Neil Forsyth
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oakowl.bsky.social
Neil Forsyth
@oakowl.bsky.social
360 followers 180 following 270 posts
Here to receive and pass on information. I like evidence and sources.
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Reposted by Neil Forsyth
goodlawproject.org
I have now made a Stage 1b Complaint under the BBC's Complaints Procedure.

Amazing you have to make THREE internal complaints before you can access someone who is not self-interested.
Dear Sirs, 1. Please treat this as a Stage 1b complaint, Case number CAS-8273363-G4G0M0. 2. Your Stage 1a response is wrong or inadequate in three respects it: i. is flatly contradicted by what the Presiding Judge at the Supreme Court said in his Times interview. Indeed, it entirely ignores that interview. Given who he is, and how clearly he expressed his view, this is surprising, to put it mildly. The omission, given the simple and flat contradiction between what he said and what Ms Kuenssberg said, raises at the very least a question about whether the Stage 1a response is driven by a desire to maintain editorial standards or a desire to avoid having to admit having made a mistake. ii. ignores the fact of two Employment Tribunals which have decided that single sex spaces are not a function of biological sex: https://www.judiciary.uk/judgments/sandie-peggie-v-fife-health-board-and-another-judgment-and-summary/ and https://www.gov.uk/employment-tribunal-decisions/b-m-kelly-v-leonardo-uk-ltd-8001497-slash-2024 Both are first instance decisions but (a) there are none going the other way and (b) they are inconsistent with the unqualified nature of Ms Kuenssberg's assertion. iii. it, accidentally or deliberately, misses the point of my complaint. The Stage 1a response says: "the Supreme Court decided how the Equality Act should be interpreted." That is true but only to a narrow and specific extent. It decided what "man" "woman" and "sex" meant in that Act (as the Supreme Court's Press Summary points out). But what Ms Kuenssberg (falsely) asserted was: "the Supreme Court said in a landmark ruling in April that it was biological sex not a person's chosen gender that should determine... who should be able to access single-sex spaces." And (as both Lord Hodge and the summary make clear) the Supreme Court simply did not decide that. Jolyon Maugham KC
January 15, 2026 at 2:26 PM
Reposted by Neil Forsyth
actuarybyday.bsky.social
The CMI has released its analysis of 2025 mortality in England & Wales.

Death rates for 2025 were nearly 2% lower than 2024, the previous record low.

Death rates improved (i.e. fell) for both sexes and in all age groups between 2024 and 2025.
Cumulative standardised mortality rates compared to a 2015-2024 average. 2025 death rates significantly lower than 2019 and 2024, the next lowest. Other years higher, especially 2020, 2021 and 2015.
January 15, 2026 at 7:57 AM
Reposted by Neil Forsyth
mimmymum.bsky.social
The reality is that the PATHWAYS puberty blockers trial is damaging for trans kids - but for completely different reasons than ‘gender critical’ transphobes claim.

However, if it gets shut down, we know nothing else will come in its place and trans youth will be left with NOTHING! 😣😖
Trans Young People Face 50+ Tests and Hours of Intrusive Assessments in the PATHWAYS Puberty…
The publication of the PATHWAYS puberty blocker trial protocols reveals how trans young people are required to complete more than fifty…
medium.com
January 12, 2026 at 8:25 AM
Reposted by Neil Forsyth
goodlawproject.org
'You Hate Free Speech' is the go-to Far Right smear every time a targeted group pushes back.

Would be great if headlines like this helped people understand that ugly tactic.
Musk says X outcry is 'excuse for censorship'
The government is urging Ofcom to use all its powers – up to and including an effective ban – against X.
www.bbc.com
January 10, 2026 at 8:21 AM
Reposted by Neil Forsyth
safedavid3.bsky.social
SURGICAL MASKS DO NOT PROTECT

So encouraging to see the sheer strength of feeling amongst so many highly-respected scientists & medical practitioners from across the world making representations to WHO

This letter from World Health Network is a must-read
tinyurl.com/WHN-Letter-t...
Open Letter to WHO: A Call for the Universal use of Respirators in Healthcare - WHN
January 7, 2026 The letter below (a button to download it as a .pdf file is at the bottom of this page) was sent to seven top officials at the World Health Organization on Wednesday 7 January. Press c...
tinyurl.com
January 10, 2026 at 8:09 AM
Reposted by Neil Forsyth
natacha.bsky.social
New Study finds a significant reduction in suicidality after trans people receive gender-affirming hormone therapy.

“Hormone therapy was associated with clinically meaningful reductions in suicidality over time…”

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
The Journal of Pediatrics Volume 289, February 2026, 114883 Original Articles Changes in Suicidality among Transgender Adolescents Following Hormone Therapy: An Extended Study Luke R. Allen PhD ' & E, Cody G. Dodd PhD2, Christine N. Moser PsyD 3, Michelle M. Knoll MD 3 Show more v The Journal of Pediatrics Volume 289, February 2026, 114883 Original Articles Changes in Suicidality among Transgender Adolescents Following Hormone Therapy: An Extended Study Luke R. Allen PhD ' & E, Cody G. Dodd PhD2, Christine N. Moser PsyD 3, Michelle M. Knoll MD 3 Show more v
January 9, 2026 at 5:24 AM
Reposted by Neil Forsyth
paulisci.bsky.social
The 2025 Headline of the Year Nominees

🧵
December 22, 2025 at 11:48 PM
Reposted by Neil Forsyth
goodlawproject.bsky.social
“Recent decisions have shown that people and organisations can be inclusive and the Court of Appeal has said that pro-trans beliefs are protected. This pattern should give organisations the confidence to stand up to anti-trans bullies.”
https://goodlaw.social/p01y
Allison Bailey loses her case against Stonewall – again
Court of Appeal finds that Stonewall did not cause discrimination against ‘gender critical’ barrister Allison Bailey.
goodlaw.social
December 19, 2025 at 1:14 PM
Reposted by Neil Forsyth
kityates.bsky.social
Two wins, £1m each, for a couple in Mid‑Wales sounds near-impossible.

Headlines put the odds at “over 24‑trillion‑to‑one”.

Here’s why that makes sense and why such stories are not as unlikely as you might think.

BBC: www.bbc.co.uk/news/a...
1/9
Lottery winners scoop jackpot again in 24-trillion-to-one odds
Already millionaires, Richard Davies and Faye Stevenson-Davies scoop another seven-figure Lotto jackpot.
www.bbc.co.uk
December 17, 2025 at 2:39 PM
Reposted by Neil Forsyth
goodlawproject.org
All rather unfamiliar this, judicial reasoning that is just logical, not contorted around a broader societal agenda of delegitimising trans existence, so, props to the New Zealand High Court. goodlaw.social/pj1m
New Zealand court stops trans puberty blockers ban
The High Court of New Zealand has ruled that a ban on puberty blockers for young trans people should not be enforced ahead of a legal challenge from a trans health body.
goodlaw.social
December 17, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Reposted by Neil Forsyth
goodlawproject.org
New Zealand's libertarian/ populist/ right wing coalition Government is trying to follow Wesley Streeting's lead in banning puberty blockers.

This is what the New Zealand High Court has just decided (www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/assets/cases...).
[17] There is also no evidence of a particular need to act urgently to prevent new prescriptions because of some immediate risk to physical health if young people commence treatment. [18] Puberty blockers are reversible. There is no evidence that they affect fertility. If they did, they would hardly be prescribed for children with precocious puberty and they have been prescribed for that purpose for decades. They may alleviate distress for a child who is simply not ready to cope with puberty either because they are too young or because their mental health is such that a delay is recommended. The only evidence-based impact on physical health is on bone density and that impact results from long term use. A period of months until the Judicial Review can be heard is not said to create any issues with bone density for a young person commencing treatment. [19] The evidence relating to mental health outcomes suggests negative outcomes from a ban are a far more immediate concern.
December 17, 2025 at 9:59 AM
Reposted by Neil Forsyth
adamjkucharski.bsky.social
Tired of spam or juggling multiple email addresses for test projects?

Lots of email providers (e.g. Gmail, Outlook) support plus-addressing. For example, if you sign up using [email protected], the website treats it as a unique address, but emails are still delivered to [email protected].
December 17, 2025 at 9:33 AM
Reposted by Neil Forsyth
goodlawproject.org
🤯 One hell of an introduction to this piece by @rivkahbrown.bsky.social.🤯 novaramedia.com/2025/12/16/a...
Anti-Trans Groups Want a Bathroom Ban. Judges Aren’t Giving Them One | Novara Media
Gender-critical campaigners had hoped that this year’s Supreme Court ruling would tee up US-style bathroom bills across the UK, throwing hundreds of thousands of pounds at lawsuits to exclude trans wo...
novaramedia.com
December 16, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Reposted by Neil Forsyth
adsquires.bsky.social
Current flu wave: failing to apply the lessons from COVID.
Both are spread by airborne droplets, we know what works to reduce spread, and the govt isn't doing it. Two good posts on this today. First: Doctors Association UK 1/
jaxtait.bsky.social Dr Jackie Turvey Tait @jaxtait.bsky.social · Dec 16
DAUK is calling for urgent, practical steps to protect staff and patients:

✅ FFP2 and FFP3 masks for frontline healthcare workers

✅ Free flu and Covid vaccinations for healthcare workers who want them

✅ Implementation of clean air standards (HEPA/Ventilation)

@greensagainstcovid.bsky.social
thedauk.bsky.social Doctors’ Association UK @thedauk.bsky.social · Dec 12
🏥 | "It’s infuriating to witness a preventable crisis unfold. It’s placing intolerable strain on the NHS workforce and endangering vulnerable patients."
@drmk.link warns the NHS faces a ‘state of preventable emergency’ as the flu outbreak escalates.
dauk.org/flu-wave-nhs...
December 16, 2025 at 1:46 PM
Reposted by Neil Forsyth
goodlawproject.org
So, Laura Kuenssberg's introduction to her interview with Mary-Ann Stephenson is just hideous.

Let me count the ways. 🧵
December 14, 2025 at 11:35 AM
Reposted by Neil Forsyth
goodlawproject.org
Bridget Phillipson knew her history, was told by MPs not to appoint her, insisted on appointing her, and in her first interview the Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission has ignored super clear and explicit human rights law that trans people are not a third sex. What a disgrace.
December 14, 2025 at 7:47 AM
Reposted by Neil Forsyth
robinince.bsky.social
Very sad that I felt I had no choice but to resign from The Infinite Monkey Cage - a victory for the transphobes and other bigots - I did it because so much of the media has chosen to believe the kind and empathetic people are a fiction - they are real and so often unrepresented.
This is the saddest day of my professional life. Today is not only the final recording of the latest series of The Infinite Monkey Cage, it is my last ever Monkey Cage. I never thought that I would have to leave the show. I always imagined going on until | dropped dead under the studio lights due to a brain aneurysm caused by my final attempt to understand notions of quantum gravity or the shock of being told about fly maggot infestations in the sacks of macaque monkeys. I resigned in September, after sixteen years of dedication to the show, A show that I named and helped develop over all those years. Unfortunately, my opinions outside the BBC have been considered problematic for sometime, whether it has been voicing support for the trans community, criticism of Donald Trump, numerous other outlandish opinions, including once gently criticising Stephen Fry. These things were considered to conflict with being a freelance BBC science presenter In a recent meeting where BBC Studio executives again voiced problems with me, I realised my choices. Obedience and being quieter to remain making Monkey Cage, or 'Resign and have the freedom to speak out against what I believe are injustices'. • I chose the latter. It broke my heart. I love this show and I love the audience, and it is because of the audience in particular, that this decision was so difficult to make. I kept thinking about all the extremist voices promoting hate and division. They are being given so many platforms, while voices that represent kindness, open mindedness, empathy seem to be scarcer and scarcer. I felt I couldn't pamper myself with the luxury of silence. One of my many privileges is that I am able to resign and I can speak out even if it is to the detriment of my career. I have thought a lot about my heroes, Sinead O Connor, James Baldwin, Audre Lorde, and so many more. I think of Sinead's words, "the job of an artist is to be themselves at any cost". James Baldwin said prejudice was really just a word for cowardice. Audre Lorde, viewing her life, wrote that her only regrets were her silences. I think of my father as I resign, he brought me up to believe in fairness , justice and kindness. Though my heart is broken, it is also full of fire. I apologise to our incredible listeners for my departure, your love of the show means a great deal. I am so sorry to let you down. I hope that you can understand my reasoning. I have to accept that I am not what the current BBC expects of their freelance presenters. Despite this I should add that I have always worked far more than my contracted hours to try and ensure the show was always the best it could be, as well as making myself accessible and responsive to the audience wherever and whenever I met them. Every night, we have recorded, I have been filled with determination to make the best show possible. This was not "just a job" I hope that with my departure I can be a better ally to the LGBTQ community, to the neurodivergent community, to activists fighting against those who aim to brutalise society, to those currently in prison on hunger strike, and to all those who fight for a more inclusive world. From many conversations, I know there are many Monkey Cage listeners who support these communities and activists too. The strawberry is dead. Long live the strawberry. B
December 13, 2025 at 12:02 AM
Reposted by Neil Forsyth
goodlawproject.org
I've had some, limited, experience with employment tribunal judgments and judges working under considerable time pressure to write lengthy and detailed judgments often make clumsy errors of spelling, transcription and so on. That's axiomatically more likely true in the case of 300+ page judgments.
December 11, 2025 at 9:18 PM
Reposted by Neil Forsyth
goodlawproject.org
I see the BBC confronted with the reality of a decision incompatible with both (1) what it told its audience the Tribunal had decided and (2) its strongly transphobic editorial line, is now participating in a highly partial and baseless smearing of the Tribunal www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Sandie Peggie tribunal judgement to be amended in fake quote row
On Monday, an employment tribunal outlined four ways in which NHS Fife harassed Ms Peggie after she was suspended from her job.
www.bbc.co.uk
December 11, 2025 at 1:45 PM
Reposted by Neil Forsyth
goodlawproject.org
What are the main points to emerge from the Sandie Peggie hearing? A brief expert blog from a specialist KC... goodlaw.social/5o6l
Sandie Peggie: Tribunal rules that employers do not have to exclude trans people | Good Law Project
One of the first cases that follows the Supreme Court’s decision on the definition of sex under the Equality Act has found that the court didn’t decide which changing room a trans person should use.
goodlaw.social
December 9, 2025 at 12:23 PM
Reposted by Neil Forsyth
goodlawproject.org
An important point to come out of the Sandie Peggie case is that 'gender critical' employees can't take matters into their own hands and confront trans employees. If they do that it is likely to be harassment/ bullying/ a hate incident.
So far as her other comments are concerned, they were impermissible manifestations of her belief and were in our view what amounted to an incident of harassment by the claimant of the second respondent related to the protected characteristic of gender reassignment, reasonably perceived by the second respondent to be so, and were a breach by the claimant of section 26 of the Act and of the Bullying and Harassment Policy. The second respondent was entitled to view the actions of the claimant in those particular regards as being such harassment, or as a “hate incident” within the policy, and the first respondent was entitled in principle to act on the complaint made, but the detail of how it did so depends on all the circumstances as more fully addressed below. The second respondent was also entitled to regard the claimant’s actions as a breach of the second respondent’s Article 8 rights, so far as the claimant’s expression of her beliefs was impermissible. 1034. We also considered that the claimant had acted deliberately to be able to challenge the second respondent whilst they were alone. What she did was to wait until other members of staff had left the changing room, and for the second respondent to leave the cubicle, before raising her own beliefs directly with the second respondent in the manner we have set out. 1035. Whilst the claimant had not been informed as promptly and in the detail we considered appropriate, and the first respondent did not consider whether to revoke permission at all, the claimant did not herself raise any formal grievance under the policy. She is an experienced member of staff who had access to union advice. She knew, or ought reasonably to have known, that the first respondent having granted permission to the second respondent she required to have raised her concerns with the first respondent as the decision-maker rather than with the colleague to whom it had been granted, and in any event ought not to have done so in the manner that she did.
December 9, 2025 at 9:20 AM
oakowl.bsky.social
What the tribunal actually said.
December 9, 2025 at 10:22 AM
Reposted by Neil Forsyth
goodlawproject.org
Only first instance but this feels quite significant - it was lawful, post For Some Women Scotland, to offer trans inclusive workplace toilets.
reactiveashley.cat Ashleeee 🌊🪭 @reactiveashley.cat · Dec 3
BREAKING: Employee who demand a trans-exclusive toilet policy loses employment tribunal. All claims, direct and indirect discrimination, harassment, and 1992 Regs, dismissed.

Judgment: www.gov.uk/employment-t...
B M Kelly v Leonardo UK Ltd: 8001497/2024
Employment Tribunal decision.
www.gov.uk
December 3, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Reposted by Neil Forsyth
goodlawproject.org
There's not much left of the rule of law if organisations can be financially bullied into not asserting their legal rights. goodlaw.social/sb50
Excluding trans people won’t stop you getting sued | Good Law Project
Girl Guiding and the Women’s Institute have announced that they will now exclude trans women and girls after legal threats – but organisations can and should remain inclusive.
goodlaw.social
December 3, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Reposted by Neil Forsyth
erictopol.bsky.social
Multiple large natural experiments have documented Shingles vaccine is linked with ~20-25% reduced risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease. A new report today adds to that and extends the to slowing the progression of dementia @cellcellpress.bsky.social
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
December 2, 2025 at 4:00 PM