Jess O'Thomson
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jessothomson.co.uk
Jess O'Thomson
@jessothomson.co.uk
18K followers 290 following 4.2K posts
Legal researcher, writer, journalist | Trans Rights Lead @ Good Law Project | PhD student @ University of Leeds

Views my own.

They/them

[email protected]
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jessothomson.co.uk
Jess O'Thomson @jessothomson.co.uk · 24d
So. 2025 has been the most significant year of my life so far. And it's not even particularly close.

Trans rights came under attack this year in the UK. I have been trying my best to help fight back.

I've been a little busy. Here's a thread of some of what I have been up to 🧵
jessothomson.co.uk
lol
peterwalker99.bsky.social Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 6h
Full Labour statement on why Burnham was blocked.
Statement from the Labour Party Directly Elected Mayors and Police and Crime Commissioners must seek the express permission of Labour’s ruling body, the National Executive Committee, before seeking nomination as a Labour candidate for the Westminster Parliament in accordance with Chapter 5, Clause IV, 2 of the Labour Party Rule Book. This rule was put in place to avoid the party incurring unnecessary costs of running two simultaneous political campaigns. Yesterday Andy Burnham sought such permission from the NEC to stand in the Gorton and Denton Parliamentary by-election, which would have led to a mayoral by-election in Greater Manchester. The NEC has decided not to grant Andy Burnham permission to stand. The NEC believes that causing an unnecessary election for the position of Greater Manchester Mayor would have a substantial and disproportionate impact on party campaign resources ahead of the local elections and elections to the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Senedd in May. Although the Party would be confident of retaining the mayoralty, the NEC could not put Labour’s control of Greater Manchester at any risk. Andy Burnham is doing a great job as Mayor of Greater Manchester. We believe it is in the best interests of the party to avoid an unnecessary Mayoral election which would use substantial amounts of taxpayers’ money and resources that are better spent tackling the cost of living crisis. We look forward to fighting and winning the upcoming by-election in Gorton and Denton and the positive campaign ahead which will be firmly focussed on tackling the cost of living and bringing investment to the local area. Ends
January 25, 2026 at 12:44 PM
jessothomson.co.uk
Well this makes the govt look very strong, doesn't it...
peterwalker99.bsky.social Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 7h
NEW: Andy Burnham *blocked* from standing in the Gorton and Denton byelection. Of nine voting members on NEC group was 8-1 against him.
January 25, 2026 at 11:57 AM
Reposted by Jess O'Thomson
sexabolition.blog
There's an anti-trans protest in manchester and it has:

* Local Fascists who are usually at the anti-asylum hotel protests
* "radical feminists"
* A guy with an huge cross
* A guy who keeps getting in trouble locally for shouting "Christ is king Fk Islam!"
* LGB Alliance and Women's Rights Network.
January 24, 2026 at 2:27 PM
jessothomson.co.uk
Rape survivor here. Giving more power to the State to incarcerate people without proper safeguards and due process is not the solution to sexual violence.
goodlawproject.org Jolyon Maugham KC @goodlawproject.org · 1d
“The hell of being raped is made worse by the hell of going through delays in the system”.

Great respect for Natalie Fleet and I once made this argument, too, against jury trials in rape cases. But of course the problems the 'justice' system poses for rape victims go far beyond this.
Labour MP who was groomed asks colleagues to back judge-only trials
Exclusive: Natalie Fleet says power balance is with criminals not victims as delays make ‘hell of being raped’ worse
www.theguardian.com
January 24, 2026 at 10:09 AM
jessothomson.co.uk
The Cure have the best love songs and it's not even close
January 23, 2026 at 10:28 PM
jessothomson.co.uk
These proposals are appalling
cjayanetti.bsky.social Chaminda Jayanetti @cjayanetti.bsky.social · 2d
NEW: Planned welfare reform could see big benefit cuts for disabled people who can't work, Citizens Advice has warned

The government wants to replace long-term ESA disability benefits with a new, much more time-limited benefit called Unemployment Insurance (UI) www.bigissue.com/news/social-...
Disabled people could face benefit cuts – even if they cannot work
Long-term claimants of employment and support allowance could be moved over to a new, time-limited disability benefit – equating to cuts.
www.bigissue.com
January 23, 2026 at 5:36 PM
Reposted by Jess O'Thomson
jessothomson.co.uk
URGENT

Help us stop Sex Matters 👇
goodlawproject.bsky.social Good Law Project @goodlawproject.bsky.social · 2d
URGENT 🚨 We have just one week to stop Sex Matters infiltrating a vote to ban conversion therapy.

We must stop them. Use our tool and tell the MPs to stand up for what's right ✊
https://goodlaw.social/945cd5
goodlaw.social
goodlaw.social
January 23, 2026 at 3:17 PM
jessothomson.co.uk
URGENT

Help us stop Sex Matters 👇
goodlawproject.bsky.social Good Law Project @goodlawproject.bsky.social · 2d
URGENT 🚨 We have just one week to stop Sex Matters infiltrating a vote to ban conversion therapy.

We must stop them. Use our tool and tell the MPs to stand up for what's right ✊
https://goodlaw.social/945cd5
goodlaw.social
goodlaw.social
January 23, 2026 at 3:17 PM
Reposted by Jess O'Thomson
davidallengreen.bsky.social
NEW

Why the Hillsborough law campaigners are right to be resolute

The attempts to water down the duty of candour should be resisted

Me at @prospectmagazine.co.uk

www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/th...
We have security services which the prime minister and the highest judges say have misled the court and which another senior judge said in an inquiry report do not present accurate pictures and instead give retrospective justifications for their actions. And these are the instances we know about. The Hillsborough law campaigners are right to resist this late amendment, and the government should provide that any exemption of the duty of candour on national security grounds should be independently assessed from those who assert it. And that is how the national interest would be best served.
January 23, 2026 at 12:40 PM
jessothomson.co.uk
Wow. This is really powerful.
greenparty.org.uk The Green Party of England & Wales @greenparty.org.uk · 2d
Help us make hope normal again.

Join the Green Party now.
January 22, 2026 at 7:53 PM
Reposted by Jess O'Thomson
goodlawproject.bsky.social
Worcestershire County Council’s Reform minority administration is the latest group attempting to use last year’s Supreme Court judgment to exclude trans people.

But it wouldn’t be lawful. We’re ready to fight back:
https://goodlaw.social/gmxz
Reform’s new transphobic ban in Worcestershire | Good Law Project
The Reform Council in Worcestershire is trying to ban trans people from accessing services. We’re fighting back
goodlaw.social
January 22, 2026 at 3:21 PM
jessothomson.co.uk
I just sneezed and I think I have pulled a muscle in my chest. Is this me getting old?
January 22, 2026 at 1:12 PM
jessothomson.co.uk
We have been complicit in this.
guardianheather.bsky.social Heather Stewart @guardianheather.bsky.social · 3d
Trump makes concluding remarks. He says Gaza ceasefire push began because he is “a real estate person at heart, and it’s all about location, and I said, ‘look at this location, on the sea, look at this beautiful piece of property’”.
January 22, 2026 at 11:37 AM
jessothomson.co.uk
👀
January 22, 2026 at 11:24 AM
Reposted by Jess O'Thomson
goodlawproject.org
What ICE is doing in the United States Nigel Farage has told us he wants to do in the United Kingdom.
discosaurus.bsky.social Disco @discosaurus.bsky.social · 4d
This picture making the rounds on reddit, Columbia Heights. I'm not OK.
Kid in a hat and backpack, maybe 5, getting detained
January 21, 2026 at 11:55 PM
Reposted by Jess O'Thomson
goodlawproject.org
Entirely typical of the BBC's treatment of trans people that it presents Michael Foran, who is literally on the advisory Board of the Sex Matters hate group, as an independent expert.
How the NHS became the battleground in the trans debate at work
What's next for employers and their staff in the aftermath of the Darlington nurses ruling?
www.bbc.co.uk
January 21, 2026 at 3:26 PM
jessothomson.co.uk
he genuinely doesn't seem well does he
January 21, 2026 at 2:26 PM
jessothomson.co.uk
This thread proves Bluesky is the new old twitter
musicologyduck.bsky.social Musicology Duck @musicologyduck.bsky.social · 5d
I just woke up from a nap and somehow while I was asleep, everyone on the bus has figured out we are not going to the right place
January 20, 2026 at 11:05 PM
Reposted by Jess O'Thomson
jessothomson.co.uk
If anyone has a line to Rose Henderson please lmk
January 20, 2026 at 9:46 AM
jessothomson.co.uk
Queer Londoners. Please help Cat.
catmx.bsky.social Cat MacLean @catmx.bsky.social · 5d
Does anyone know where to get plain/solid sheet cake in London? Would love to use a LGBT+ bakery…
January 20, 2026 at 3:42 PM
Reposted by Jess O'Thomson
goodlawproject.bsky.social
💩 TIME TO COME CLEAN 💧

Thames Water’s creditors are still trying to hang on to their cash.

It’s time for the regulator to publish the details of all the bids on the table:

https://goodlaw.social/wlua
It’s time for Ofwat to come clean on Thames Water | Good Law Project
Thames Water’s creditors are still trying to hang on to their cash – it’s time for the regulator to publish the details of all the bids on the table
goodlaw.social
January 20, 2026 at 2:57 PM
jessothomson.co.uk
If anyone has a line to Rose Henderson please lmk
January 20, 2026 at 9:46 AM
jessothomson.co.uk
Oh are we doing that whole bit again where we pretend Brianna Ghey died because of social media rather than because of the people who stabbed her 28 times.
January 19, 2026 at 7:25 PM
Reposted by Jess O'Thomson
flyingrodent.bsky.social
Like, should we imagine that actually there are great and decisive moves going on behind the scenes, or do we think it’s Morgan McSweeney standing in front a flip chart that has the words “Quiet patriots = Values” or some shit written on it
January 19, 2026 at 10:58 AM
Reposted by Jess O'Thomson
davidallengreen.bsky.social
NEW

The new ICE Age

Me at @prospectmagazine.co.uk on the implications of the transition to lawlessness as general policy

www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/th...
American superhero comics often have masked individuals acting outside the law, and readers are meant to see this somehow as a public good. The premise is that such disguised vigilantism allows people to actively benefit their community. In reality, of course, those refusing both to reveal their identity and to comply with the law will tend to be doing bad things. And in the United States the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) is doing bad things at scale, hiding behind masks and violating the rights of citizens—regardless of their immigration status. In essence: ICE is freely kidnapping, beating up and killing people. That ICE is doing this is not an accident. It is deliberate public policy, with considerable public resources behind it. ICE agents have absolute political protection. Vice President JD Vance said that they have “absolute immunity”—even though legal scholars say that is not true as a matter of law.
January 19, 2026 at 12:05 PM