Attending the Civic Justice Centre in Manchester as part of an ongoing attempt to persecute the feminist journalist and author Helen Joyce, Watson was intercepted by Greater Manchester Police and arrested in connection with allegations of harassment of several people, one of whom was myself.
Watson had been evading justice for a long time. He provides false addresses to the police and courts (which is a crime in itself), and despite numerous criminal complaints against him he manages to dodge arrest because police forces endlessly ping-pong the complaints between each other (“He lives in YOUR area!” “No, yours!”) and allow him to repeatedly arrange voluntary interviews which he never turns up to, stalling and hiding until the six-month limit on harassment cases times out.
As all alert readers will know, this site likes to keep a watchful eye on the shady and disturbing activities of paedophilia-plagued charity LGBT Youth Scotland. So we were naturally intrigued to hear that they’d hired a new convenor last month.
And if you’re sitting there thinking, “Blimey, AI Christopher Walken looks very very ill”, well, stay tuned, because this story gets more and more interesting.
So Cathy Newman of Channel 4 News got herself a scoop last night.
And to be honest, readers, we were a bit confused. “Gender critical views” are not only lawful things to hold and express, they’re one of a small subset of opinions that are explicitly protected as such in law. And why would a man very occasionally airing some lawful and protected views on social media be a news story? You might as well run “BREAKING: Premiership footballer discovered to enjoy cheese-and-ham toasties”.
There is a not particularly funny joke that is sometimes told in legal circles about why a law student failed to finish his coursework – because he had no conviction. With rare exceptions lawyers aren’t renowned for their sense of humour but I can’t help thinking someone, at the highest levels of our justice system, is having a right laugh at my expense and those who have loyally supported me over the past six years.
I’m talking about the Lord Advocate, Dorothy Bain KC – a sitting member of the Scottish Government’s cabinet who was nominated by Nicola Sturgeon to that post in 2021, five months after I was acquitted.
For those unfamiliar with my case, I offer this brief summary. In March 2020 I made a short video on my mobile phone that was two minutes and thirty eight seconds in length. I hadn’t planned to make the video when I went out for a walk in a field near my home. But I was annoyed and wanted to articulate that annoyance, although at the time I recorded it I wasn’t intending for it to go much further.
Later that night, just before turning in, I uploaded it to my YouTube channel on a closed, unlisted link and then posted that link to my Twitter account that, at the time, had a modest 1000 or so followers. I then forgot about it.
Little did I know that short mobile phone video would result in me facing initially a criminal trial, then a five year legal battle in the highest civil court in Scotland and now, most likely, an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
It seems that it’s fine to farm important judgments out to mysterious shadowy figures who just make important chunks of them up out of thin air, and then issue them in your own name. Back in your boxes, plebs.
This clip was broadcast on ITV News Wales this week.
It’s a staggeringly obvious mess for a whole raft of reasons – a number of completely spurious, illogical and unsupported claims are accepted as facts without any sort of challenge or balancing voice (which has been standard practice on ITV News for a while now across almost any contentious political topic) – but it led us to somewhere magnitudes of crazier still.
We thought we should keep track of all the issues with the Peggie tribunal judgment, now that Sandie Peggie has officially announced her intention to appeal it.
On 5 April 2021, I sent a short and simple Freedom Of Information (FOI) request to the Scottish Government asking for:
“All written evidence to James Hamilton’s QC investigation into the FM under the ministerial code. This includes evidence from the FM, her chief of staff Liz Lloyd and any other individuals within the Scottish Government who have submitted evidence.”
(From reporting of the proceedings at Westminster Magistrates Court, it sounds very much like Watson has been directing and influencing Tarquin’s complaints to the police – which had originally been dismissed as baseless – and was largely responsible for the matter getting to trial.)
But Watson isn’t the only middle-aged trans-identifying man with whom “Tarquin” has a seemingly close relationship when it comes to the relentless, vindictive persecution of people who believe in biological sex.
We think (but haven’t been able to verify) that that’s Watson on the left of the thumbnail of the above video, in the facemask and with a brown bag amid extraordinary scenes as Tarquin left the court after giving his evidence.
But the burly, blond bespectacled man at the centre of it, who appears to be acting as some sort of official representative for “Tarquin”, is Stephanie Hayden – born Anthony Halliday, who changed his name in 2005 to Steven Hayden shortly after being released from the Sex Offenders Register (more on that below) before obtaining a GRC in the name of “Stephanie” in 2017.
Hayden is a convicted paedophile and self-described lawyer who, like Lynsay Watson, dedicates his entire life to the persecution of gender-critical campaigners.
And as remarkable as it might seem to anyone who read our previous piece, Hayden may be the more toxic of the two.
We’ve written already about the magnitude of the error transactivists have made in bringing about the arrest of Graham Linehan on trumped-up incitement charges. But thanks to the excellent work of court reporter Nick Wallis this week, the sheer scale of it is still only beginning to unfold.
At its heart is a scarcely-believable tale about how a tiny handful of deeply mentally ill men – at the core, just three – have for years orchestrated a campaign of vindictive, hateful intimidation and terror which has caused untold suffering to individuals, done catastrophic damage to the reputation of the police, and cost the taxpayer millions of pounds, all in a desperate attempt to validate their own delusions.
It’s going to be no small task to summarise it for you. But let’s do our best.
Alert readers will be familiar with this site’s ongoing quest for an explanation as to why controversy-plagued charity LGBT Youth Scotland continues to operate in dozens of Scottish primary and even nursery schools, pushing gender ideology onto children as young as four despite only having a remit to support 13-25-year-olds.
Last month we were, to coin a phrase, stonewalled by Scotland’s charity regulator, the OSCR, but we filed a review request and today we received – a couple of weeks past the deadline – a response.
Insider on The value bet: ““James” @ 10:45 What the hell are you gibbering about now ? Statues of who ?” May 6, 23:46
James on The value bet: “What are the chances of you voting Tory? (100%).” May 6, 23:09
Confused on The value bet: “One thing people should realise is that the polls can also be bent; he who pays the piper – one…” May 6, 23:05
Mark Beggan on The value bet: “So you will be able to collect your winnings in 2326.” May 6, 23:04
James Che on The value bet: “Did you know that Statues of the realm of England do not contain any Scottish or Irish Statues. Even after…” May 6, 22:45
James Che on The value bet: “I foresee Scotlands independent country voting for a further three hundred years of Colonial rule and missing the open goal.…” May 6, 22:26
Geri on The value bet: “Let me see… Is it cause two of them actually attempt to serve Scots & they’re not genocidal peado apologists?…” May 6, 22:25
James Che on The value bet: “We hve been an independent Country in Scotlant since 1707, Whats wrong? You want to pretend that your in a…” May 6, 22:18
Rev. Stuart Campbell on The value bet: “Same either way: fuck-all.” May 6, 21:17
sarah on The value bet: “Cheer yourselves up, folks, by listening to Eva Comrie and others on today’s Barrhead Boy podcast. Then tomorrow go and…” May 6, 21:07
Campbell Clansman on The value bet: “Better question: How on earth could Scottish voters consider voting for the parties that have misgoverned them this century? SNP,…” May 6, 20:50
Campbell Clansman on The value bet: “What are the odds of the Alliance winning a “bucketload of seats?” Zero. Better question: What are the odds of…” May 6, 20:46
Dan on Seven Days Too Long: “No, Lorna. TH is right, as many didn’t speak out with any worth. Plenty supposedly pro returning Scotland to self-governance…” May 6, 18:38
Lorncal on Seven Days Too Long: “Geri: the police could be heard quite clearly saying: drop the knife, drop the knife. He wouldn’t drop it and…” May 6, 18:32
Mark Beggan on The value bet: “How on earth could Scottish voters consider voting for the SNP? 10 years of lies, mismanagement, theft, sexual deviation, bullying,…” May 6, 18:09
Lorncal on Seven Days Too Long: “They did and were silenced by various methods. As far as I am aware, all of them spoke out and…” May 6, 18:05
Mark Beggan on The value bet: “It wasn’t connected to the grass roots!” May 6, 17:54
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Binfire Of The Vanities: “With respect, you must ponder deeper. It is not philosophy as such which we are warned to be wary of,…” May 6, 17:53
Lorncal on Seven Days Too Long: “Wife: you make fair points. I know that ISP stands up for women, but they are not standing everywhere, and…” May 6, 17:53
Mark Beggan on The value bet: “The tent covered all the issues?!” May 6, 17:52
Effigy on The value bet: “How on earth could Scottish voters consider voting for Reform? 71 years of rejecting the Tories it looks like many…” May 6, 17:47
agentx on The value bet: “Alliance to Liberate Scotland don’t register on polls and don’t register on betting odds.” May 6, 17:43
Captain Caveman on Seven Days Too Long: “@Lorncal “We cannot rely on any of the parties to support women’s rights when push comes to shove and they…” May 6, 17:24
Sven on The value bet: “Tent collapsed eh, well, that’s poles for you.” May 6, 17:15
Mark Beggan on The value bet: “‘I took a poll recently and 100% of campers were very angry when their tent collapsed’!” May 6, 17:09
Shug on The value bet: “Give us an idea of Swinneys option if A) he gets an overall majority B) he gets a minority gov…” May 6, 17:07
Tommy on The value bet: “The Greens coming second would be the nightmare of nightmares. I mean, they even make the SNP look good. Another…” May 6, 17:05
agentx on Anas Sarwar is a winner: ““While critics have pointed to the lack of formal, traditional trade union recognition, in May 2024, the Usdaw union stated…” May 6, 17:00
Colin Dawson on The value bet: “Tactical voting could turn all current predictions upside down. What are the odds of Alliance to Liberate Scotland winning a…” May 6, 16:56