Time To Talk! An evening with Helen Lewis and Hannah Barnes

Following the recent cancellation of the Brighton Skeptics in the Pub event with Helen Lewis & Hannah Barnes we are thrilled to invite you to......

Time To Talk!

Join us for an evening with award winning journalists Helen Lewis & Hannah Barnes #Brighton

There has never been a more urgent time to talk! Researching and writing Hannah Barnes's best selling book Time to Think brought her face to face with the challenge of navigating a controversial and emotive topic, while maintaining compassion and impartiality.

The Gender Identity Development Service, known as GIDS, was England’s only NHS clinic for children expressing gender-distress. Last year it was ordered to close following an 'inadequate' rating from the Care Quality Commission following findings by the interim Cass review that its service model was not a safe or viable long-term option. 

Hannah Barnes’s book, Time to Think, sets out how, over a period of more than 15 years, GIDS (and its parent organisation the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust) failed to respond to concerns raised by clinicians who could see some young people were being harmed.

Helen Lewis and Hannah Barnes will discuss the importance of evidence-based reporting on contentious subjects, their experiences as journalists in this difficult terrain, and - in the spirit of the original event - scepticism

Helen Lewis is a staff writer at the Atlantic and the author of Difficult Women: A History of Feminism in 11 Fights. She also appears on the fortnightly Private Eye podcast, Page 94, and is the host of BBC Radio 4's The New Gurus.

Hannah Barnes has spent the past 15 years at the BBC specialising in analytical and investigative journalism on both television and radio, most recently as Investigations Producer for BBC Newsnight. She is the author of Time to Think: The Inside Story of the Collapse of the Tavistock's Gender Service for Children, a Sunday Times Bestseller, Orwell Prize nominee, and shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non- Fiction. She begins a new role as Associate Editor and Writer at the New Statesman in January 2024.

With Thanks 

Thank you to Brighton Skeptics for conceiving of this event and for all the work they put into getting it off the ground.

The venue

The venue is in central Brighton about a 5 minute walk from Brighton station. It has a bar and is fully accessible. We will release details of the venue to ticket holders on the day of the event. 

The organisers

We are a collective of Brighton and Sussex women who campaign on issues affecting our lives. We run a monthly women only discussion group #SistersSalon (free creche) in Brighton and Hove. 

Earlier this year we raised money to send a copy of Hannah Barnes' Time To Think to every Brighton and Hove City Councillor. We believe that everyone responsible for children’s and young people’s services should take time to think, and adjust their policies inline with what has been learned from GIDS.  They must take steps to avoid similar failings in the organisations and institutions for which they are responsible.

Brighton & Hove Council’s Trans Inclusion Toolkit for schools advises schools to support and facilitate the social transition of “trans pupils”. Schools are encouraged to “Follow the lead of the child”. However, as the Cass Review found, social transition is not a neutral act. Rather, it can contribute to what is known as ‘diagnostic overshadowing’ – a focus on gender issues alone, which can lead to other complex needs being neglected.

To learn more about our campaigns you can visit our website here, follow us on twitter, Insta and subscribe to Ticket Tailor Box Office for upcoming events. We have no religious or political affiliation. We are run entirely by volunteers and funded via donations and ticket sales. If you are unable to attend but would like to support this important event or support our work all donations are gratefully received here.

This event is open to both women and men.

All our campaigns are funded by donations. Please donate here to support our campaign costs. Our monthly Salons are funded by donations and by Brighton and Hove City Council.