that new laws had been passed in 1976 legalizing adoption without parental consent. Even worse, in 1989 the law began allowing adoption if children were deemed “not” to have actually been harmed but merely to be “at risk of future emotional harm”.

Even newborn babies were being taken at birth on this dubious ground.  I said to myself “that is forced adoption” and coined a catchy phrase that is now used in common parlance everywhere. I then set up a website www.forced-adoption.com offering to help parents with legal advice since the law had changed in 1989 forbidding non-professional people like myself from representing parents in court.  I give financial help to pregnant women in the UK to escape to Ireland, France, and Northern Cyprus. Escaping to Ireland is easiest because no passports are needed if you arrive on the ferry from the UK. The disadvantage is the UK authorities may go to the Irish courts demanding the baby’s return to the UK. It is safer to flee to France, but parents find it difficult to get work if they do not speak French. So mothers escaping to France need support from their family or partner back home. Northern Cyprus is 100% safe as the UK and EU countries have no diplomatic relations with Northern Cyprus since the Turkish occupation there 50 years ago. But mothers need cash to live in Northern Cyprus as there are no “benefits” there.

114

Articles / In the UK, forced adoptions are backed by big money

« on: July 20, 2020, 03:18:41 PM »

https://www.sundayguardianlive.com/lifestyle/12668-uk-forced-adoptions-are-backed-big-money

In the UK, forced adoptions are backed by big money
Ian Josephs

Published : February 10, 2018, 7:55 pm | Updated : February 10, 2018, 7:55 PM

By the time I founded my website on forced adoption in 2003, the snatching of children to feed the highly profitable forced adoption industry was in full swing and largely running out of control. Nearly all adoptions in the UK are forced on distressed, low-income parents who fight in vain in family courts trying to retain their children but rarely succeeding. Many millions of pounds are made by fostering and adoption agencies and “special private schools”. Much of this money trickles down to the social workers, lawyers, judges, and so-called “experts” in the system.  Judges in the family courts rubberstamp the demands of social workers that these children be adopted or permanently fostered by strangers. Legal aid and other lawyers in the care system have a poor reputation, especially among low-income families. According to judicial statistics, only one in 400 care orders is refused in court. Parents complain that lawyers usually tell them “best if you stay quiet “or “wait outside as we will speak for you” and promptly agree in court with the “SS” (the popular name for UK Social Services).

This is why parents reach out to me in Monaco for legal help. I have written statements for hundreds of mothers to use in court and about 25% succeeded in keeping their children.  The scale of the problem is enormous; I get nearly 3,000 calls a year from parents fearing Social Services will remove their children. This may sound improbable until you consider the rate of children being taken into care according to official figures for England from October 2017, children were taken into state care at the rate of 90 a day!  As a result of the flaws in the UK care system, many shocking injustices have happened, especially to foreign children. One of the most notorious perhaps was that of a pregnant Italian lady who came over from Italy to take a test for a job with an airline. She passed the test with flying colours and checked into a hotel at Heathrow, intending to fly home the next day. She then had a violent dispute over her bill at the hotel ending with her being “sectioned “and taken by force into a mental home. There she was drugged for some months and eventually forced under a court order to have a C-section to which she did not consent! I spoke to her by phone several times during her incarceration and found her to be exceptionally calm and lucid. I advised her to get a lawyer before the birth but it was difficult for her to find one on Legal Aid willing to act for a patient in a mental home. Her baby was placed with adoptive parents and she was sent back to Italy, never to see him again.  Another tragic case was of an Arab married to an Irish girl with a daughter of 12 who behaved badly while her father was away on business. Social workers took the girl away and refused to return her after her father came back. They phoned up a bit later asking for her dental records, saying she needed work done on her teeth. It was only later that evening that the police came and revealed the truth to the parents they needed her dental records to identify her since she had been burned to death beyond recognition when her young social worker crashed her car into a tree-killing them both. The young girl could only be identified by her teeth! The weather was fine and the road was straight.  Was the social worker high on drugs?

One mother whom I helped had tracked down, after 10 years of searching, the family that had adopted her two daughters. They had been taken from her on claims of “risk of future emotional abuse”. I persuaded the mother to get together with the older daughter aged 15 who had herself found her mum via Facebook. When the 15-year-old found that her mother was a nice woman, and not a drug addict, alcoholic or prostitute, as she had been told by her adoptive parents, she and her 12-year-old sister left and went back to live with their birth mother!  10% of adoptions are to same-sex couples even though they represent only 2-3% of the total couples in the UK. Bewildered babies and young children are taken from the mum they love to be in the care of “two daddies”. In one recent case where this happened, the gay adoptive father murdered the baby much to the distress of the grandmother who had offered to care for it after it was taken from its mother for the forced adoption.  Public protest is being suppressed. If parents dare to protest publicly identifying themselves and their children they face jail for “breaching the privacy” of the baby or young child! A former UK Home Secretary (Harriet Harman) released the only statistic we have on this matter when she said over 200 parents a year were being jailed for speaking out.  Children are also forced to keep quiet. Children aged between 5-15 are taken screaming in fright from their families at home, usually around 6-7 a.m. by numbers of uniformed police. Their laptops and mobile phones are confiscated, cutting them off from family and friends. Parents who want contact are forced to sign a contract promising not to discuss the case or answer their children’s questions about when they can come home. During contact sessions, children are forbidden to complain about any abuse or harm they suffer in the “care” of Social Services. In one case a visiting grandparent was told not to question his grandchild about his broken jaw; broken while in care! Foreign children are forbidden to speak to each other or to their parents in their native tongue. Only English is permitted, which means that some children cannot speak at all!  Why has the system evolved this way with nearly 100,000 children in care in the UK?

Thousands of officials make a good living, some making literally millions of pounds, out of this rotten system. Local authorities advertise with posters on local buses offering £590 per week per child for foster carers (most take on two or three). The agencies supplying foster families and adoptive parents get around £2,000 per week per child. One agency (The National Fostering and Adoption Agency) founded by two social workers around 18 years ago worked its profits up to more than £10 million per year and sold out about three years ago to a commercial firm called Graphite for more than £130 million. Graphite in turn resold last year for a lot more. Special schools for “difficult children” in care (in other words, children who miss their parents!) charge £3,000-£4,000 per week per child for housing them mostly in rundown terraced houses. Their charges are more than three times what it cost when Prince Harry went to Eton.  The system grew because having children when unmarried ceased to be a disgrace by the ’60s and ’70s, so mothers kept those children and the pool of “unwanted” children that the foster care and adoption system thrived on dried up. Social Services had to resort to snatching children from loving but imperfect parents desperate to keep them. The system is likely to stay that way for a long time as those who are making a fortune from it protect their interests.  Forced adoption should be abolished but even more important, no child should be taken from law-abiding parents for “risk of future emotional harm”. Families should not be torn apart forever and stopped from even minimal contact with each other when there is no actual harm or neglect, merely speculation by so-called experts of a risk of future emotional harm. Such assessments are in any case highly questionable based on such things as the personality, IQ, or income of a parent. Even more frequently, “failure to work with or cooperate with the [child protection] professionals” is itself being taken as a sufficient reason for removal.

This is very unfair as all mothers find it difficult to cooperate with “experts” whose clear avowed intention is to deprive them of their children!  These are the two top reforms I and others in the movement for child welfare reform strive for and hope to see one day. But “don’t hold your breath”!

Ian Josephs is a British businessman and philanthropist based in Monaco. He runs a website called www.forced-adoption.com to help families targeted by child protection services in the UK

115

Articles / JK Rowling joins Margaret Atwood, Salman Rushdie, Noam Chomsky, and Martin....

« on: July 08, 2020, 04:19:05 PM »

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8500911/JK-Rowling-joins-150-authors-academics-calling-end-cancel-culture.html

JK Rowling joins Margaret Atwood, Salman Rushdie, Noam Chomsky, and Martin Amis among 150 authors and academics in a call to defend free speech after Harry Potter creator suffered a barrage of abuse for voicing views on trans issues

    Authors and academics from left and right unite over cause of free speech
    Margaret Atwood signed letter despite opposing JK Rowling's trans views
    Open letter warns the 'lifeblood of society' is 'daily becoming more constricted'
    Writers ask for leeway for 'experimentation, risk-taking, and even mistakes'
    The letter goes on to warn Donald Trump represents a 'real threat to democracy'
    Ms. Rowling has been slammed by Harry Potter stars and  many trans activists

By Luke May and Martin Robinson, Chief Reporter For Mailonline

Published: 07:40, 8 July 2020 | Updated: 12:29, 8 July 2020

150 celebrated authors, academics, and journalists including Margaret Atwood, Salman Rushdie, Martin Amis, and Noam Chomsky have signed a letter slamming 'cancel culture' after JK Rowling was attacked for speaking out about trans women.  Ms. Rowling has also backed the movement spearheaded by Pulitzer-prize winning writer Anne Applebaum who warned that 'Twitter mobs' including Donald Trump were placing 'very important restraints on freedom of speech'.  She told the BBC today: 'There are a lot of writers, artists, and journalists who are afraid of approaching certain subjects, afraid of crossing lines or even lacking sufficient zeal for particular subjects because they're afraid of their peers.'

Margaret Atwood, the author of The Handmaid's Tale, has also added her name despite publicly disagreeing with the Harry Potter author, and the letter is signed by household names from the left and right-wings of the political spectrum who have united around the cause.  The letter, published in Harper's calls for: 'The free exchange of information and ideas, the lifeblood of a liberal society, is daily becoming more constricted' and demands that they want to 'uphold the value of robust and even caustic counter speech from all quarters.'  It later adds:  'It is now all too common to hear calls for swift and severe retribution in response to perceived transgressions of speech and thought.'

Ms. Rowling has seen Harry Potter stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, and Bonnie Wright have all publicly criticised the author who was accused of transphobia.  Four writers then resigned from The Blair Partnership, which has long represented the Harry Potter author, who has been criticised for defending a Scottish researcher who was fired for claiming that ‘men cannot change into women’. 

Ms. Rowling said online trolls had abused her with hideous language, calling her 'transphobic, a c***, a b***' and saying she 'deserved punching and death'. Critics slammed the timing of their social media posts declaring their 'love' for trans women hours after the author spoke about escaping her 'violent marriage' to Portuguese TV journalist Jorge Arantes and also revealed she was seriously sexually assaulted as a young woman.   Anne Applebaum has also signed the letter, she told BBC Radio Four today: 'We're worried about pressures that come at the moment from both the right and the left.  In the United States, we have a President who denounces by names the owners of newspapers and seeks to restrain them and seeks to actually use tools of government to stop them.  At the same time, we have the phenomenon of social media panics and Twitter mobs that seek to silence people who veer from one orthodoxy or another. These are both very important restraints on freedoms of speech and also on people's sense of risk aversion'.

The journalist says the letter's purpose is to 'put some spine' into universities and other institutions who 'have become afraid of Twitter mobs'.

She added: 'It wouldn't hurt younger people to go back and listen to arguments that were made 20 and 30 years ago in order to understand some of the context and some of the discomfort that people feel now.'

Ms. Rowling, 54, had first clashed with gender activists after appearing to ‘like’ a post on Twitter saying that trans women are ‘men in dresses’, which she said was an accident. Then last year she faced the biggest backlash of her career after defending a female researcher who was fired for claiming that ‘men cannot change into women’.

This month, she made a jibe at an article titled ‘Creating a more equal post-COVID-19 world for people who menstruate’.

She tweeted: ‘I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?’

Miss Rowling, 54, even suggested she might have become a man herself 'to turn myself into the son my father had openly said he'd have preferred' if she had been subjected to similar pressures when she was a girl.

In an extraordinary and brave 3,669-word essay posted on her personal website, the author wrote a detailed explanation about why she has become embroiled in a bitter row played out on Twitter and elsewhere with campaigners who seek greater rights for men and women changing their gender.  Miss Rowling railed against the harm she said was being done to society by activists from the 'trans rights movement'.  She said: 'Huge numbers of women are justifiably terrified by the trans activists.'

She cited five reasons for speaking out, including revealing that in her twenties she was the victim of a serious sexual assault. And she also spoke about her 'violent marriage' to Portuguese TV journalist Jorge Arantes.  Miss Rowling, whose boy wizard books are the biggest-selling in history, said she had received countless death threats for talking about transgender issues, but vowed: 'Endlessly unpleasant as [the] constant targeting of me has been, I refuse to bow down to a movement that I believe is doing demonstrable harm.'

She did not identify the person responsible for a 'serious sexual assault I suffered in my twenties', but told her fans: 'I too have known moments of blind fear when I realised that the only thing keeping me alive was the shaky self-restraint of my attacker.'

Emma Watson joined Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe in his criticism of Miss Rowling, 54, who was accused of being anti-trans after implying only women can menstruate. Radcliffe apologised to those who 'feel their experience of the [Harry Potter] books has been tarnished' and said he was 'deeply sorry for the pain'.

Eddie Redmayne has become the latest actor to condemn JK Rowling's views on transgender people saying he wants to make 'absolutely clear' he does not agree with her.  The actor, 38, who starred in the Harry Potter spin-off films Fantastic Beasts, said trans people should be allowed to 'live their lives peacefully'.

Redmayne, who was nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of a trans woman in The Danish Girl, said in a statement: 'Respect for transgender people remains a cultural imperative and over the years I have been trying to constantly educate myself. This is an ongoing process.  As someone who has worked with both JK Rowling and members of the trans community, I wanted to make it absolutely clear where I stand. I disagree with Jo's comments.'

The father-of-two added: 'Trans women are women, trans men are men and non-binary identities are valid. I would never want to speak on behalf of the community but I know that my dear transgender friends and colleagues are tired of this constant questioning of their identities, which all too often results in violence and abuse.'

On Sunday the author, who also goes by the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, said: 'Many, myself included, believe we are watching a new kind of conversion therapy for young gay people, who are being set on a lifelong path of medicalisation that may result in the loss of their fertility and/or full sexual function.'

Margaret Atwood voiced her support for the trans community on Monday, tweeting: 'Biology doesn't deal in sealed Either/Or compartments. We're all part of a flowing Bell curve. Respect that! Rejoice in Nature's infinite variety!'

Both authors, joined by the likes of Salman Rushdie, who was accused of blasphemy by the some members of the Muslim faith when his book The Satanic Verses was published in 1988, have supported an open letter published in Harper's Magazine.

The letter opens by praising a 'moment of trial' cultural institutions face trial' in the midst of mass protests for racial and social justice but warns open debate risks being weakened.  It reads: 'As we applaud the first development, we also raise our voices against the second. The forces of illiberalism are gaining strength throughout the world and have a powerful ally in Donald Trump, who represents a real threat to democracy.'

It goes on to say: 'The free exchange of information and ideas, the lifeblood of a liberal society, is daily becoming more constricted.  While we have come to expect this on the radical right, censoriousness is also spreading more widely in our culture: an intolerance of opposing views, a vogue for public shaming and ostracism, and the tendency to dissolve complex policy issues in a blinding moral certainty.  The restriction of debate, whether by a repressive government or an intolerant society, invariably hurts those who lack power and makes everyone less capable of democratic participation.  The way to defeat bad ideas is by exposure, argument, and persuasion, not by trying to silence or wish them away.  We refuse any false choice between justice and freedom, which cannot exist without each other. As writers, we need a culture that leaves us room for experimentation, risk-taking, and even mistakes.'

Transgender model and activist Munroe Bergdorf has slammed JK Rowling as 'dangerous' and a 'threat to LGBT people' in a row over the author's latest controversial tweets.  The Harry Potter creator likened hormone therapy and surgery for transgender young people to 'a new kind of conversion therapy'.  Her statements were backed by Baroness Emma Nicholson who is embroiled in a row with Bergdorf over allegations that the Tory peer bullied her who dubbed Rowling 'the very bravest of women'.  She was also lent support from Walt Heyer, who transitioned to a woman and then back to a male who called her 'my hero'.  But Bergdorf was quick to slam the author's statement and wrote: 'Mark my words. JK Rowling is dangerous and poses a threat to LGBT people.  Trans healthcare is not conversion therapy. This is INSANE.'

In a separate Tweet, she added: 'JK Rowling is not a scientist. She is not a doctor. She is not an expert on gender. She is not a supporter of our community.  She is a billionaire, cisgender, heterosexual, white woman who has decided that she knows what is best for us and our bodies. This is not her fight.'

She also called the author an 'enemy of progress' and branded her comments 'evil'.  But there was support for the writer from Walt Heyer, 80, who transitioned to a woman and then back again to male.  The American, who had 12 years of hormone therapy, backed the Harry Potter creator.  He told the MailOnline: 'JK is quite correct to equate hormone therapy and surgery to "conversion therapy" very accurately put.  The people are having a "row with her" because she is absolutely telling it like it is and frankly JK has become my hero for her willingness to stand up to the nonsense.  JK is just getting on with the truth, bravo to her not many have such pluckiness.'

Ms Rowling had written: 'Many health professionals are concerned that young people struggling with their mental health are being shunted towards hormones and surgery when this may not be in their best interests.  Many, myself included, believe we are watching a new kind of conversion therapy for young gay people, who are being set on a lifelong path of medicalisation that may result in the loss of their fertility and/or full sexual function.'

She went on to cite articles discussing the long-term effects of both antidepressants and hormone therapies.  She added: 'None of that may trouble you or disturb your belief in your own righteousness. But if so, I can’t pretend I care much about your bad opinion of me.' 

Miss Rowling said online trolls had abused her with hideous language, calling her 'transphobic, a c***, a b***' and saying she 'deserved punching and death'.

She added that one had even cited the villain in her Harry Potter series: 'You are Voldemort, said one person, clearly feeling this was the only language I'd understand.'

The author said she was not revealing her own suffering to garner sympathy, but to make a point and stand up for freedom of speech.  She said she wanted all transgender women to be safe from abuse and harm from men, but 'at the same time, I do not want to make natal [born] girls and women less safe'.  When you throw open the doors of bathrooms and changing rooms to any man who believes or feels he's a woman, then you open the door to any and all men who wish to come inside. That is the simple truth,' she wrote.

Miss Rowling added: 'I'm concerned about the huge explosion in young women wishing to transition, and also about the increasing numbers who seem to be 'detransitioning' (returning to their original sex), because they regret taking steps that have, in some cases, altered their bodies irrevocably, and taken away their fertility.'

She expressed concern about the 'insular echo chamber' of online services popular with teenagers such as YouTube in which youngsters can talk about transgender identification.  Miss Rowling said: 'I'm an ex-teacher and the founder of a children's charity, which gives me an interest in both education and safeguarding. Like many others, I have deep concerns about the effect the trans rights movement is having on both.'

She claimed: 'The UK has experienced a 4,400 percent increase in girls being referred for transitioning treatment. Autistic girls are hugely overrepresented in their numbers.'

The author urged politicians to be more robust, saying: 'Speaking as a biological woman, a lot of people in positions of power really need to grow a pair (which is doubtless literally possible).'

Miss Rowling said: 'I haven't written this essay in the hope that anybody will get out a violin for me all I'm asking all I want is for similar empathy, similar understanding, to be extended to the many millions of women whose sole crime is wanting their concerns to be heard without receiving threats and abuse.'

Ms Rowling, who also writes crime novels under the pen name Robert Galbraith, also referred to the backlash she received in December last year after supporting researcher Maya Forstater, who was sacked for tweeting that transgender people cannot change their biological sex.  She wrote: 'I knew perfectly well what was going to happen when I supported Maya.  I must have been on my fourth or fifth cancellation by then.  I expected the threats of violence, to be told I was literally killing trans people with my hate, to be called c**t and b***h and, of course, for my books to be burned, although one particularly abusive man told me he'd composted them.'

The author's post comes after her incendiary comments on Twitter last week.  After writing her initial controversial tweet, the author continued with another thread speaking about the concept of biological sex.  'If sex isn't real, there's no same-sex attraction,' she tweeted. 'If sex isn't real, the lived reality of women globally is erased. I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives. It isn't hate to speak the truth.'

Ms Rowling's tweets caused a firestorm of responses from the LGBTQ community and others who were upset with her words.

A Harry Potter fan group tweeted its disapproval of Rowling's post and encouraged followers to donate to a group that supports transgender women.  LGBT rights group GLAAD issued a response on Twitter, calling Ms Rowling's tweets 'inaccurate and cruel.'  The group then asked those upset by the author's comments to support organizations that help transgender people.  'JK Rowling continues to align herself with an ideology which willfully distorts facts about gender identity and people who are trans,' GLAAD tweeted. 'In 2020, there is no excuse for targeting trans people.'

In the 11 years since she completed the Harry Potter books, which have netted her £795million. She wrote four books for grown-ups; The Casual Vacancy was a look at small-town politics, while her three crime fiction novels under the pen name Robert Galbraith have all been best sellers.  She's also spearheaded Lumos, her charity campaigning for orphaned children, and brought up her own family; a single mother to Jessica, now 24, when she started writing Harry Potter, she also has son David, 15, and daughter Mackenzie, 13, with her GP husband Neil Murray.  But she has never been able to let go of Harry Potter entirely.  Even back in 2007, she admitted she had written detailed notes about what happened next to her protagonists for her own amusement. 'I couldn't stop, I had to know what happened next,' she said of her enduring fascination with her fictional creations.

In 2011, she launched the website Pottermore, which continued with small stories about Harry's world, adding more and more layers to an already complicated tapestry.  This year, all pretence about saying goodbye to Harry and his world has disappeared. Not only have we seen the opening of box-office smash play Harry Potter And The Cursed Child 'the eighth Harry Potter story' about Harry and Ginny Weasley's son Albus and his difficult relationship with his father but next month sees the release of a new film returning to the wizarding world.  Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them is based on a textbook Harry and his friends read at their wizarding school Hogwarts. A series of five films.