sasha baker

@sasha98

freelance investigative journalist, 2024 British Journalism Awards shortlist fact-checker & subeditor @tbij.bsky.social they/them

1537 Siguiendo1988 Seguidores852 Publicaciones

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sasha baker@sasha98· 28d

This guy?

Matthew Parris byline photo. Headline: It's time we stopped pandering to Travellers. Subhead: Indulging those who claim to be nomads by giving them designated sites and ethnic minority status has gone too far.

sasha baker@sasha98· 29d

We do so little terrorism on the left they just lump it in with ‘misc’.

Investigators are considering whether leftwing, anarchist and single-issue terrorism (LASIT) played a role in the suspect’s alleged motivation, but are keeping an open mind as new material emerges.

sasha baker@sasha98· Jul 13

From the above screenshot it sounds like he's proud of his role. Makes you wonder why he'd lie about the far-right's role in organising the protests, and the fact that there was an arson attack (not just a threat) – and the person charged reportedly attended several of the protests.

The case seems to be: I posted this --> the Sun and the Mail run stories along the same lines with similar pictures a week later --> protests begin --> far-right groups get involved --> one person threatens arson --> ergo, it's all Max Tempers’ fault?

sasha baker@sasha98· Jul 13

In a coda to this, Tempers never responded to my request for comment when I gave him the chance to, but he did block me on X and post a screenshot of this post (though because X blocks are fake I can still see it. The comments are predictably full of transphobia & antisemitism I won't share here.

Bizarre hit piece in this new left publication, where I'm attacked as "far right" and "racist" for my (hitherto quite underappreciated) contribution to bringing the Thistle Barbican migrant hotel and the illegal working epidemic to national salience last year.

sasha baker@sasha98· Jun 25

1. There's a massive carve-out for healthcare providers. It's clear the government knows that NHS healthcare for trans people – especially trans kids – would otherwise meet their definition of conversion practices, so it's falling back on professional norms established by transphobic clinicians.

a transgender identity or a particular transgender identity.

(3) Conduct which—

(a) is carried out by a person towards an individual with such an intention, but
(b) is carried out in the course of providing health care services to the individual concerned,

is not a conversion practice unless the person acts in a way that falls far below the standards reasonably expected of a person in their position.

sasha baker@sasha98· Apr 3

And the equally baffling following sentence...

For those receiving care, treatment continues, but for others, these changes have understandably created uncertainty and fear about what support will look like in the future.

sasha baker@sasha98· Mar 20

Did an anon Labour source tell the FT that the party now has fewer members than the Greens under @zackpolanski.bsky.social? www.ft.com/content/49fe...

Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email licensing@ft.com to buy additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. More information can be found at https://help.ft.com/faq/gifting-and-sharing-an-article/what-is-a-gift-article/.
https://www.ft.com/content/49fe3d0d-9cb6-41a0-9730-249e6eb7d04b?syn-25a6b1a6=1

Rayner wrote a memo last year urging Reeves to raise taxes by up to £4bn a year, including raising corporation tax rates for banks and pushing more people into the top tax band. Her allies admit the party is feeling the heat from the Greens to move left: “We have what I thought we would never see in my lifetime, a large-membership party — with more members than us — outflanking us from the left,” one says.

sasha baker@sasha98· Mar 17

And even this is extremely conservative and favourable to tech. Couldn't find UK research on this, but an Australian survey shows the vast majority of authors don't want to licence their work for AI training, regardless of payment.

sasha baker@sasha98· Jan 22

We have ICE in the UK. They do everything ICE in America did up till a few months ago, and if you think what ICE is now doing in America can't happen here I have a bridge to sell you. And no – they're not regular police. They work directly for the Home Office.

A group of home office ICE officers, pictured from the back with 'immigration enforcement' visible on their vests

sasha baker@sasha98· Nov 14

When I complained to the BBC about the journalist in question uncritically platforming a group that engages in transphobic child abuse, their Executive Complaints Unit told me that's just an "opinion" (though not one they felt the need to reflect) so it's fine, actually.

Complaint: The article quoted "Annabel" a member of Bayswater Support Group, a conversion therapy advocacy group engaged in child abuse, as if she were a normal parent of a trans child.

I wrote this article in July this year detailing the ways in which parents in this group abuse their trans children.
https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2024-07-02/one-day-they-may-thank-us-for-that-abuse-inside-the-bayswater-support-group/

It is an unconscionable failure of journalistic ethics that the BBC should be in any context platforming a group whose members have been found to among other things: blocked their children’s access to Childline; refused to get a child support from a rape crisis centre after a sexual assault for fear it may be 'affirming'; prevented children from accessing all mental health support of any kind for fear it may be 'affirming'; forced an adult trans child into safe housing for LGBT+ victims of abuse and then cheated them out of inheritance from another relative to prevent them using it for transition care (and then mocked them online to other parents); taken children out of school to isolate them from supportive peers and teachers; destroyed pride-themed items and clothes and joked about it to other parents; destroyed children's phones; and sent children to conversion therapists.

The article should be removed in its entirety, an apology issued to the victims of abuse at the hands of this group, and the BBC should reconsider working with this journalist again.

Response: I appreciate you are concerned about Annabel’s association with the Bayswater Support Group because of the views expressed by some of its members on social media and because, in your view, it promotes “conversion therapy and child abuse”. However, I assume you would accept that description may be contested by some others. The BBC’s role in such cases is not to determine who, if anyone, is right but to reflect an appropriate range of views and to support the kind of exchange of ideas which can help to inform public debate. When this involves individuals or organisations whose views are regarded by some as objectionable or extreme, the test for the BBC is whether referring to them is editorially justified when judged in the relevant context. The contribution from Annabel appeared under a section with the sub-title “What parents say” and she was described as part of “a collection of parents with children who are questioning their gender who say they are ‘wary of medical solutions to gender dysphoria’ and has welcomed a government ban on puberty blockers”. The article explained she “began looking into puberty blockers when her own daughter began questioning her gender in her early teens, an option put on the table by GIDS”.

In my opinion, this gave readers sufficient information to judge her contribution and make an informed assessment of the reasons why she is concerned about the use of puberty blockers for young people with gender dysphoria. She is, of course, entitled to hold an opinion with which others may disagree and it was clear from the contribution which followed from Dr Natacha Kennedy that others do hold an entirely different view on the potential impact of a ban on puberty blockers. I am not in a position to know whether or not Annabel agrees with the kind of comments highlighted in the article you wrote for the Bureau of Investigative Journalism but there was nothing in her contribution which, I think, would reasonably support such an inference.

Exerpt from reporting on Bayswater:
The posts seen by TBIJ show Bayswater parents discussing how their treatment of their trans children has led to them being reported to social services.

One posted that a school counsellor made a referral because “my [child] is fearful living in our home, we have refused to buy [them] certain (boys) clothes and we restrained [them]”. A subsequent post noted the child was “not concerned that Mum and Dad have been referred to social services”.

Members are aware that some of their behaviour is considered abuse. One user posted a link to an article about anti-LGBTQ+ domestic abuse, with the caption: “Examples include monitoring interaction with friends. Imagine it also includes refusal to affirm.”

Another parent sarcastically responded “Yes, we are abusive!”, with the original commenter retorting: “One day, they may thank us for that ‘abuse’”.

A Bayswater committee member admitted on the forum that her trans child, a young adult, was living in accommodation for LGBTQ+ abuse survivors, which she called “a church for the gender faithful”. Other posts reveal she prevented them from taking hormones at home, and took steps to ensure any money they inherited could not be used for transition care.

Some of the behaviours described on Bayswater’s Discord server “could be considered abusive, depending on the context,” said Dr Adam Jowett, the lead author of a government-commissioned report on conversion practices.

sasha baker@sasha98· Nov 7

After the report has already been introduced, the interview with me comes in. When I spoke to the host and producer I told them that Sullivan's own data shows that pro-trans people were more likely to experience barriers to research than anti-trans people Proof:

A table outlining 17 different types of barriers to research that people who submitted evidence to the Sullivan report say they experienced. Pro-trans academics were more likely than anti-trans people to experience 16 of the 17 barriers.

sasha baker@sasha98· Aug 6

The world's biggest company enabling a genocide through the use of data storage technology: where have I heard that before?

The book cover of 'IBM and the Holocaust' by Edwin Black

sasha baker@sasha98· Jul 18

A first-person piece from a Bayswater parent in @thetimes.com

It seems she’s no longer involved with online trans communities. I suspect that something scary happened on social media because she went off it — but I don’t know what. But I have come to hear that it’s common for adults to try to make sexual contact with trans children online. They’re more vulnerable and confused than others, and many have already cut off contact with families so they’re isolated.

I know this now because I came across Bayswater on Twitter. It’s a support group for the parents of trans-identified adolescents and young people, and it was the first place where I wasn’t considered a conspiracy theorist. There are more than 600 families there, in shock at their children being taken from them.

sasha baker@sasha98· Jul 18

@telegraphnews.bsky.social on the Nottingham CYP gender service

A spokesman from Bayswater Support Group, which advocates for evidence-based care on behalf of 600 families with trans-identifying children, said: “It is alarming to hear that despite Cass and NHS England distancing themselves from WPATH due its lack of credibility, its treatment guidelines are still being referenced as ‘essential’ knowledge for working with children at one of the new centres”.

sasha baker@sasha98· Jul 18

‪@bbcnewslive.bsky.social‬ on the puberty blockers medical trial

Many parents are watching closely to see how it will play out. Annabel (not her real name) is one of them. She is part of the Bayswater Group, a collection of parents with children who are questioning their gender who say they are "wary of medical solutions to gender dysphoria" and has welcomed a government ban on puberty blockers. She began looking into puberty blockers when her own daughter began questioning her gender in her early teens, an option put on the table by GIDS.

Ultimately her daughter decided not to take them. Annabel was not convinced there was enough evidence to show they were beneficial and she was unsure what it would mean for her daughter's long-term physical and psychological health.

Today, she still has unanswered questions - including some further ones around the trial. "A big concern for me is will this new trial, if it gets approval, give us the evidence that we want? Or will we end up with more weak data that Dr Cass said undermined decision making in this area?"

sasha baker@sasha98· Jul 18

@gbnewsonline.bsky.social on the lawsuit to ban cross-sex hormones for under-18s

Bayswater Support - a group of parents sceptical of their children's transgender identity, also part of the legal case, last night accused the Government of a “scandalous oversight” in failing to protect youngsters from what it describes as potentially devastating medical interventions.

A spokesman said: “Bayswater Support is bringing this case to protect children from accessing cross-sex hormones and to ensure they receive the same protection from harm that is already in place with the permanent ban on puberty blockers.”

“There is no good evidence these drugs improve mental health, but it is certain they degrade physical health,” the spokesman added.

“We do not believe children can consent to the irreversible changes caused by these hormones.”

sasha baker@sasha98· Jul 18

@gbnewsonline.bsky.social on the NHS paying for top surgery

A spokesman for Bayswater Support Group said: “There is a particular cruelty for parents in finding that taxpayers are funding mastectomies on thousands of women who have been misled into believing this will be the answer to their psychological distress.”

They claimed: “The devastation of seeing your daughter harmed in this way is impossible to describe.”

sasha baker@sasha98· Jul 18

@thesun.co.uk on making all trans kids get autism and ADHD assessments

The Bayswater Support Group, representing families with trans children, said: “The more careful and holistic assessment by the NHS is welcome.”

sasha baker@sasha98· Jul 18

@economist.com on the puberty blockers trial

Others worry about the practicalities. The best clinical trials are blinded, in which neither doctors nor patients know who is receiving the treatment and who is not. But the effects of puberty blockers are dramatic enough to make blinding impossible. What’s more, children with gender dysphoria have higher-than-normal rates of anxiety, depression and autism-spectrum disorders, all of which can muddy a trial’s results. The Bayswater Support Group, an organisation for parents of gender-dysphoric children, argues that two years is too short a follow-up time for a treatment with lifelong effects.

sasha baker@sasha98· Jul 17

Very disappointed to see @theguardian.com quoting Bayswater Support Group on the new RSHE guidance. I have emailed to complain. Hopefully they take it slightly more seriously than the BBC did.

It has been broadly welcomed by school leaders, but some campaigners have expressed concerns about “watering down” earlier proposals on gender.

Helen Joyce, director of advocacy at Sex Matters, said: “It’s a big shame that the Department for Education has watered down sections of the draft guidance it inherited from the previous government which sought to counter the trans activist positions adopted by many schools over the past decade.”

Bayswater, a support group for “parents of trans-identified adolescents and young people”, said: “The new RSHE guidance fails to address the serious safeguarding issues around teaching gender identity to children.

“As well as significantly weakening the clarity offered by the earlier draft guidance, this version introduces topics which are likely to be harmful to vulnerable children. For example, direct teaching about suicide may actually undermine suicide prevention strategies.”

sasha baker@sasha98· Jun 17

GCs be feminist for 5 minutes challenge: level impossible

Kathleen Stock responds to a tweet from Miriam Cates opposing the amendments to decriminalise abortion: "I think a lot of women are uncomfortable with this extreme proposal but son't want to say so for fear of drawing the ire of a small number of feminists who (in my view) are quite fanatical about abortion as an issue. I have no doubt that my posting this will do the same but I don't care :). Just for the record, I think this is very wrong.

Susanna Rustin responding to Nikki da Costa opposing Stella Creasy's amendment to decriminalise abortion. I thought I supported abortion decriminalisation as propsed by amendments. But hadn't considered women being exposed to a new risk - of coerced late abortions at home - as unintended consequence of removing tisk of prosecution...?

sasha baker@sasha98· Jun 5

If one of the members of the Women and Equalities Select Committee (below) is your MP, write to them and express your opposition to Mary-Ann Stephenson as EHRC chair. Say that Stephenson's anti-trans beliefs make her unsuitable, and the appointee should support everyone's human rights.

Sarah Owen (L), David Burton-Sampson (L), Catherine Fookes (L), Samantha Niblett (L), Alex Brewer (LD), Rosie Duffield (I), Natalie Fleet (L), Christine Jardine (LD), Rebecca Paul (C)

sasha baker@sasha98· May 14

The least defensive response I've seen to Pride banning political parties from anyone in politics. People whining about their right to march with Labour or Lib Dem signage: take note.

Scottish Greens co-leader and Glasgow MSP Patrick Harvie (below) said he was ashamed of how some politicians are letting down the city.

He said: “As both a politician and someone who has been out since before my first election and has never shied away from standing up to prejudice, I feel ashamed of how politics in this country is letting down my own community.

“I am of course disappointed at this decision, but the betrayal of our human rights by most political parties is the cause of this horrendous situation, and I fully respect the right of Pride organisers to make this decision.

“Greens have stood solid against the current wave of prejudice, and will continue to do so. But it is now abundantly clear that the community has lost trust in political parties more broadly, and I urge those in leadership positions across the spectrum, and members of all parties who do support LGBTQ+ people's human rights, to put their house in order."

sasha baker@sasha98· Apr 12

Unclear, unfortunately

At present, there is no locally agreed and appropriately funded enhanced service for the shared
care of prescribing hormones or blood monitoring of Trans patients in Northern Ireland. Ideally,
a shared care arrangement between the GP practice and the gender service for the initiation and
ongoing monitoring of hormones would provide the best and safest practice based on current
guidelines. Hormone treatment in Northern Ireland is presently arranged and monitored by the
gender clinic and endocrinology. Patients may opt to self-medicate with hormones and/or
anti-androgens so it is useful to ask them directly about this as it can adversely impact on their
health and wellbeing. Sudden discontinuation of an established hormone is likely to cause
psychological consequences. The Royal College of Psychiatrists guidelines suggest patients
presenting on illicit hormones could be issued a bridging prescription by their GP while they
await assessment at a Gender Identity Service. The GMC has also issued guidance on the
matter.
The GMC advise that a GP should only consider issuing a bridging prescription in cases where
all the following criteria are met:
a. the patient is already self-prescribing with hormones obtained from an unregulated source
(over the internet or otherwise on the black market)
b. the bridging prescription is intended to mitigate a risk of self-harm or suicide
c. the doctor has sought the advice of a gender specialist, and prescribes the lowest acceptable
dose in the circumstances
Advice on hormone bridging prescriptions can always be sought from the Gender Service or
Endocrinology. There is also an RCGP learning module on gender variance.

sasha baker@sasha98· Apr 10

If you are a trans adult who has been through an NHS GIC and your GP is refusing to enter a shared care agreement, please make a GMC complaint about them (except in NI - rules are different there). The GMC is clear that GPs cannot simply toss trans patients aside citing 'incompetence' as an excuse.

Prescribing on the recommendation of a specialist and establishing shared care

If you're a GP, collaborate with a gender specialist service to provide effective and timely care for your transgender and gender diverse patients. This may include:

prescribing medicines on the recommendation of a specialist service provider, and
following recommendations for safety and treatment monitoring.

GPs in England, Wales and Scotland can work under Shared Care Agreements, or through an Enhanced service, set up between specialist service providers and practices to provide joint care for patients. This is set out by the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) in their information on transgender care. However, it is reasonable for a GP to expect the specialist service provider to remain available to provide support and advice where necessary.

Where those working for a specialist service provider are unable to demonstrate that they are suitably qualified, doctors are not obliged to follow their recommendations. As Good medical practice, paragraph 7d says – you must only prescribe drugs if you are satisfied they meet the patient’s needs.

It would not, however, be acceptable to simply refuse to treat the patient. Instead, we would advise you to:

Discuss your concerns with your patient and carefully assess their needs
Seek to understand their concerns and preferences
Consult more experienced colleagues or service leads and provide care in line with the guidance in Good medical practice

81. If you are uncertain about your competence to take responsibility for the patient’s continuing care, you should ask for further information or advice from the clinician who is sharing care responsibilities or from another experienced colleague. If you are still not satisfied, you should explain this to the other clinician and to the patient, and make appropriate arrangements for their continuing care.

sasha baker@sasha98· Apr 2

They condemned the language, but not the general sentiment, which they endorse wholeheartedly

Text from a Guardian article:

An investigation has been launched after a racist message was reportedly “blasted out” on portable radios used by Home Office contractors at an asylum processing centre.

The deeply offensive broadside, saying “fuck off you [N-word]s, go back to where you came from”, was reportedly heard at the Manston processing site for small boat arrivals in Kent.

The Home Office and its contractors Mitie have condemned the language used.

sasha baker@sasha98· Mar 31

I don't know what to say anymore. What does it mean to "crack down" on people legally coming to the UK to work/study and then legally claiming asylum? And staying in the ECHR was a Labour manifesto commitment, yet another one they seem set to abandon.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper signalled she wanted to crack down on the number of people who had arrived in the UK on a student or work visa and had gone on to claim asylum

The Government is reviewing how Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), the right to family life, applies to migration cases, Cooper said. Several deportation attempts have been halted by how the ECHR clause has been interpreted in UK law

sasha baker@sasha98· Feb 19

The BBC's Executive Complaints' Unit has responded to my complaint about their platforming of Bayswater Support Group in December 🤡

sasha baker@sasha98· Feb 5

Far from the first instance of affirmative action for racist murderers. Conservatives love that shit.

In 1951 several laws were passed, ending the denazification. Officials were allowed to retake jobs in the civil service, and hiring quotas were established for these previously-excluded individuals,[102] with the exception of people assigned to Group I (Major Offenders) and II (Offenders) during the denazification review process. These individuals were referred to as "131-ers", after Article 131 of Federal Republic’s Basic Law.[103][104]

In 1957, 77% of the German Ministry of Justice's senior officials were former Nazi Party members.[106] Included in this ministry was Franz Massfeller, a former Nazi official who had participated in the meetings which followed the Wannsee Conference, in which the extermination of Jews was planned. [107]

sasha baker@sasha98· Feb 1

The ministerial meetings records released on Thursday (after we filed copy) show Streeting met with Bayswater again in government, less than a month after we revealed the extent of their abuse and links to Tory politicians.