V A

[J Stewart @triffic_stuff_]

😤 FURIOUS Maggie Oliver takes the gloves off and directly points the finger at Andy Burnham for blocking action on grooming gangs: “Do something! Stop making empty promises!”

I’ve rarely seen Maggie Oliver so angry and so willing to call out politicians by name. Bear in mind she has a relationship with Andy Burnham going back years, that alone tells you just how furious she is right now, and she has every right to be. The public is right behind her.

Asked by Wilfred Frost whether she is pointing the finger at Burnham for years of promises after local and national reviews, and whether his words are empty, Maggie let him know in no uncertain terms:

“I am pointing the finger! This week he’s talking about the Russell Brand case and David Walliams and saying that the stories of these victims in those cases will bring change and I’m not in any way underplaying the magnitude of what’s happened to those women, what I’m saying is we’re talking about failures over decades.”

“He could not be in a better position now, he is the Prime Minister. He has sent all his lawyers to argue why they should not bring in the recommendations of the 7-year inquiry that gave 7,500 survivors and victims hope that change would come.”

“Theresa May said it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to protect children of the future. It matters! Do something! Stop making empty promises!”

Maggie is a fighter. She’s been doing this for decades, endlessly fighting for real change, yet they’re still not listening. They pretend they are, they praise her, but when it comes down to it they refuse to do what’s actually needed and she’s had enough!

She probably thought things would finally change under Burnham. Instead he’s literally fighting her in court to block the recommendations. The man is a fraud. No different to Starmer and the rest who’ve done nothing.

Keep going, Maggie. Keep the spotlight on them and try to shame him into doing what must be done. 🫡

[latsot @latsot]

Great work.

I did 26 miles in a wheelchair every single day for months on end to raise money to end VAWG. I did a lot of wheelchair half marathons, too. I did a virtual trip to Mordor! And @TheNorthernEcho absolutely refused, time and time again, to cover any of it.

I sent them information that would write the story for then, a few dozen times. Nothing.

They did cover the story of one bloke walking four miles between two pubs on behalf of his dead mate, but violence against women and girls is not important to the Northern Echo.

[V A @YouTooCat]

How the (special word) do you get to your own Hen Night and not be your own person? Asking for a friend.

[Kellie-Jay Keen @ThePosieParker]

Dear Ladies,

If a grotesque obsessive twat, who hangs out with convicted sexual offenders, messages you about your children dying of cancer and that you have a rancid cunt, that he knows the names of your children and that even though you have a recording of him talking about using your children to terrorise you, that you've met him, you've spoken to him, you know his voice, even though he's been escorted out of parks by police for harassing you, do not reply to any message with a laughing emoji because the fuckwits in charge of @ASPolice will argue it's not harassment and that you don't know that he was the person calling you as you couldn't possibly identify him on the phone.

[V A @YouTooCat]

@mrclivesimpson Hahaha

[Lily Craven @TheAttagirls]

There is no Woman of the Day post today but if there was, there would be two: funeral director Deborah Bambroffe and Dr Linda Reynolds, both of Manchester. In 1998, they were the first to raise the alarm about one of the most prolific serial killers in modern history.

The police did a cursory investigation and stopped looking. More died. Most of his estimated 284 victims were widows aged between 49 and 81. Yes, you know who I’m talking about. Harold Shipman.

Deborah Bambroffe, a member of staff at Massies' funeral directors in Hyde, was alarmed by the high death rate among his patients and noticed that the women always seemed to be dressed in their day clothes and he always seemed to be the one to find them dead. I mean, what are the odds?

She was especially concerned about the death of Marie Quinn, an active volunteer for the WRVS and a churchgoer. Marie died in November 1997 — a stroke, or so said the death certificate completed by Shipman.

“I was obviously worried because I had raised these concerns. I suppose I didn't want to believe those thoughts going through my mind - it seemed so ludicrous to the time.”

Nonetheless, Deborah took her concerns to Dr Susan May at the GP practice right opposite Shipman’s in Hyde. Dr May relayed them to her colleague, Dr Linda Reynolds, who already had her own suspicions. New to the practice, she was worried that he was engaging in widespread fraud, not murder.

Did you know that until 2024, GPs earned money for countersigning cremation certificates? It was a tidy little sum of £84 for each one, known as "ash cash". Oh, he had taken at least a little care to rotate his requests for countersignatures to GPs at the other practice (well, it only entailed crossing the road. No point in expending too much effort) but In 1997, those other GPs signed an average of 14 cremation certificates each. He’d signed 41. It should have stood out like a sore thumb.

Linda alerted Greater Manchester Police and the coroner despite her fears that it could ruin her own career if she was wrong but she “didn't have any doubts about it because it was the only course of action." The coroner also informed the police.

GMP didn’t assemble a team of officers to look for evidence. It didn’t open an incident room. No one checked Shipman’s criminal record, no one interviewed him, no one talked to the General Medical Council. No one even tried talking to the relatives of the dead patients. A detective inspector obtained copies of the medical records maintained by Shipman and deposited with the local health authority, and compared them with the death certificates; the ones also signed by him. Surprise, surprise. They tallied. I mean, really, what are the chances? And that’s where the cursory investigation stopped dead.

It later emerged that Shipman had falsified medical histories, but come on now, look at the evidence at the time. All boxes ticked. Nothing to see here. Case closed.

Shipman went on to murder three more women, including one aged just 57. He forged the will of his last victim by duping two other patients into witnessing it.

Sadly, Linda died in March 2000, aged 50. Deborah is still around, still a funeral director, otherwise they’d both be Women of the Day for risking their reputations and their careers for speaking up. Both women deserve huge credit for doing what was right.

Is there any particular reason why I’ve written about this today? Well, I’ve been mulling over the number of times that women, and often several women at the same time, somehow find the courage to speak up about the harm that just one man can cause in almost every sphere of life, and yet their voices are ignored or dismissed, and whole organisations or public bodies somehow find a way to sail past the overwhelming evidence rather than deal with the behaviour of the man.

Or perhaps I am the only one who’s noticed this.

[Sharron Davies HoL MBE @sharrond62]

Just regular girls no celebs involved … so little exposure of yet more evil 🫩

[Made In England @BuyEnglishMade]

Free tool: type in a supermarket brand and see who owns it, where it's made, and an English-made alternative you can buy instead.

It's new, so reply if something looks wrong.

[V A @YouTooCat]

@Reyhanxkv Happy Birthday! ❤️ 🇬🇧

[Jill Foster @JournalistJill]

I spoke to detransitioner Philippa Roberts, who had a double mastectomy at 19 to live as ‘Caspar’ for over six years.
She fears that the conversations she now has with women considering the same surgery could see her prosecuted if the Conversion Practices Bill passes. Gift link below ⬇️

[Andrew Doyle @andrewdoyle_com]

Oh look. The UK government is giving itself powers to restrict lawful behaviour then imprison citizens for disobeying.

What could possibly go wrong?

[Rupert Lowe MP @RupertLowe10]

Big news. We have our first MP supporter on my motion to recognise and preserve English, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish ethnic identities.

@AndrewRosindell, Reform MP. The first of many, I am hoping.

We will not have our identity erased - we will fight for it in parliament.

[Anthony’s Bar & Grill @AnthonyGri10669]

@thesundaysport What do you think chaps, shall we lampoon the government for nominating Iran for a UN women’s rights and counter-terrorism gig?

Nah, let’s put a KKK hood on a statue of a bloke who died in 1902.

[Allison Pearson @AllisonPearson]

The media is obsessed with slimeball celebrity predators- latest allegations are against David Walliams - while Maggie Oliver has to sue the government to get action for tens of thousands of victims of Pakistani rape gangs.

I know which story I think is more important.
@MaggieOliverUK

[V A @YouTooCat]

@GeorgeRoush Ask A Mortician has a great video on this, on YouTube

[V A @YouTooCat]

@AngloLad_ Cumbria is Lower North. Newky, Gateshead and Berwick is Topper North.

[V A @YouTooCat]

@AudreySuffolk Oh bravo Tractor Boys, love fromt' North X

[V A @YouTooCat]

@Phatymarh44 Built a We Love Bacon mosque on my beautiful peninsula, as a beacon of your choice not to integrate with the community that provides your livelihood.

[V A @YouTooCat]

@wokeandwoofing Just so evil. Can't get over the hatred.

[V A @YouTooCat]

@NiohBerg Charles the Third: Traitor to the Faith.
Let that be his title ever through history.