Kathleen Stock

“The bill will definitely come back, there’s no two ways about it. This is not an issue that’s going away.” Kim Leadbeater, talking today about forcing her assisted dying bill through Parliament in the next session. If you'd like to get up to speed with arguments against the systematisation of assisted death, buy my book. Hardback, e-book, audiobook - all out now. "Characteristically sharp, clever and vital," Jane O'Grady, The Daily Telegraph "Admirably clear and cogent... this is a polemic, but a polite one." Kathryn Hughes, The Guardian "I gladly admit she has all but changed my mind". Bel Mooney, Daily Mail. #detailBullets_feature_div" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">amazon.co.uk/Do-Not-Go-Gent…

Small correction: the Unherd piece I quoted above is not an investigation, it's a comment piece (I did do an investigation into NHS capture for Unherd, but mixed the two up here).

The Maudsley psychiatric hospital is well-known within gender-critical circles for having a rabid LGBT staff network, intransigent on the supremacy of gender identity over sex, and quick to call out "transphobia". Quotes from Maudsley webpages (still up): - On gender identity. "For some people, treatment may just involve acceptance and affirmation or confirmation of their identity." slam.nhs.uk/gender-dysphor… On the importance of Pride: it is "the right to be seen and accepted as the person you truly are." slam.nhs.uk/blog/why-do-we… In 2024, I wrote in an Unherd investigation on the capture of the NHS by gender ideology: "one Pride post on the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust  website  ... talks about “the fight for LGBT rights” as something “to be won against your family or your neighbours or whoever is directly around you”.' unherd.com/2024/04/the-li… That is the fantasy. You, a staff member, are a freedom fighter. You are a hero, saving vulnerable people from the urgent threat of misgendering or being put in sex-appropriate facilities. I'm sure it made staff feel very noble at the time. The reality: today we learn that in 2022, a 5ft 3 female who said/believed she was a man was put on male psychiatric ward, and raped within hours. Inmates chanted "No adam's apple". A man with a history of sex offending was in there, and he stood lookout. It was then covered up by staff. thetimes.com/uk/crime/artic…

Everyone's focused on the Jamir Nazir story in the Granta / Commonwealth Prize controversy. But UnHerd's investigation, by Vincenzo Barney (@BarneysRubble0), into three other stories found signs of AI and odd online histories for the authors. unherd.com/2026/05/invasi…

🚨UP NOW! On 23rd April last month, @wself joined @jackaldane at Special Rider Books and Records before a packed venue to discuss📚The Quantity Theory of Morality📚 Nothing was held back, and now, it's all there to listen to, relive and download.

Tickets selling fast! Join us at Town Hall on Friday 5 June. Live edition of The Econoclasts podcast: Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Münchau will debate, with Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, the rise of the online Left. @yanisvaroufakis @EuroBriefing @hasanthehun

@BuckAngel @bindelj Really sorry I couldn't make it - sounds like it was an excellent event!

@Docstockk @bindelj I wanted to meet you so bad😂😂❤️

I am taking no questions at this moment @BuckAngel

Powerful piece from Paul Sagar, drawing on his experience of facing immense challenge. How universities gave in to the culture of (over)diagnosis, dropped standards, and harmed student minds and prospects in the process.

.@jackaldane and @Docstockk met at Chez Antoinette to discuss Kathleen’s latest polemic 📚 Do Not Go Gentle: The Case Against #assisteddeath 📚 Had philosophers of early centuries been able to podcast in Parisian bistros, they too would have discussed death over entrees.

.@Docstockk has been discussing friction-maxxing on @TimesRadio this morning, and the subject finds its way into the next episode of The Booking Club, when she and @jackaldane meet for dinner to discuss 📚Do Not Go Gentle: The Case Against Assisted Death📚 More soon!

Great, simple rebuttal by Dan Hitchens of a really odd claim by Hannah Spencer about the relevant expertise of Lords scrutinising the Assisted Dying bill.

Book clubs are for phoneys, by Kathleen Stock (@Docstockk) Literary criticism requires attention to chapters, paragraphs, sentences, and not just the whole. It means forgetting about how a book makes you feel, or what inspiring message it conveys, and getting dispassionately deep into the mechanics. It means stopping treating the book as a cool experience like a funfair ride or a sunset, and thinking of it as a deliberate creation of a particular mind instead. Read more below ⬇️ buff.ly/8oHFHir

Speaking out for the first time since leaving the BBC, Fran Unsworth, the former director of BBC News, reveals: “I would actually say it drove me out, just dealing with the progressive editorial issues and the bullying around them all. It was incredibly difficult.”

.@RobBurl and @unherd 👏👏👏 unherd.com/2026/05/inside…

Inside the capture of the BBC, by Rob Burley (@RobBurl) In his 13 years as a senior BBC editor, Rob Burley saw the Corporation’s defining commitment to impartiality undermined by transgender ideology, a blind commitment to Diversity & Inclusion schemes, and a culture of intolerance. Informed by his experiences at Newsnight alongside other prestige shows, his major investigation reveals how the BBC took a side in the culture wars. He draws on extensive interviews with current and former staff — including journalists at the very top. Speaking out for the first time since leaving the Corporation, Fran Unsworth, the former director of BBC News, reveals in an explosive interview: “I would actually say it drove me out, just dealing with the progressive editorial issues and the bullying around them all. It was incredibly difficult.” Read more below ⬇️ buff.ly/7Fv4Ry8

Read this week's best in sex-realist feminism from @beatrixscudeler, @helenlewis, @Docstockk, @moveincircles, @LaneSmithScott, @glosswitch, @SusannaRustin, @aytchellesse, and more! fairerdisputations.substack.com/p/margery-kemp…

Online book chat is having a moment, and I'm here to ruin it. My column this week in @unherd unherd.com/2026/05/book-c…

@LittleHardman @unherd As if I don't make your life hard enough 😄

@Docstockk @unherd Oh shit, she’s coming for book culture 😆