Category Archives: Mental Health

Legal Remedies for Milo Yiannopoulos and Julie Bindel Versus Manchester University Student Extremists

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The Witchfinder explores legal remedies that may be open to gay journalist Milo Yiannopoulos and feminist Julie Bindel after being banned from attending an event at University of Manchester Students’ Union. Comments are legal opinion, untested by any court.

JessLishakSharpenedHammerAndSickle

University of Manchester Students’ Union Women’s Officer Jess Lishak, shown in a black shirt with hammer and sickle. Original picture was released on Flickr by ‘Jennifer’ here (archive here) under the irrevocable NC-BY-SA 2.0 open source license (archive here). Image was further amended by cropping, enhancing and photoshopping a Communist hammer and sickle onto Jess’ convenient black shirt for parody purposes. It is therefore asserted the image falls under s30A Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1998 – the ‘parody exception’ and can be used commercially for that purpose. 09/10/2015 – Image Amended

In 2012 the European Court of Human Rights rules in the case of Redfearn v United Kingdom (Application no. 47335/06). Arthur Redfearn was a bus driver. He was also a member of the British National Party, a British far right party that opposes immigration and multiculturalism. Conservative grandee Lord Tebbit once called them, “Labour with racism”.

The Court ruled in favour of Mr Redfearn and UK law was changed. Recent case law appears to confirm that political views – even extremist views, can fall within the definition of a ‘philosophical belief’ under s10 Equality Act 2010.

Yet Milo Yiannopoulos does not hold extremist views. Manchester Students’ Union, in a statement (archive here), say they banned him because –

“We have been made aware of various comments lambasting rape survivors and trans* people, and as such we are concerned for the safety of our students on the topic of this event. He is a rape apologist and has repeatedly used derogatory and debasing ableist language when describing members of the trans* community.”

I am unaware of any occasion where Milo Yiannopoulos has apologised for, nor mitigated rape. He has on some occasions highlighted false allegations and the need for procedural safeguards.

Yiannopoulos is a supporter of #GamerGate, a cultural libertarian, pro-free speech, anti-censorship, consumer movement. As a prominent cultural libertarian, he would likely have mentioned #GamerGate in the context of freedom of speech.

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Jessica Asato – Worthless SJW Narcissist, Failed Parliamentary Candidate and Hypocrite

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FortunateJessica

Jessica Asato is fabulously privileged oppressed. Image an obvious parody used under s30A Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

Failed Labour ‘Politician’ and online social justice warrior Jessica Asato recently took part in the witch-hunt against Protein World (archive here). More recently she has joined in with mob online condemnation of a lawyer as ‘sexist’ for complementing someone’s appearance. Shame Asato herself is no stranger to privilege and political incorrectness. Your Inquisitor calls on moderate cultural libertarians to join the online debate she helped to start in order to set matters right.

Condemning allegedly ‘sexist’ remarks by a respected lawyer. Labour ‘politician’ Jessica Asato remarked that, “I would rather be complimented on my achievements than my face” (archive here). The comment echoes Martin Luther King’s famous quotation, dreaming his children would, “[…] not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character […]”.

The remark is typical of Asato’s narcissistic and self-absorbed conduct – but if Jessica wants to be  judged by her achievements and character rather than her appearance your author is only too happy to help.

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Mental Health Stigma is Never Acceptable – For Anita Sarkeesian and Gawker it is #TimeToChange

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The Witchfinder examines the use of discriminatory and / or stigmatising language and tropes in online statements by Anita Sarkeesian and by Gawker (for example Sam F Biddle) in light of the well known #TimeToChange campaign against mental health discrimination and stigmatising language. Your Inquisitor continues to call for an advertiser boycott of Gawker.com .

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Sam F Biddle makes use of stigmatising mental health tropes, singling out an apparently vulnerable individual. Picture used for the purpose of criticism pursuant to s 30 (1) Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Your author is a law student with a specialist interest in mental capacity and mental health law, who has represented people in Court pro-bono. As a result of his work your author was asked to give evidence to the House of Lords Committee on the Mental Capacity Act 2005 under his real name, Sam Smith. See pages 1608 – 1614.

The Witchfinder focuses on the remedy of last resort – namely lawsuits. However, much of the work of ending mental health and disability discrimination begins before then – in ending oppressive tropes and language. Time to Change have published a guide to inappropriate and stigmatising media content. Unfortunately, the Witchfinder has found that use of discriminatory terms is far more prevalent in certain parts of the left, notably the self-appointed guardians of ‘social justice’ than it is on the right. This article discusses Sam F Biddle of Gawker and Anita Sarkeesian of Feminist Frequency.

The 2007 academic paper, ‘250 labels used to stigmatise people with mental illness’ was written by academics from the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London and Mental Health Charity Rethink. It contains a convenient table of discriminatory words used to oppress disabled people. Of course everyone uses such words and it is simplistic and inappropriate to adopt crass Duke University style speech codes.

However, irresponsible journalism can hurt by stigmatising the mental ill as likely to be violent, when research shows the opposite is true. Alastair Campbell, formerly Press Officer to Tony Blair ,wrote powerfully in the Guardian about the problems caused by ‘psycho patient’ costumes. Famous Footballer Stan Collymore publicly condemned the costumes, warning of suicides –

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Stan Collymore bravely speaks out. (c) StanCollymore/Twitter .

These days, most journalists are careful to avoid such images, knowing that their careers may be damaged by using such images and they may cause suicides.

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Depression Quest is Crass, Condescending Ignorance #Gamergate

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DepressionQuest1

Depression quest – depressingly bad. Condescending to people with mental health problems but has escaped scrutiny due to its author’s PC credentials.

The Witchfinder reviews a truly appalling game called Depression Quest (DQ), written by Zoe Quinn from the #Gamergate controversy. DQ combines condescension with poor execution. Bizarrely, the supposedly ‘right on’ media has actually given this game a pass due to the author’s alleged PC credentials.

The Witchfinder says it is time game journalists stop defending Zoe Quinn and promoting her work – not for gender reasons but because of her comments on mental health issues.

For those of you new to this blog, the author is a law student. Your Inquisitor spends a lot of time helping vulnerable people and their families in Court, pro-bono, as a McKenzie Friend with a specialism in Mental Capacity (the Court of Protection). Since starting this blog some years ago, the Witchfinder has actually passed some exams and now holds a Graduate Diploma in Law. He has moved on to studying a Master’s Degree in Law combined with an LPC (British equivalent of a US attorney’s certificate).

This blog is mostly about politics, with law and the very occasional game review.

One of the first things you need to know about UK Equality Law, which is mostly codified in the Equality Act 2010, is that having the same characteristics does not get you off the hook (s24). So for example, a female boss who fires a worker for getting pregnant is not off the hook for being female. Similarly, having the same disability does not get you off the hook for discrimination. Actionable discrimination need also not be deliberate it could be by accident or even subconscious – see Swiggs and Others v. Nagarajan [1999] UKHL 36.

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Battery Farm Deprivation of Liberty

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Bleeding Rose

Labour must take responsibility for the immense human suffering caused by the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (Picture licensed from Dreamstime)

The Witchfinder discovers that the Court of Protection is now on the verge of collapse. Bombshell Court papers show that it is contemplating bulk Deprivation of Liberty applications without representation of the person being detained.

The Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) has been the subject of unprecedented criticism. It is a law passed by Labour and intended to fill various gaps in existing legislation. Like nearly all Labour legislation it has been praised for its visionary principles but destroyed due to its cumbersome, expensive and poorly thought out machinery. That machinery is now falling apart.

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One of the Best Court Judgements Ever Written Ever

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Veronica Chapman Lookalike

Would you take legal advice from a person who looks like this? (Picture licensed from Dreamstime).

The Witchfinder praises the courageous Canadian Judge J. D. Rooke for his judgement in Meads v Meads and calls for the enactment of new laws allowing for control of the so-called Freemen on the Land Movement (FMOTL) and  the immediate fining and imprisonment of its ‘gurus’ who give fallacious advice, such as Veronica Chapman. Where vulnerable people are described, aspects such as the name and gender have been fictionalised.

To those who have not encountered it, it may initially be hard to understand why the transatlantic FMOTL movement inspires so much hatred amongst lawyers and members of the judiciary, even normally cuddly members of the Human Rights crowd. Allow me to use an analogy.

Imagine for a moment that there is a book on electrical wiring – ‘Wiring Is More Than Just A Word’. You can buy it from reputable bookshops like Amazon. Imagine that this book is glossy and professional looking, the book uses all the right words and is written in a persuasive and apparently erudite way. The book is bought mainly by the vulnerable and desperate who have electrical problems and sit at home in the cold and the dark. Imagine its author is trusted, respected and looked up to by the poor souls who read her work.

Now consider what would happen if the instructions in the book were utterly, totally and horribly wrong. Picture a situation where the words are all correct but the explanation of their meaning is all wrong. “Voltage is very important. You must wire as much voltage as possible directly to your genitals in order to protect yourself from the Ohm conspiracy. Under no circumstances must you listen to any electricians. All electricians are evil and in league with Ohms. And bankers. Whatever you do, never, EVER wire up the earth wire as this may allow your voltage to be stolen by amperes. Instead you should attach the wire marked LIVE to the BATHTUB.”

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A River of Tears

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The Witchfinder summarises the evidence from the recent House of Lords Committee on the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and points the finger at the Labour politicians responsible for this travesty.

Bleeding Rose

Labour must take responsibility for the immense human suffering caused by the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (Picture licensed from Dreamstime)

The Witchfinder, under another name, was one of many individuals, professionals and organisations that gave evidence to the ongoing investigation. The evidence has now been published and your humble inquisitor has decided to summarise.

Anyone wishing to read it for themselves can find volumes 1 and 2 on the parliament website –

Volume 1
Volume 2

What is striking is just how loud the chorus of complaints are. Chris Booker of the Telegraph, for example, would be delighted to discover just how many social workers are in total agreement with him about the Act’s inadequacies.

The problem with dry text is the inability to fully convey the human suffering represented by the endless storm of criticism. I quote (for example) Kate Beynon, a social worker in Northamptonshire, “I was involved in a recent CoP case and am very worried that one of the parties was not able to access legal aid, she was in debt and could not afford repayments and yet we were removing her adult son from her care.”

Beynon is quite right – a lot of the Witchfinder’s charity work exists solely because there is negligible legal aid available to families when social services take away adult relatives.

She goes on to mirror the Witchfinder’s suggestion that there be local Mental Capacity tribunals instead of the current Court of Protection, “Why can we not have local Tribunals similar to Mental Health Tribunals?”

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2000+ Unlawfully Detained. Families of Abuse Victims Condemn Jeremy Hunt

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Jeremy Hunt

Jeremy Hunt. Secretary of State for Health. Image licensed under the Open Government Licence v1.0. This permits adaptation. However, the Witchfinder has resisted the temptation to scrawl the obvious four letter word across his forehead.

Catastrophically failing Care Quality Commission admits that thousands of people have been deprived of their liberty in the UK without proper notification – but they do not know who, where, or how many.

CQC admits that at least 7,238 criminal registration offences against vulnerable people have not been prosecuted putting the United Kingdom apparently in violation of the United Nations Optional Convention Against Torture.

CQC Whistleblower Kay Sheldon claims that David Prior, new Chief Executive, told her that she would not be re-appointed. CQC office asked to put allegation to Mr Prior and responds refusing to ‘confirm or deny’ allegation. Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has failed to clearly back Mrs Sheldon.

Yvonne Goder of charity FACT, which campaigns for victims against abuse of people without capacity describes Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Health and responsible for the CQC as ‘morally no different from the abusers at Winterbourne View’ and calls for his immediate sacking from government. Mark Neary, father of Steven Neary agrees with the comparison.

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Rest in Peace Margaret Thatcher

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The Witchfinder praises Margaret Thatcher’s legacy, especially her less well known work helping the vulnerable.

Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Thatcher (image via Wikimedia Commons)

It feels slightly strange, writing a eulogy for Baroness Thatcher. Until I left Labour in 2008, it was inconceivable. My family are three generations Labour – I am a lone blue rose amongst crimson thorns. At university I was a Labour student, inculcated in their doctrines of hate towards anyone, even within the same party, who disagreed with their views.

I also initially felt under-qualified to comment being only a newcomer to the Conservative Party as of 2009. However there is one area for which Mrs Thatcher deserves praise but has received relatively little and of which I have specialist knowledge. As a law student one of my specialist interests is assisting those alleged to lack mental capacity, or their families. I have assisted people in the High Court and been allowed occasionally to exercise rights of audience as a McKenzie Friend.

The Mental Health Act 1983 (MHA) was introduced by Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government. It comes to mind because its effectiveness as kind but pragmatic legislation is highlighted in comparison to Labour’s cack-handed car-crash of a law, the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) introduced by Tony Blair’s government. Both do the same job, essentially dealing with compulsory intervention in the lives of people with mental illness or disability.

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Book Review – Eyes of a Sociopath – L R Sheridan

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The Witchfinder thinks Amanda Preston is a cuddle-wuddle fluffy head.

Face shot of the beautiful Amanda Preston.

Amanda Preston is a cute-wutie!

‘Eyes of a Sociopath’ could be chick-lit. It is about a beautiful young woman on the up and on the make. The difference with this book is that our heroine, Amanda Preston, as the name suggests, is about a clinically diagnosed High Functioning Sociopath. So what is a sociopath?

Well, a sociopath is a person who is on the psychopathic spectrum. Formally, the diagnosis is ‘Dissocial Personality Disorder’ or ‘Anti-Social Personality Disorder’. There is a variety of literature on the subject, some speculating that such people are born, others that they are made (e.g. by an abusive childhood) and still more that it is a mixture.

High Functioning Sociopaths are people, often with superior senses and intelligence, who are charming, capable and lacking in traditional amounts of conscience or remorse. They may succeed in employment, indeed they can be successful journalists or gifted lawyers. Sociopaths are notable for their deep perception and understanding of human emotions and behaviours despite the fact that they do not share the feelings of those around them.

Sociopaths can be extremely persuasive because they are simply skilfully mocking up emotions that other people actually feel.  Amanda feels nothing towards those who think she is their friend. She hurts people without remorse and the book describes in detail how as a child she pretends to be friends with a kindly girl called Sara in order to appear more normal. In reality Amanda’s only real urges are to success and to extreme violence. As she grows she lies, cheats, injures and murders.

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