Journalism should be fearless - and free of favour. This podcast is about holding the line. <br/><br/><a href="https://seeninjournalism.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast">seeninjournalism.substack.com</a>
No Fear. No Favour. The SEEN in Journalism Podcast
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Podcast Overview
Journalism should be fearless - and free of favour. This podcast is about holding the line. <br/><br/><a href="https://seeninjournalism.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast">seeninjournalism.substack.com</a>
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9/16/2025
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Recent Episodes
January 10, 2026
No Fear No Favour: Professor Robert Winston
<p>In this wide-ranging and candid conversation, we are joined by <a target="_blank" href="https://profiles.imperial.ac.uk/r.winston"><strong>Professor Robert Winston</strong></a> — one of the UK’s most distinguished scientists and public communicators — to discuss what happens when scientific reality collides with ideology, institutional caution, and a post-truth media culture.</p><p>Professor Winston reflects on the moment that effectively ended his regular BBC punditry: his <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8DsMM0U44k">2021 appearance on </a><a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8DsMM0U44k"><strong>Question Time</strong></a>, where he stated that biological sex cannot be changed. What followed, he argues, was not open debate but silence — and a sharp narrowing of who is considered “safe” to platform.</p><p>The conversation expands into far broader territory: how science is communicated, how institutions respond to controversy, and where medicine risks losing public trust.</p><p><strong>Key themes discussed in this episode</strong></p><p><strong>Sex, gender, and scientific reality</strong></p><p>Professor Winston explains — calmly and rigorously — why biological sex is written into every cell of the body, why chromosomes matter, and why medicine must be rooted in diagnosis and evidence rather than belief. He also addresses the risks of medical intervention without long-term data, particularly for children.</p><p><strong>Free speech, media culture, and informal exclusion</strong></p><p>We examine how dissenting voices can quietly disappear from mainstream platforms without any formal “ban,” and what that means for public discourse, scientific progress, and democratic accountability.</p><p><strong>Why Professor Winston now prioritises schools over studios</strong></p><p>Rather than broadcast media, Professor Winston now focuses much of his public engagement on <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy80w64ydlgo">visiting schools</a> — often in disadvantaged areas — to demystify science, encourage curiosity, and show young people that scientists are not remote or elitist figures.</p><p>👉 <a target="_blank" href="https://sacksmorasha.org.uk/lord-robert-winston-visits-year-6/">‘Inspiring school visit from Professor Robert Winston’</a></p><p><strong>The failure of institutions to tolerate internal debate</strong></p><p>From universities to professional bodies, including the <strong>British Medical Association</strong>, Professor Winston argues that politicisation and absolutism have replaced inquiry — with serious consequences for medicine, ethics, and trust.</p><p>👉 <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c15wxn851eqo">Professor Winston quits BMA over strikes</a>’</p><p><strong>Fertility, IVF, and the commercialisation of hope</strong></p><p>As a pioneer of IVF, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.robertwinston.org.uk/about-robert-winston/">Professor Winston</a> delivers a sobering assessment of modern fertility medicine — including egg freezing — warning that women are often sold unrealistic expectations. He explains why IVF success rates are frequently misunderstood and why long-term follow-up data is still lacking.</p><p><strong>Delayed motherhood and social consequences</strong></p><p>We explore how society has failed to adapt structurally to women’s changing lives — instead offering technological “fixes” that may create heartbreak later on.</p><p><strong>Assisted dying and evolving medical ethics</strong></p><p>Professor Winston reflects on how his own views have changed over decades, and why ethical medicine sometimes means acknowledging that not all suffering can — or should — be prolonged.</p><p><strong>On the BBC and “blacklisting”</strong></p><p>We asked the BBC directly whether Professor Winston had been blacklisted following his comments.</p><p>The BBC Press Office responded:</p><p>“We won’t be commenting but please be aware the BBC does not blacklist anyone. The BBC recently reported on Robert Winston<a target="_blank" href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy80w64ydlgo"> visiting a school</a> which would be odd for someone on a ‘blacklist’. Question Time regularly has discussions about gender identity, with views from a range of perspectives.’</p><p><strong>Why this conversation matters</strong></p><p>This episode is about <strong>what happens when evidence becomes negotiable</strong>, when institutions prioritise risk-avoidance over truth, and when those who ask inconvenient questions are quietly sidelined.</p><p>As Professor Winston makes clear, science does not advance through silence — and medicine cannot function without trust, honesty, and humility.</p><p><strong>About our guest</strong></p><p><strong>Professor Robert Winston</strong> <strong>FMedSci FRSA FRCOG FREng </strong>is a pioneer of fertility science and IVF, and Professor of Science and Society, and Emeritus Professor of Fertility Studies at <strong>Imperial College London</strong>. He is also a familiar media face with landmark BBC series including The Human Body, The Human Mind and A Child of Our Time. None of these are currently available on iPlayer.</p> <br/><br/>Get full access to SEENinJournalism’s Substack at <a href="https://seeninjournalism.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4">seeninjournalism.substack.com/subscribe</a>
November 28, 2025
No Fear, No Favour: Social Transition, Schools and the Puberty Blocker Trial
<p>Children, and their parents and siblings, are at the heart of the story about the NHS-backed <a target="_blank" href="https://www.kcl.ac.uk/research/pathways"><strong>Pathway</strong></a><strong>s</strong> puberty-blocker <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2k4jg0wkj4o">experiment</a> and the media round of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.gmc-uk.org/registrants?text=helen%20webberley&allProfessions=true"><strong>Helen Webberley</strong></a> interviews which shocked so many people. </p><p>In this week’s<strong> Seen in Journalism: No Fear, No Favour,</strong> Cath Leng and <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/charlesworth102?lang=en"><strong>Shelley Charlesworth</strong></a> of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.transgendertrend.com/"><strong>Transgender Trend</strong></a>, speak to <strong>Nicole</strong>, a mother connected to the parent network <a target="_blank" href="https://ourduty.group/"><strong>Our Duty</strong></a><strong>. </strong>She describes<strong> </strong>the real-world consequences of normalising the idea of the ‘trans child’, especially when schools facilitate <a target="_blank" href="https://sex-matters.org/posts/updates/what-hilary-cass-needs-to-tell-schools/"><strong>social transition</strong></a> and keep parents at arm’s length.</p><p>Nicole describes discovering that her daughter was being treated as a different identity at school, including a new name and pronouns and the use of a <a target="_blank" href="https://thorax.bmj.com/content/71/Suppl_3/A227.1"><strong>breast binder</strong></a><a target="_blank" href="https://thorax.bmj.com/content/71/Suppl_3/A227.1">, </a>without the family being told. She sets out what happened next: requests for answers, frustrations with records and processes, and why ‘affirmation-first’ practice can amount to a safeguarding failure, parents are sidelined and distress treated as identity. </p><p>Shelley places Nicole’s experience in a broader pattern she says she’s seen repeatedly: policies that encourage secrecy, a culture in which speaking plainly about biological sex is treated as taboo, and an education system that moves too quickly to validate a child’s declaration. </p><p><strong>Thank you to Nicole for this </strong>detailed first-person account, and a clear case for why transparency, safeguarding and parental involvement should be non-negotiables.</p><p><strong>Links</strong></p><p><strong>Parents’ groups and organisations</strong></p><p>* <a target="_blank" href="https://www.transgendertrend.com/">Transgender Trend</a></p><p>* <a target="_blank" href="https://ourduty.group/">Our Duty</a> (parent support network)</p><p>* <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bayswatersupport.org.uk/">Bayswater Support</a> (parent support group</p><p><strong>Puberty blocker trial </strong></p><p>* UK puberty blocker trials media coverage: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/11/22/nhs-trans-drug-trial-betrays-our-children/">Telegraph</a> </p><p> <a target="_blank" href="https://www.thetimes.com/uk/healthcare/article/children-puberty-blockers-nhs-lm53zmrzw">Times</a></p><p> <a target="_blank" href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15333475/NHS-million-puberty-blocker-trial-children-identify.html">Daily Mail</a></p><p> <a target="_blank" href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/nov/22/two-uk-clinical-trials-to-assess-impact-of-puberty-blockers-in-young-people">Guardian </a></p><p>* <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/JamesEsses/status/1989391543032320507">Judicial Review </a>sought by <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/KBtheYoungOG?s=20">Keira Bell</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/JamesEsses?s=20">James Esses</a> in attempt to stop the King’s College puberty blocker trial. </p><p><strong>Data / SARs </strong></p><p>* <a target="_blank" href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/data-protection-in-schools/dealing-with-subject-access-requests-sars">GOV.UK: Dealing with Subject Access Requests (SARs) in schools</a></p><p>* <a target="_blank" href="https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/schools/pupils-info/">ICO: Pupils’ information / education records guidance</a></p><p><strong>For more background</strong></p><p>* <a target="_blank" href="https://juliebindel.substack.com/p/episode-one-we-know-how-you-think">Julie in Genderland</a> Podcast series by Julie Bindel</p><p>* <a target="_blank" href="https://www.thehelenjoyce.com/p/from-the-archives-fic-and-trans-identities">Helen Joyce: Fic and trans identities</a> </p><p><strong>Legal / policy / NHS</strong></p><p>* <a target="_blank" href="https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/children-and-young-peoples-gender-services-implementing-the-cass-review-recommendations/">NHS England: Children and young people’s gender services (Cass implementation updates)</a></p><p>* <a target="_blank" href="https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20250310143933/https://cass.independent-review.uk/home/publications/final-report/">Cass Review Final Report</a></p><p>* <a target="_blank" href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68add931969253904d155860/Keeping_children_safe_in_education_from_1_September_2025.pdf">DfE: </a><a target="_blank" href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68add931969253904d155860/Keeping_children_safe_in_education_from_1_September_2025.pdf">Keeping children safe in education</a><a target="_blank" href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68add931969253904d155860/Keeping_children_safe_in_education_from_1_September_2025.pdf"> (KCSIE) landing page + 2025 PDF</a></p><p>* <a target="_blank" href="https://consult.education.gov.uk/equalities-political-impartiality-anti-bullying-team/gender-questioning-children-proposed-guidance/supporting_documents/Gender%20Questioning%20Children%20%20nonstatutory%20guidance.pdf">DfE draft: </a><a target="_blank" href="https://consult.education.gov.uk/equalities-political-impartiality-anti-bullying-team/gender-questioning-children-proposed-guidance/supporting_documents/Gender%20Questioning%20Children%20%20nonstatutory%20guidance.pdf">Gender Questioning Children</a><a target="_blank" href="https://consult.education.gov.uk/equalities-political-impartiality-anti-bullying-team/gender-questioning-children-proposed-guidance/supporting_documents/Gender%20Questioning%20Children%20%20nonstatutory%20guidance.pdf"> (non-statutory guidance PDF)</a></p><p></p> <br/><br/>Get full access to SEENinJournalism’s Substack at <a href="https://seeninjournalism.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4">seeninjournalism.substack.com/subscribe</a>
November 22, 2025
No Fear, No Favour: Episode 12, Transgender Trend
<p>In this week’s episode of No Fear, No Favour, Sam and Cath sit down with two women who saw the safeguarding crisis around gender medicine long before the mainstream press dared touch it: <strong>Stephanie Davies-Arai</strong>, founder of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.transgendertrend.com/">Transgender Trend</a>, and <strong>Shelley Charlesworth</strong>, former BBC journalist turned campaigner.</p><p>Transgender Trend launched in 2015 at a time when the BBC, children’s TV, and the wider media were enthusiastically platforming the idea of ‘trans children’, presenting it as benign, progressive or inevitable.</p><p>Stephanie and Shelley watched something very different happening: <strong>sharp rises in referrals</strong>, <strong>a surge in experimental medical interventions</strong>, and <strong>a media narrative that shut down scrutiny at the very moment scrutiny was most needed</strong>.</p><p>Across this conversation, recorded just before the details were released of a new UK clinical trial - which it’s claimed will assess the risks and benefits of puberty-blocking drugs - they take us inside:</p><p><strong>🔹 What they heard in Helen Webberley’s Times Radio interview - and why it matters</strong></p><p>Stephanie explains why Webberley’s claims aren’t fringe outliers but <strong>the quiet part said out loud</strong>: that activists want children on cross-sex hormones early, that puberty blockers were never truly ‘reversible’, and that private providers continue to work around NHS restrictions.</p><p><strong>🔹 How Britain ended up medicalising distressed kids</strong></p><p>We walk back through the timeline: I Am Leo, Victoria Derbyshire’s 2016 interviews with two young boys being encouraged to “live as girls”, and Louis Theroux’s “Transgender Kids” documentary. In each case, Transgender Trend raised alarms long before the Tavistock clinic collapsed under scrutiny. Stephanie recalls that <strong>2014–2015 media frenzy coinciding directly with the explosion in referrals</strong> to the Tavistock.</p><p><strong>🔹 The BBC’s unique responsibility and its failure to act</strong></p><p>Shelley describes repeated attempts to warn senior BBC figures, including formal letters to Charlotte Moore, then the BBC’s Chief Content Officer, Jessica Schibli, head of creative diversity, and the corporation’s global safeguarding lead Kim Collins, which were brushed aside. Even after <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTRnrp9pXHY">Newsnight</a> exposed the crisis, children’s content continued promoting gender-identity ideology to young audiences.</p><p><strong>🔹 Why ‘Are you denying trans people exist?’ is a bad-faith question</strong></p><p>The guests dismantle this media trope, explaining the biological reality, the legal reality, and the psychological needs that drive such rhetorical ‘gotchas’.</p><p><strong>🔹 What needs to happen next</strong></p><p>From removing outdated children’s content on iPlayer, to launching proper investigations into what’s happening in schools, to producing healthy, reality-based programming, they argue that the BBC must confront the full scale of the harm and rebuild trust with parents.</p><p><strong>Why this episode matters:</strong></p><p>Stephanie and Shelley have spent a decade trying - and failing - to get the UK’s most powerful broadcaster to face a safeguarding scandal unfolding in plain sight. As Stephanie puts it, <strong>children’s sense of reality itself was being reshaped</strong>. And as Shelley explains, failing to act wasn’t passive - it was a choice.</p><p><strong>Listen now, and please share widely.</strong></p> <br/><br/>Get full access to SEENinJournalism’s Substack at <a href="https://seeninjournalism.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4">seeninjournalism.substack.com/subscribe</a>
14 total episodes available
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