One of the ‘be kind’ crew (note my side eye - that’s me in the orange shirt)
Well, what a day! I wrote up my thoughts on it all for the Telegraph newspaper (will post link on here when it’s out) but for now, here’s a particularly strange and unnerving event that happened just after I arrived, with the lovely Michael Kerr and Mr Menno, at the meeting point.
Vivienne Taylor, who I wrote about here, approached me on Saturday. It was quite a coincidence that we were in such close proximity in a crowd of well over 100,000. I was also quite taken aback that he recognised me. The only time Taylor has ever, as far as I know, seen me was fleetingly, on the courtroom press bench, as he was being sentenced, in March this year. I was also surprised that he had read my article, published only on my Substack.
It was as if he had appeared out of nowhere.
Anyway, as you may recall (do refresh your memory by clicking the link above), Taylor was sent to prison for stalking Tina Rashid, the surgeon that carried out his castration. He was not happy with my interpretation of events, but agreed to a chat. Here it is. There are a few stand-out, jaw-dropping moments for me. Let me know your thoughts. I have other videos from the day which I will drop throughout the week.
I felt some considerable sympathy for Vivienne - whilst at the same time condemning his dreadful crimes.
I was surprised that he admits to being mentally unwell, he admits to the stalking and said he needed support he didn't get, his statement that he admired his surgeon as the first female surgeon in gender affirmation (that was a big surprise), when he said that he stalked as a woman because he lived in the gender of a woman, when he said he sent his surgeon emails saying he was going to batter her and his admission of threatening to rape, his admission of needing more assessment, and his openness with you. You were very gentle with him, and it seems like you probably showed more care than any of the medical personnel he encountered.