I am afraid it is beyond doubt that Jolyon Maugham blocks women who challenge him because what he says is wrong - and he must on some level know this. Or why not defend what he says?

This is - and I am sorry to be so blunt about a senior member of my profession - a lie.

The very essence of Gillick competence is that it must be determined on a case by case basis. It is the individual child who matters. Also children over 16 may give full consent to medical treatment as if they were adults - unless of course they lack capacity under MHA.

The most charitable interpretation of Maugham’s remarks is that he has stepped outside his expertise, has only crude understanding, and attempts to protect this out of arrogance.

The least charitable is that he has deliberately published something he knows to be untrue.

Either way. He publishes as a senior member of the Bar. As Queen’s Counsel. Many reading this will be impressed by that - as they should be. It should be a mark of quality, something to rely on.

I am very sorry that Maugham debases this.

Will he answer this woman? He is wrong. He needs to correct himself. This is a public platform and dissemination of untruth is a serious business.

https://twitter.com/lucyrimmer5/status/1274586660588699658?s=21 https://twitter.com/lucyrimmer5/status/1274586660588699658

In order for anyone to provide valid consent to surgery they must understand the nature of it and it’s risks. There is no necessary concensus of understanding around puberty blockers, hormones and surgery.

If the law is changed to prevent administration of drugs or genital mutilation of children, for the purpose of ‘sex reassignment’, this will have nothing whatsoever to do with the ability of a 14 year old girl to seek contraception or consent to abortion.

The first is a dangerous, experimental treatment in pursuit of a currently fashionable ideology. The others are tried and tested and have obvious benefits. Pregnancy and birth are not generally positive things for young girls.

I can only hope that Maugham’s increasingly ham fisted attempts to rewrite the law, demonstrates a real and growing fear amongst this group that their time is up.

I don’t ask anyone to take my word for it. The important thing is now to see how the courts respond.