Stepford Wives

Robotic Compliance or LIFE?

If art imitates life then perhaps the Stepford Wives offers some valuable analysis to where we are now. The story involves the central protagonist moving to a suburban town where everything is *nice*. The women are ‘impossibly’ beautiful, ‘impossibly’ good natured and things run ‘impossibly’ smoothly. Of course (spoiler alert) the reason for that is that they aren’t actually human, but robots. In another word, impossible as in the human sphere.

Thank you for reading. Please consider supporting my work. You can ‘buy me a coffee’ here. Or become a paid subscriber for as little as £4.00 per month, £30 for the year, or £250 for a founding membership. Every penny makes a difference and allows me to keep speaking out about the failure in safeguarding for our children in schools and cultural institutions. We need to recognise, preserve and celebrate childhood. No one else is doing this in the arts in Scotland, I really do need it and so very much appreciate it.

I am not suggesting that I am living amongst actual robots but sometimes I feel like I am living amongst metaphoric ones. Because *life* is messy and complicated, that’s part of it’s challenge - and it’s beauty to. One only has to survey the autumnal landscape to understand that every stage of life’s cycle offers more then the sum of its parts.

Why do I see a drive to manufacture a robotic ‘utopia’?

As I look at art, education and governance, laws are being passed which remove autonomy and free will, the unexpected and the surprising, the mystery and the wonder. For sure free will can lead to some messy outcomes but it can also lead to profound and surprising ones, all a necessary (and wonderful) part of being human.

And even as I see this Stepford compliance (in culture in particular), I reflect that this is no more then an ivory tower for the privileged to protect themselves from the aftermath of the choices they make that affect the most vulnerable.

Malcolm Richard Clark

’s latest essay on the Barclays Bank/Mermaids/Epstein connection is a breathtaking example of that. “How many children have to be *actually raped* before companies cut ties??” seems a grotesque question but a real one, because it seems, a lot. Even now LGBT Youth Scotland is being brought into more ill repute with another court case of grooming and child sexual abuse and yet…. they are still in schools (!!!!).

Funny how little children matter when greed and ego get in the way…… and funny how their interests can be ‘manipulated’ by adults in power. This is worth remembering at all times.

I see economic policies developed not to enable individuals to improve their own circumstances but to create more protections around the privileged. This ensures poor and vulnerable are more dependent on the state (and therefore more compliant). It’s an actual racket. A mafia, who forces compliance not because it’s based on what is best for all, but because they can offer control, make a profit and (in this day and age) give themselves a virtuous gild.

If you are part of the machine who are benefiting from this you learn to stay schtum. Financially emboldened with a ‘nice’ life, going with the robotic flow is a small price to pay. And since we have a more atheistic society than ever before, there is equally no higher moral power that may pull people to move beyond the borg. (this is not to say all God believers are ‘doing the right thing’ - but personally I think the lack of higher power in people’s lives does have a major societal impact).

It’s not nice being viewed badly. And for those who ‘go along to get along’, chances are they are not facing the sharp end of the stick. So for them it’s close their eyes and ears and keep their nice life and everyone treats them well and they get a seat at the table, their paid holidays, their pensions etc etc etc….. What they don’t realise is that they are allowing something very disastrous to seed. And this possibility is more full of horror than anyone could imagine. And no one will be free. So we must speak up and speak out.

It’s not easy. It’s isolating (at first as old friends/colleagues fall away new ones do rise up though). It IS financially precarious (if you are lucky you stay on the knife’s edge and don’t get cut). Professional suicide. Forced to give up everything you worked for. Made a target by zealots. This was my sacrifice.

Jenny Lindsay

’s Book Hounded which launches today expounds on all of this.

I have gotten used to being given dirty looks, former arts ‘colleagues’ staring through me when we pass on the street, neighbours grumbling under their breath (really). Why are they angry? Is it because I know sex is real and children shouldn’t be medicated? That bodies are good? That we shouldn’t judge someone on the basis of their skin colour? That making kids anxious about climate/Ukraine/Palestine etc is bad for them? That interrogating children on ‘their feelings’ actually makes kids unwell? That denying fun stuff for children is cruel?

In my exposure of the many failings of the arts sector, in basic child protection and safeguarding no one from within says a word. As far as I know I am the ONLY artist from the youth arts sector speaking up. Some of the issues I have reported on include: Sex toys being made by children as part of the youth program at the Traverse Theatre, Toonspeak transing children behind parents backs, Scottish Ballet touring a show promoting psychological breakdown, Rumpus Room radicalising vulnerable children, and the list goes on and on. I have pages and pages of lists of abusive practices being embedded in the youth sector. Pages. It is the Wild West. And for this I am shunned. This should worry us all.

It should (perhaps) come as no surprise as the arts sector is notorious for being populated by people with funding and resources. That they should deflect from the failings of the sector by picking up the luxury beliefs of gender, race and climate activism is an easy win. However that this largely faith-less mass of individuals should adopt the mantle of social justice activism with all the fervour of an evangelical Christian should bring us all pause.

The economic consequences (as was written about in the Telegraph this week regarding secret blacklists) is real as I am rendered unable to make money doing what I was trained to do. This is not easy. I am a solo Mum living in a council flat, typing on a borrowed computer and I will continue on as much as I can. As an adult, as a Mother I have a moral and ethical obligation to children. And in the current climate initiatives are not being led by what is best for children (despite the lie of child-led) but by adults aims using children as a vehicle.

I started writing regularly under a year ago and in the past year I have seen my output and support grow exponentially. More and more people are becoming aware and speaking up. And for that I am very thankful. Your support and shares allows these important issues to get much needed airing. Thank you thank you thank you.

In May I set my goal to grow my support base so that I could start a regular podcast which I launched just over four weeks ago. In the first month I have seen The Pink Elephant downloaded 250 times!!!

In May I launched a 30 for 30 campaign aiming to get 30 new subscribers in 30 days. Since that time my paid subscribers have increased 52%, my subscribers (unpaid) by 54% and my readership has gone from 1952 views a month to 4391, an increase of 45%.

I’m just a solo Mum with a borrowed laptop, reading and writing what I see and I’m making a difference because of you. My writing and podcasting is not all though. Everything I do is matched with realtime activism on the ground. My substack, alongside my work with

Scottish Union for Education

and my podcast are providing a public service that exposes harms being done to kids, so that we can get back to core purpose of making art and teaching children.

Next week I will be speaking as part of the

Scottish Union for Education

team at the

Claire Fox

Festival of Ideas on the failings of the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence in London.

This past week I was interviewed by Diane McAdie for UK Column regarding what is happening in schools. It is due to air at the end of the month.

My next goal is to start a YouTube channel in January. I cannot do this without more support. If you think what I do is valuable and you’d like to invest in this work please consider becoming a paid subscriber or buying me a cup of coffee. To say that I need and appreciate it would be an understatement. Or if you’d like to advertise on my posts or podcasts do get in touch.

You can ‘buy me a coffee’ here. Or become a paid subscriber for as little as £4.00 per month, £30 for the year, or £250 for a founding membership. Every penny makes a difference and allows me to keep speaking out about the failure in safeguarding for our children in schools and cultural institutions. We need to recognise, preserve and celebrate childhood. No one else is doing this in the arts in Scotland.

All I can do is keep speaking up and out. Truth will out? I hope. The alternative - silence (and harm to children) - is so much worse. Thank you again for your support. In the words of

Jennifer Bilek

‘Stay Human’!

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