January – November 2019

Januar _to November 2019

November. In my mind always the ‘nothing-time,’ the liminal space between the brightly lit days of September and October, when the Northern Hemisphere hasn’t quite finished its tilt away from the sun, and the dank, grey days and rotting leaf-mounds that have to be endured before the light and glitter of the Christmas season. But this November is different. It seems brighter. The Judicial Review is over. We do not yet have a Ruling but Harry and I are filled with a cautious optimism that things may be about to change. Martin Luther King’s words (citing clergyman Theodore Parker) run endlessly through my mind. ‘The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.’ In this life, it’s not a given that right will always overcome wrong. But we can hope.

This year has been the most challenging we’ve ever faced. More challenging, even, than dealing with the excision of a highly invasive sarcoma a doctor found in Harry’s thigh in 2014. Our previously quiet and peaceful life has been swept away in the flood of publicity surrounding the events of last January and has not yet returned. When the full import of what Harry was taking on became clear I attempted to cling on to the anonymous life we’d had but, as the year progressed, I realised my efforts were in vain. It affected our relationship and we argued endlessly over the impact on our lives and finances. At some point, I realised that, should we ‘wade no more, returning were as tedious as go o’er.’ (Sorry. Macbeth is one of my favourite plays.)

A few weeks ago, the strain of fighting became too much and Harry disappeared for fifteen hours. His location services were turned off and I had to phone the police to register him as a missing person. Oh, bitterest of ironies, he was found by two wonderful police officers from the Humberside force at around one am the following morning, having walked almost thirty miles, coatless, in temperatures close to freezing, wearing his old gardening shoes. I bundled him into the car and drove him home with the heater going full blast.

The next morning, we talked. I am a quiet person. I like a quiet life. I’m fairly certain that, given the exhausted state he was in, I could have persuaded Harry to drop the whole thing. But I didn’t. Because, despite my desire for a quiet life, despite my attempts to keep our heads below the parapet, I believe we are fighting for something that is right and true.

8 thoughts on “January – November 2019”

  1. Best wishes to you all. You have done so much. Everything crossed for a good outcome, but whatever happens, heartfelt thanksx

  2. We have been following you here in New Zealand, cheering for you! I’m so sorry for the stress this has caused you two.

    Tweeted judge’s comments seem sensible and on your side.

    Good luck for the ruling and let Harry know he has the support of our group on the other side of the globe.

  3. I – and I know many hundreds of other women – am profoundly grateful to you and Harry for your courage. This year must have been hell. Your description is very vivid. If it’s any comfort it looks as if the course your husband has taken may change the world for so many people. Please accept my heartfelt thanks.

  4. I simply cannot articulate how much I appreciate what you both have done. I keep on asking myself if I would be so strong, in the same position. I admit I think I would have caved. You have not caved!! Good work, and many many thanks

  5. Best wishes to all at Fair Cop from the USA. So impressed by what you’ve been able to accomplish, and in such a relatively short time too. But sorry it’s taken such a toll on you personally. Many on the far side of the Atlantic are watching closely and rooting for you. Thanks from the bottom of our hearts for standing up for free speech, sanity and the rights of girls and women.

  6. Thank you both for standing up to this madness. Whatever happens you have raised awareness and brought this story to those who have no idea just how crazy the world has become xx

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