The Trans Agenda: The papers do something very weird
News you need, the perspective you won't find anywhere else. The trans community's guide to UK news, media and politics and our place in it.
The Trans Agenda
[29 September 2024]
Welcome to The Trans Agenda: The papers, a newsletter that will arrive in your inbox every week if you are subscribed.
First, a little update about the main Trans Agenda. I’ve found motivation more difficult with the drop-off in negative and harmful news coverage around trans people, so I’m making a few changes. Rather than being weekly, it will become sporadic, or, rather, stay sporadic, with roundups on the weeks the news ramps up.
Instead, I’ll be including any news I think you need to see in here with the papers. I understand some people took out paid subscriptions when the main Trans Agenda was far more regular than it has been of late, so if you feel you would like to cancel, I totally understand and thank you for your support, whether you stay or go.
NEWS
The biggest story this week broke late on Saturday night and, while it made the Sunday papers, I haven’t clipped all instances of it because it isn’t really about trans people - even though we all know it is. Somehow.
That’s right, it’s the resignation from Labour by Rosie “GC” Duffield, an MP who should have been drummed out of the party long ago, but was allowed to fester. Delivering her resignation in a column in the Sunday Times, Duffield had a decent stab at trying to come across as a politician with principles.
It’s hard to argue with what Duffield says about Starmer yet no part of me believes Duffield is resigning the whip, and what little power she had through the Labour machine, because of the reasons she gives. Just a few weeks ago, she refused to vote against the government over the Winter Fuel payment. She gave her reasons in a clear and considered manner, keen to highlight that she did not want to lose the Labour whip.
As Duffield continues to collect her £94,000-a-year salary for the next five years, despite becoming the fastest MP in modern political history to ditch their party after a General election, I shall continue to wait for the other shoe to drop on this.
THE PAPERS
In terms of the ‘culture wars,’ this week stands out but not for reasons you might imagine.
The Daily Mail had nothing about trans people on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday and then produced two positive (by their standards) double-page spreads on Saturday and Sunday. This is not something I’ve seen before, neither in the time I’ve been recording the numbers of articles nor when I used to go through the papers before.
Not only that, The Times had just one article and, again, it was a positive piece. The Guardian didn’t have anything at all.
Of course, the Telegraph kept things going, but even they only produced a pathetic four. In a week. It wasn’t that long ago they could easily do four on a Monday and come back with the same number or more every day for the rest of the week.
Perhaps the hardest piece to deal with was the interview Esther Ghey gave to the Daily Mail. It wasn’t the content of the interview, although that itself was tough for entirely different reasons, but the fact it was in the Mail.
They have demonised trans people relentlessly and played no small role in creating the conditions in which Ghey was so easily targeted and murdered.
It is a good thing that something positive can come out of what was a brutal crime that tore three families apart, but the Mail should not get to bask in the light of any of it.
In all, there were a total of eight articles this week, 50% of which were in the Telegraph.
THE PAPERS Monday 23rd September - Sunday 29th September
Monday Total: 0
Tuesday Total: 0
Wednesday Total: 2
The Guardian [0]
The Times [1]
Daily Mail [0]
Telegraph [1]
Thursday Total: 1
The Guardian [0]
The Times [0]
Daily Mail [0]
Telegraph [1]
![Ireland backs down on hate speech laws Parts of Bill designed to protect trans community could have stifled freedom of expression The Daily Telegraph26 Sep 2024By James Crisp TRANSPHOBIC “hate speech” will not be criminalised in Ireland after ministers backed down over the law. The government had proposed punishments for hate speech as part of a new Bill, however, critics including Elon Musk, said the provisions were loosely defined and could have been used to jail campaigners against transgender women using female toilets. The hate speech element of the Bill has now been shelved following claims it could have stifled freedom of expression. It will still go before parliament in the coming weeks, The Irish Times reported, and keeps measures introducing harsher sentences for crimes aggravated by discrimination, including against trans and non-binary people. If it passes, an assault on a transgender person will receive a harsher sentence if it is motivated by hatred. Helen Mcentee, the Irish justice minister, previously blamed “deliberate misinformation and distortion, including from fringe commentators and Us-based social media personalities” for the controversy over the laws. After the climbdown, she admitted: “The incitement to hatred element [of the Bill] does not have a consensus, so that will be dealt with at a later stage.” The proposed legislation also still retains the contentious extension of the definition of gender to include “the person’s preferred gender, or with which the person identifies, and includes transgender and a gender other than those of male and female”. The changes to the Bill are designed to quell backbench disquiet but several MPS are uneasy about the government getting involved in a debate over how many genders there are. Senator Michael Mcdowell, a former deputy prime minister, led the revolt against the Bill last year. He argued the new legislation gave no clarity on the extended definition of gender identities, which could impact gender balance laws and carry other legal risks. “If the government wishes to provide heavier punishment for victims of crime committed because they are victimised as transgender, let them simply say that. “There is no problem with doing so. There is no case or need for creating a multiplicity of unspecified subjective statuses described as genders,” he said. He warned the Bill would be the first to recognise any gender other than male or female in Irish law and said that the country’s constitution only recognised two genders. Ireland’s Department of Justice confirmed that the gender definitions would remain in the Bill. “If someone is assaulted because they are transgender, that is a hate crime,” a spokesman said. “A definition is required to protect that person. It has absolutely no implications outside of this law.” The government first brought the proposed legislation before parliament two years ago and further prioritised tightening anti-hate laws it said were unfit for the social media age last November after an unprecedented night of anti-migrant rioting in Dublin. Article Name:Ireland backs down on hate speech laws Publication:The Daily Telegraph Author:By James Crisp Start Page:12 End Page:12](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3db0491d-4d5b-4e7d-9cef-2e00302b1ec6_763x658.png "Ireland backs down on hate speech laws Parts of Bill designed to protect trans community could have stifled freedom of expression The Daily Telegraph26 Sep 2024By James Crisp TRANSPHOBIC “hate speech” will not be criminalised in Ireland after ministers backed down over the law. The government had proposed punishments for hate speech as part of a new Bill, however, critics including Elon Musk, said the provisions were loosely defined and could have been used to jail campaigners against transgender women using female toilets. The hate speech element of the Bill has now been shelved following claims it could have stifled freedom of expression. It will still go before parliament in the coming weeks, The Irish Times reported, and keeps measures introducing harsher sentences for crimes aggravated by discrimination, including against trans and non-binary people. If it passes, an assault on a transgender person will receive a harsher sentence if it is motivated by hatred. Helen Mcentee, the Irish justice minister, previously blamed “deliberate misinformation and distortion, including from fringe commentators and Us-based social media personalities” for the controversy over the laws. After the climbdown, she admitted: “The incitement to hatred element [of the Bill] does not have a consensus, so that will be dealt with at a later stage.” The proposed legislation also still retains the contentious extension of the definition of gender to include “the person’s preferred gender, or with which the person identifies, and includes transgender and a gender other than those of male and female”. The changes to the Bill are designed to quell backbench disquiet but several MPS are uneasy about the government getting involved in a debate over how many genders there are. Senator Michael Mcdowell, a former deputy prime minister, led the revolt against the Bill last year. He argued the new legislation gave no clarity on the extended definition of gender identities, which could impact gender balance laws and carry other legal risks. “If the government wishes to provide heavier punishment for victims of crime committed because they are victimised as transgender, let them simply say that. “There is no problem with doing so. There is no case or need for creating a multiplicity of unspecified subjective statuses described as genders,” he said. He warned the Bill would be the first to recognise any gender other than male or female in Irish law and said that the country’s constitution only recognised two genders. Ireland’s Department of Justice confirmed that the gender definitions would remain in the Bill. “If someone is assaulted because they are transgender, that is a hate crime,” a spokesman said. “A definition is required to protect that person. It has absolutely no implications outside of this law.” The government first brought the proposed legislation before parliament two years ago and further prioritised tightening anti-hate laws it said were unfit for the social media age last November after an unprecedented night of anti-migrant rioting in Dublin. Article Name:Ireland backs down on hate speech laws Publication:The Daily Telegraph Author:By James Crisp Start Page:12 End Page:12")
Friday Total: 0
Saturday Total: 4
The Guardian [0]
The Times [0]
Daily Mail [2]
![Brianna Ghey’s courageous mum has forged an extraordinary friendship with the mother of the girl who savagely murdered her Daily Mail28 Sep 2024By Liz Hull Loving relationship: Esther Ghey with her daughter Brianna, who was stabbed to death in 2023 NOT even a year has passed since the two teenagers who brutally murdered her 16-year-old daughter Brianna were jailed. Yet, as I sit opposite Esther Ghey in her small, sun-dappled office, there is a light in her eyes one would never expect to see. For this remarkable mother refuses to be broken by grief, channelling unthinkable tragedy into a force for good – campaigning to stop the poison so freely available on the internet and social media from damaging young minds. And in her quest she has received support from the most unlikely source imaginable. For, working by her side in this tiny 10ft by 8ft space for a few hours each week is her new friend and fellow campaigner, Emma Sutton, the mother of Scarlett Jenkinson, one of her daughter’s killers. That Esther has formed a bond with Emma will be incomprehensible to many. After all, Jenkinson – just 15 at the time of the killing in February 2023 – and her accomplice Eddie Ratcliffe, also 15, planned Brianna’s murder in minutely chilling detail, stabbing her 28 times with a hunting knife in a Cheshire park. The ferocity of their frenzied attack shocked even seasoned police investigators. Yet to Esther, becoming friends with Emma was an outcome she’d hoped for after such a terrible event. ‘We’re just two mums who have faced, and are facing, the worst thing ever,’ Esther, 38, tells me in this exclusive interview. ‘What’s the use in carrying hate, or wanting to be bitter? It’s better to clear the air, to meet and understand you are more alike than you are different.’ She shrugs her shoulders and appears bewildered when I tell her that I, and no doubt many others, find her humanity and kindness extraordinary, insisting she is simply trying to navigate her own way through the most traumatic period of her life. ‘Emma didn’t do it, she’s not done anything wrong,’ she says. ‘Her child has put her in a horrific situation and she has to continue dealing with what’s happened. It’s not only me that lost a child that day. Emma did, too. We’ve both lost our children.’ While theirs is a genuine friendship, it’s also one with purpose. As part of her bid to highlight the dangers for young people online, next week Esther launches a Mail podcast, along with me, called Parents Vs The Internet, featuring conversations with experts, parents, teenagers and internet firms on how to better to protect children. WHILE Esther is the face of the campaign, Emma prefers to stay behind the scenes, working for a cause she feels equally passionate about. For, during the trial which led to Emma’s daughter, Scarlett, and Eddie Ratcliffe being imprisoned for 22 years and 20 years respectively, it was shocking how much the pair were influenced by disturbing content online. Jenkinson – who, heartbreakingly, was considered a friend by vulnerable Brianna, who was transgender – not only binged on horror films and became obsessed with serial killers, but also was inspired by real-life murder and torture ‘rooms’ on the dark web. The pair also planned the killing in chilling messages on WhatsApp and SnapChat, that caused revulsion when they were read aloud in court during the trial. Little wonder, then, in her statement to the court, Esther condemned her daughter’s killers: ‘The thought of Scarlett and Eddie being released from prison absolutely horrifies me. ‘I don’t believe that someone who is so disturbed and obsessed with murder and torture would ever be able to be rehabilitated. ‘I have moments where I feel sorry for them, because they have also ruined their own lives, but I have to remember that they felt no empathy for Brianna when they left her bleeding to death after their premeditated and vicious attack.’ But immediately after the 16-year-olds were convicted, Esther spoke on the steps of Manchester Crown Court, extraordinarily, calling for ‘empathy and compassion’ for their parents. She later mooted the idea of meeting Emma, 50, an ex-teacher. Considering the strength of her statement in court, it is even more remarkable that Esther today speaks warmly about having formed such a bond with Emma. ‘Meeting and working together has helped me and I think it has helped her, too. You can make stories up in your head, you can think the world is against you and that people are bad, or you can face your fears head-on and see that things aren’t actually how you might imagine. ‘Emma’s not an evil person. She was just as brave, coming here to meet me, I know she must have been absolutely terrified. ‘It’s made me realise and understand that she’s just a normal person who’s also going through a horrific time. I’m glad that I reached out and I’m glad that we’ve formed this friendship.’ When Esther discusses their first meeting, which took place in March, she is careful to respect Emma’s privacy. That said, she confesses that their initial meeting was ‘really emotional’. ‘There were tears on both sides and I could tell she was really worried about coming,’ Esther says. ‘We had it in this office. The fact that she managed to get through that door at all says a lot about her.’ Esther says she and Emma – who was accompanied by her brother – talked about how their lives had been affected following Brianna’s murder. She reflects: ‘It was a positive and respectful meeting, which allowed us initially to get to know each other. We discussed family and the challenges of parenting.’ Indeed, immediately after Jenkinson’s conviction, Emma and her wider family also made a statement in which they apologised for her actions and said their thoughts remained with Brianna and her family and friends. The statement went on to thank Esther directly for her ‘incredible selflessness and empathy towards our family… her compassion is overwhelming and we are forever grateful.’ Yet for all Esther’s evident grace, it’s still astonishing for her to be in the same room as Emma, after what her daughter did. ‘Maybe it is the mindfulness [a popular form of meditation which encourages you to focus on what you feel and are aware of in that moment] and the empathy that mindfulness gives you – the understanding that nobody’s perfect,’ she says. ‘I’m not perfect, everyone makes mistakes. And this isn’t Emma’s mistake to forgive.’ Both women, head down and determined, now work together – Esther sending impassioned emails to politicians, tech firms, mobile phone companies; Emma organising events and applying for grants to help raise funds – united in their shared goals of forcing social networking sites to adopt stricter controls and improving child mental health. ‘I do really feel social media is a beast that’s got out of control,’ Esther says. ‘I’ve spoken to a lot of people working at tech firms over the past few months. Many of them are on the same page now. They have children of their own and are concerned for them, too.’ For Esther, then, this is her new daily reality. Every morning, she makes the five-minute walk from her Warrington home to the business park where her office is situated. Her old job as a food technologist has been abandoned. But before she leaves the house, Esther opens Brianna’s bedroom door, and takes a moment to be with her daughter. Brianna’s ashes are kept in the room, in a pink casket. ‘I open the door every morning, every single day my day starts that way,’ she says. ‘Brianna’s room is painted bright pink, so when the sun comes through her window it gives a pink glow to the rest of the house. ‘She’s always there, in my mind. I never stop thinking about her but I don’t think about what happened to her. ‘I try to think about the good times and how she was. I choose to think about those memories and push her legacy to make sure something good comes out of the most traumatic, horrible situation. ‘I’m keeping her memory alive in a positive way by doing what I’m doing, that’s something that I find really comforting.’ Brianna was never more in her mind than this June, when Esther married her partner Wes Powell, 30, in a woodland ceremony, surrounded by 60 close family and friends. Esther, and her eldest daughter, Alisha, 19, who was a bridesmaid, wore pink flowers in their handmade flower crowns on the day, which they said was ‘for Brianna’. ‘It was a really lovely day,’ Esther says, smiling. ‘People were asking if we were going to have a picture of Brianna at the ceremony, but I couldn’t have anything that was too much of a reminder that she wasn’t there. I didn’t want to feel that sadness on the day.’ Indeed, she admits that, in the run-up to the event, she felt ‘really low’. ‘I wasn’t looking forward to it because Brianna loved weddings. I was dreading walking down the aisle and her not being there. ‘But then, on the actual day everybody was so happy it took that dread away. ‘I did get upset, there were a few tears when we said our vows, but then it was a lovely, lovely day.’ Throughout the troughs of her emotions, especially the dark days immediately after her daughter’s death, Esther says she’s relied on mindfulness to console her. It had already been a beneficial habit of hers for some eight years before Brianna’s murder. That understanding, and the crippling anxiety suffered by Brianna – who, although very popular online, struggled to leave her bedroom and socialise in the real world following the Covid pandemic – led to Esther’s decision to fundraise for the Mindfulness in Schools Project (MiSP). Key to her campaigning work is Peace & Mind UK, a community interest company (a limited entity that acts for the benefit of the community, rather than private shareholders) she set up. It has raised almost £90,000 and funded training for more than 100 mindfulness teachers in schools in her home town of Warrington alone. AROUND four of those are staff members at Brianna and Scarlett Jenkinson’s former school, Birchwood High. Esther, now an ambassador for MiSP, has seen mindfulness sessions in action at Birchwood High and really believes they can make a difference. ‘I struggled with my mental health when I was in my 20s after I’d had the kids,’ she confesses. While she prefers not to go into detail, she says: ‘At that time, I dealt with it in a very different way, in a way that wasn’t helpful to me or anybody else. ‘But I wasn’t taught what was going on in my mind or how to deal with it. I think if we get mindfulness into schools, maybe kids would learn how to regulate their emotions at a younger age. ‘It makes you more sensitive or aware of the way things are impacting on you negatively. ‘It made me much more patient with the kids, and more understanding and empathetic.’ Meanwhile, more than 121,000 people have now signed Esther’s petition calling for a change in the law to force mobile phone firms and social media giants to better protect children from harmful content online. She and Brianna had running battles over her daughter’s ‘addiction’ to her mobile phone and the risks Esther thought she was taking by talking to strangers on the internet. After Brianna’s death, Esther also discovered that her daughter, who was hospitalised with an eating disorder, had been accessing dangerous pro-anorexia and self-harm content on social media. OUR conversation is a timely one – we speak on the day Instagram announces plans to move tens of millions of 13 to 17-year-olds onto special ‘teen accounts’ with inbuilt content and messaging restrictions, ahead of stricter controls to be imposed on all social media firms when the new Online Safety Act comes into force in spring. Esther says: ‘For the first time they are admitting there is a problem, so it is welcome. ‘But my understanding is children will still be able to accept their own followers on these accounts. ‘From my experience, and from speaking to other parents, children want to look like they have got lots of followers, so they will accept strangers. That responsibility shouldn’t lie on their shoulders.’ Esther’s determination to channel her grief into a positive experience has led to her meeting Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and other senior politicians, the bosses of internet regulator, Ofcom, and senior executives at mobile phone firms. She is full of ideas and tells me her next project is finding someone to research exactly what age is appropriate for children to start looking at social media. There are so few studies on the subject and so many older teenagers have told her they were exposed to it too young, she says. Although she is busier than ever before, her marriage has given her much-needed emotional grounding. After their nuptials, she and Wes – who supports his wife’s zeal to change lives – had a brief honeymoon ‘in Scotland with the dogs’. But the break didn’t last long and she was back to work straight afterwards. I wonder whether the campaigning has become something of a crutch. Being so busy, surely, must make it easier to cope with her sense of loss? ‘I have good days and bad days,’ Esther says. ‘Focusing on these positive things I’m doing, and keeping myself busy, it really does genuinely help. ‘I can understand now why so many people go on to set up a charity when they lose someone. It keeps their memory alive. It helps.’ ■ TO DONATE to Esther’s campaigns, go to peaceandminduk.org You can start following Parents Vs The Internet podcast on Apple or Spotify Article Name:Brianna Ghey’s courageous mum has forged an extraordinary friendship with the mother of the girl who savagely murdered her Publication:Daily Mail Author:By Liz Hull Start Page:28 End Page:28](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F12e54b51-cb99-40bd-873c-cdb6486000dc_1157x722.png "Brianna Ghey’s courageous mum has forged an extraordinary friendship with the mother of the girl who savagely murdered her Daily Mail28 Sep 2024By Liz Hull Loving relationship: Esther Ghey with her daughter Brianna, who was stabbed to death in 2023 NOT even a year has passed since the two teenagers who brutally murdered her 16-year-old daughter Brianna were jailed. Yet, as I sit opposite Esther Ghey in her small, sun-dappled office, there is a light in her eyes one would never expect to see. For this remarkable mother refuses to be broken by grief, channelling unthinkable tragedy into a force for good – campaigning to stop the poison so freely available on the internet and social media from damaging young minds. And in her quest she has received support from the most unlikely source imaginable. For, working by her side in this tiny 10ft by 8ft space for a few hours each week is her new friend and fellow campaigner, Emma Sutton, the mother of Scarlett Jenkinson, one of her daughter’s killers. That Esther has formed a bond with Emma will be incomprehensible to many. After all, Jenkinson – just 15 at the time of the killing in February 2023 – and her accomplice Eddie Ratcliffe, also 15, planned Brianna’s murder in minutely chilling detail, stabbing her 28 times with a hunting knife in a Cheshire park. The ferocity of their frenzied attack shocked even seasoned police investigators. Yet to Esther, becoming friends with Emma was an outcome she’d hoped for after such a terrible event. ‘We’re just two mums who have faced, and are facing, the worst thing ever,’ Esther, 38, tells me in this exclusive interview. ‘What’s the use in carrying hate, or wanting to be bitter? It’s better to clear the air, to meet and understand you are more alike than you are different.’ She shrugs her shoulders and appears bewildered when I tell her that I, and no doubt many others, find her humanity and kindness extraordinary, insisting she is simply trying to navigate her own way through the most traumatic period of her life. ‘Emma didn’t do it, she’s not done anything wrong,’ she says. ‘Her child has put her in a horrific situation and she has to continue dealing with what’s happened. It’s not only me that lost a child that day. Emma did, too. We’ve both lost our children.’ While theirs is a genuine friendship, it’s also one with purpose. As part of her bid to highlight the dangers for young people online, next week Esther launches a Mail podcast, along with me, called Parents Vs The Internet, featuring conversations with experts, parents, teenagers and internet firms on how to better to protect children. WHILE Esther is the face of the campaign, Emma prefers to stay behind the scenes, working for a cause she feels equally passionate about. For, during the trial which led to Emma’s daughter, Scarlett, and Eddie Ratcliffe being imprisoned for 22 years and 20 years respectively, it was shocking how much the pair were influenced by disturbing content online. Jenkinson – who, heartbreakingly, was considered a friend by vulnerable Brianna, who was transgender – not only binged on horror films and became obsessed with serial killers, but also was inspired by real-life murder and torture ‘rooms’ on the dark web. The pair also planned the killing in chilling messages on WhatsApp and SnapChat, that caused revulsion when they were read aloud in court during the trial. Little wonder, then, in her statement to the court, Esther condemned her daughter’s killers: ‘The thought of Scarlett and Eddie being released from prison absolutely horrifies me. ‘I don’t believe that someone who is so disturbed and obsessed with murder and torture would ever be able to be rehabilitated. ‘I have moments where I feel sorry for them, because they have also ruined their own lives, but I have to remember that they felt no empathy for Brianna when they left her bleeding to death after their premeditated and vicious attack.’ But immediately after the 16-year-olds were convicted, Esther spoke on the steps of Manchester Crown Court, extraordinarily, calling for ‘empathy and compassion’ for their parents. She later mooted the idea of meeting Emma, 50, an ex-teacher. Considering the strength of her statement in court, it is even more remarkable that Esther today speaks warmly about having formed such a bond with Emma. ‘Meeting and working together has helped me and I think it has helped her, too. You can make stories up in your head, you can think the world is against you and that people are bad, or you can face your fears head-on and see that things aren’t actually how you might imagine. ‘Emma’s not an evil person. She was just as brave, coming here to meet me, I know she must have been absolutely terrified. ‘It’s made me realise and understand that she’s just a normal person who’s also going through a horrific time. I’m glad that I reached out and I’m glad that we’ve formed this friendship.’ When Esther discusses their first meeting, which took place in March, she is careful to respect Emma’s privacy. That said, she confesses that their initial meeting was ‘really emotional’. ‘There were tears on both sides and I could tell she was really worried about coming,’ Esther says. ‘We had it in this office. The fact that she managed to get through that door at all says a lot about her.’ Esther says she and Emma – who was accompanied by her brother – talked about how their lives had been affected following Brianna’s murder. She reflects: ‘It was a positive and respectful meeting, which allowed us initially to get to know each other. We discussed family and the challenges of parenting.’ Indeed, immediately after Jenkinson’s conviction, Emma and her wider family also made a statement in which they apologised for her actions and said their thoughts remained with Brianna and her family and friends. The statement went on to thank Esther directly for her ‘incredible selflessness and empathy towards our family… her compassion is overwhelming and we are forever grateful.’ Yet for all Esther’s evident grace, it’s still astonishing for her to be in the same room as Emma, after what her daughter did. ‘Maybe it is the mindfulness [a popular form of meditation which encourages you to focus on what you feel and are aware of in that moment] and the empathy that mindfulness gives you – the understanding that nobody’s perfect,’ she says. ‘I’m not perfect, everyone makes mistakes. And this isn’t Emma’s mistake to forgive.’ Both women, head down and determined, now work together – Esther sending impassioned emails to politicians, tech firms, mobile phone companies; Emma organising events and applying for grants to help raise funds – united in their shared goals of forcing social networking sites to adopt stricter controls and improving child mental health. ‘I do really feel social media is a beast that’s got out of control,’ Esther says. ‘I’ve spoken to a lot of people working at tech firms over the past few months. Many of them are on the same page now. They have children of their own and are concerned for them, too.’ For Esther, then, this is her new daily reality. Every morning, she makes the five-minute walk from her Warrington home to the business park where her office is situated. Her old job as a food technologist has been abandoned. But before she leaves the house, Esther opens Brianna’s bedroom door, and takes a moment to be with her daughter. Brianna’s ashes are kept in the room, in a pink casket. ‘I open the door every morning, every single day my day starts that way,’ she says. ‘Brianna’s room is painted bright pink, so when the sun comes through her window it gives a pink glow to the rest of the house. ‘She’s always there, in my mind. I never stop thinking about her but I don’t think about what happened to her. ‘I try to think about the good times and how she was. I choose to think about those memories and push her legacy to make sure something good comes out of the most traumatic, horrible situation. ‘I’m keeping her memory alive in a positive way by doing what I’m doing, that’s something that I find really comforting.’ Brianna was never more in her mind than this June, when Esther married her partner Wes Powell, 30, in a woodland ceremony, surrounded by 60 close family and friends. Esther, and her eldest daughter, Alisha, 19, who was a bridesmaid, wore pink flowers in their handmade flower crowns on the day, which they said was ‘for Brianna’. ‘It was a really lovely day,’ Esther says, smiling. ‘People were asking if we were going to have a picture of Brianna at the ceremony, but I couldn’t have anything that was too much of a reminder that she wasn’t there. I didn’t want to feel that sadness on the day.’ Indeed, she admits that, in the run-up to the event, she felt ‘really low’. ‘I wasn’t looking forward to it because Brianna loved weddings. I was dreading walking down the aisle and her not being there. ‘But then, on the actual day everybody was so happy it took that dread away. ‘I did get upset, there were a few tears when we said our vows, but then it was a lovely, lovely day.’ Throughout the troughs of her emotions, especially the dark days immediately after her daughter’s death, Esther says she’s relied on mindfulness to console her. It had already been a beneficial habit of hers for some eight years before Brianna’s murder. That understanding, and the crippling anxiety suffered by Brianna – who, although very popular online, struggled to leave her bedroom and socialise in the real world following the Covid pandemic – led to Esther’s decision to fundraise for the Mindfulness in Schools Project (MiSP). Key to her campaigning work is Peace & Mind UK, a community interest company (a limited entity that acts for the benefit of the community, rather than private shareholders) she set up. It has raised almost £90,000 and funded training for more than 100 mindfulness teachers in schools in her home town of Warrington alone. AROUND four of those are staff members at Brianna and Scarlett Jenkinson’s former school, Birchwood High. Esther, now an ambassador for MiSP, has seen mindfulness sessions in action at Birchwood High and really believes they can make a difference. ‘I struggled with my mental health when I was in my 20s after I’d had the kids,’ she confesses. While she prefers not to go into detail, she says: ‘At that time, I dealt with it in a very different way, in a way that wasn’t helpful to me or anybody else. ‘But I wasn’t taught what was going on in my mind or how to deal with it. I think if we get mindfulness into schools, maybe kids would learn how to regulate their emotions at a younger age. ‘It makes you more sensitive or aware of the way things are impacting on you negatively. ‘It made me much more patient with the kids, and more understanding and empathetic.’ Meanwhile, more than 121,000 people have now signed Esther’s petition calling for a change in the law to force mobile phone firms and social media giants to better protect children from harmful content online. She and Brianna had running battles over her daughter’s ‘addiction’ to her mobile phone and the risks Esther thought she was taking by talking to strangers on the internet. After Brianna’s death, Esther also discovered that her daughter, who was hospitalised with an eating disorder, had been accessing dangerous pro-anorexia and self-harm content on social media. OUR conversation is a timely one – we speak on the day Instagram announces plans to move tens of millions of 13 to 17-year-olds onto special ‘teen accounts’ with inbuilt content and messaging restrictions, ahead of stricter controls to be imposed on all social media firms when the new Online Safety Act comes into force in spring. Esther says: ‘For the first time they are admitting there is a problem, so it is welcome. ‘But my understanding is children will still be able to accept their own followers on these accounts. ‘From my experience, and from speaking to other parents, children want to look like they have got lots of followers, so they will accept strangers. That responsibility shouldn’t lie on their shoulders.’ Esther’s determination to channel her grief into a positive experience has led to her meeting Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and other senior politicians, the bosses of internet regulator, Ofcom, and senior executives at mobile phone firms. She is full of ideas and tells me her next project is finding someone to research exactly what age is appropriate for children to start looking at social media. There are so few studies on the subject and so many older teenagers have told her they were exposed to it too young, she says. Although she is busier than ever before, her marriage has given her much-needed emotional grounding. After their nuptials, she and Wes – who supports his wife’s zeal to change lives – had a brief honeymoon ‘in Scotland with the dogs’. But the break didn’t last long and she was back to work straight afterwards. I wonder whether the campaigning has become something of a crutch. Being so busy, surely, must make it easier to cope with her sense of loss? ‘I have good days and bad days,’ Esther says. ‘Focusing on these positive things I’m doing, and keeping myself busy, it really does genuinely help. ‘I can understand now why so many people go on to set up a charity when they lose someone. It keeps their memory alive. It helps.’ ■ TO DONATE to Esther’s campaigns, go to peaceandminduk.org You can start following Parents Vs The Internet podcast on Apple or Spotify Article Name:Brianna Ghey’s courageous mum has forged an extraordinary friendship with the mother of the girl who savagely murdered her Publication:Daily Mail Author:By Liz Hull Start Page:28 End Page:28")
Telegraph [2]
Sunday Total: 1
Observer [0]
Sunday Times [0]
Mail on Sunday [1]
Sunday Telegraph [0]
TRANSWRITES YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED
Mridul Wadhwa quits Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre after sustained anti-trans campaign against her, by Gemma Stone
“Transitions The Unheard Stories” review; A useful resource hampered by an inconcise introduction, by Laura Kate Dale
Enraged industry professionals slam The Bookseller for promoting anti-trans social media accounts, by Gemma Stone
When was the T added to LGBT? A quick history, by Sarah Clarke
Trans people are the greatest assault on women in JK Rowling’s life time, apparently, by Gemma Stone
The 32 things The Cass Review recommends and why they are concerning, by Gemma Stone.
NHS & puberty blockers: Former GIDS patients reflect on long wait times, invasive assessments, by Sasha Baker.
The Cass Review: A government-sanctioned attack on trans lives, by Lee Hurley.
SUPPORT THE TRANS AGENDA
Tired of the same old news narratives? Get 'The Trans Agenda' delivered right to your inbox – news with the trans community at the forefront. Subscribe now!
The Trans Agenda also needs your help. Your donation powers my reporting efforts, amplifying trans voices and keeps you in the know. Support independent trans journalism. Help keep in-depth reporting in 'The Trans Agenda' available and accessible by donating today!
CALL FOR STORIES
Seen something newsworthy related to the trans community in the UK? Send me a tip! I’m always looking for leads and underreported stories.