Emma Kirk

Currently being bossed by newborn twins.

Passionate about Hidden Harm, empowering young people, Women's football, Nature and dogs.

[David Challen @David_Challen]

A soldier, a nurse, a lorry driver, a builder, a baker… these are just some of the men accused of the rape and assault of Gisèle Pelicot. By labelling rapists as “monsters,” we actively distance them from ordinary men, ignoring the reality that sexual violence against women is a deliberate choice made by countless men who walk all parts of our society.

Such labels prevent us from confronting the truth this trial now holds up to the world: that many men walk freely in our communities, appearing trusted and safe, yet actively choose to commit acts of violence against women and girls…

Many of the men accused in this trial have attempted to normalise their acts of sexual violence by framing their behaviour as a misunderstanding of consent, and even a reaction to personal struggles. These excuses do not mitigate their actions. Some of the men conceded they ‘should have left’ when they saw Gisèle Pelicot was unconscious, whilst others have been more explicit in their views towards women earlier in life, “I had a hatred towards women.”

This normalisation by these men of their violent behaviours creates a disturbing disparity, minimising the seriousness of their crimes and shifting focus away from the harm of the victim. One of the men accused went as far to state he was ‘was simply following her husband’s instructions,’ going as far to directly tell Gisèle Pelicot in court:

“It’s not me you should be angry with, it’s your husband,”

This is an abhorrent case. Yet, it is an incredible survivor, Gisèle Pelicot, who in choosing to waive her anonymity now holds these ‘ordinary’ men up to the world, to show the full extent of the crimes. To stare down that the men who committed these acts were characters who occupied the community in her life, even ones she unwittingly greeted in her everyday life:

“I saw him now and then in the bakery; I would say hello. I never thought he’d come and rape me,”
- Gisèle Pelicot

➡️ https://t.co/bJkQkU1voG

[𝒫🍪𝓏𝓏𝓎𝒲𝑜𝓏𝓏𝓎 @PozzyWozzy]

"There's been a Muhrder!"
The judge at Plymouth Crown Court to John Cann, aged 51 of Plymouth.

[Ian Dunt @IanDunt]

Take it in. The first female chancellor. The first housing secretary who's actually lived in social housing. The first education secretary who was on free school meals. An energy secretary who actually believes in aggressively fighting climate change. Not a bad afternoon.

[Dr Rachel Clarke @doctor_oxford]

So true. As a palliative care doctor I now find myself routinely having to have end-of-life conversations with elderly patients on trolleys in corridors. It’s unimaginably undignified & wrong,

And it didn’t used to be like this.

14 years of Tory policies have savaged the NHS.

[Nick Davies @NJ_Davies]

For reference, the £2.5bn annual cost of the Conservatives new national service policy is roughly twice as much as would be needed to return local authority spending on services for young people back to the level it was in 2010

[Andy Burnham @andyburnham]

The national service we need from our young people is to vote for change on 4th July. 🗳️

[Emma Kirk @sharpey07]

Hahaha I l stand by this (and born after then) last week's illness was cured by lucozade! Growing up the only way I knew my mum was ill was a big bottle of lucozade in the fridge 😂

[Doctor Andromeda @cygnus_dr]

Everyone born in the UK before 1987 thinks Lucozade is a medicine.

[Dr Iain Overton @iainoverton]

“I’ll expect you to feed me, bathe me, brush my hair, hold my hand, recognise me when I have ceased to recognise myself and be the last human touch I may feel before I die.

But I do not think, at the same time, that you deserve a family life.”

[Zarah Sultana MP @zarahsultana]

I'm struggling to think of a more grotesque spectacle than our super-rich Prime Minister – whose fortune is estimated to be £529,000,000 – making a £1,000 bet that he will deport people seeking asylum before the next election.

He's gambling over people's lives. It's sickening.

[Ben Smoke @bencsmoke]

two rich men gambling over the lives of vulnerable, traumatised people in desperate need of our help (and legally entitled to it) perfectly encapsulates britain in 2024.

[Peter Stefanovic @PeterStefanovi2]

An unelected Prime Minister with no mandate is planning to introduce emergency legislation to disapply human rights laws & threatens to join Russia & Belarus outside the European convention on human rights. That’s what UK news shows should be reporting

[Ghassan Abu Sitta, Chair of Conflict Medicine AUB @GhassanAbuSitt1]

1 in every 200 people in Gaza has been killed. In 40 days.

[Jess Phillips @jessphillips]

Just a little reminder that Government have spent more money on the failed Rwanda scheme than it did on domestic abuse refuges for women and children.

[Feryal Clark MP @FeryalClark]

16 Housing Ministers in 13 years

8 Home Secretary’s in 8 years

6 Education Secretary’s in 4 years

5 Chancellor’s in 4 years

4 Health Secretary’s in 2 years

3 Prime Ministers in a year.

The list could go on.

This circus show govt should not.

We need a General Election now.

[Caroline Lucas @CarolineLucas]

How are elected MPs to directly question a Foreign Sec who can’t stand at Commons dispatch box? Are major foreign policy statements to be made in unelected House of Lords now? This is unacceptable degrading of key office of state & Commons must have primacy #GeneralElectionNow

[Led By Donkeys @ByDonkeys]

Fascists storming the Cenotaph on Armistice Day.

Braverman should resign.

[Crisis @crisis_uk]

Sleeping on the streets is NOT a lifestyle choice. We don’t have nearly enough affordable homes, rents are soaring and this is leaving people destitute and forced to sleep rough.
This is a consequence of poverty. And poverty in this country has been exacerbated by policy choices