Police must act now to stop protest thugs

FOR years, when out buying toys for my boys at Christmas, I would fume at the way they were displayed. The boys’ toys section was always black, mechanical and industrial; the girls’ was pink and full of dollies, pretend vacuum cleaners and stoves. Three cheers for Lego, which has promised to end gender stereotyping in its products. It’s a start. Toys should just be toys. That’s all!

I HAVE watched in disgust as Professor Kathleen Stock of Sussex University has been physically threatened by student trans activists because she has dared to express what most of us know to be a fact — it is possible to change the gender with which you identify, but you can’t change your biological sex. There are two sexes: male and female. For this she’s been branded transphobic. Despite the support of her vice-chancellor, who defended her right to free speech, she does not have the backing of the lecturers’ union which ‘extended solidarity to all trans and non-binary members of our community’. She now fears her career at the university has effectively been ended. All of us who have expressed gender-critical beliefs have suffered online abuse, but something far more terrifying is happening here. Professor Stock says the police implied she should hire bodyguards or teach only from home. She shouldn’t need to. It’s the vicious students who need to be stopped. Threats are now moving off the internet and on to the street. On Sunday, Jeremy Vine’s home was targeted by anti-vaxx protesters who disagreed with the BBC’s support of vaccination, and handed his wife an ‘antivaxx writ’. Chris Packham had dead animals left at his gate by those who disagree with his opposition to blood sports, and a Land Rover was torched outside his home. It’s madness. There is a right to free speech and protest. But there is no right to threaten violence. The police need to arrest these thugs for intimidation, whether they’re students, hunters or daftly think vaccination is a bad idea. And we must stand by those who are silenced and protect them.