AYOUSH LAZIKANI introduces her guide to the many ways in which the Moon was interpreted in medieval times
Latest editorial
The dangers of medicalising gender
SONYA ANDERMAHR admires a candid history of the NHS service and its mistreatment of young people with gender dysphoria
[Ted Eyton/CC] 
An analysis of the choices facing the US left has to reach beyond the confines of the Democrat party, suggests RON JACOBS
FRANCIS BECKETT introduces his new play that aims to give its audience a taste of what a far-right triumph would be
KENNY MACASKILL welcomes an outstanding biography that gives full context to the life of Scotland’s greatest early 20th century novelist
ANDY HEDGECOCK, MARIA DUARTE and ANGUS REID review Ackroyd & Harvey: The Art of Activism, The Lost Bus, A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, and Happyend
MARY CONWAY relishes the spectacle of a domestic implosion in a setting strangely divorced from any social, political or cultural context
Time to Think
Hannah Barnes, Swift Press, £20
“ARE we hurting children?” is the question that lies at the heart of this timely and meticulously researched investigation into the medical scandal at the Tavistock and Portman Trust’s Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS).
The service opened in 1989 to provide talking therapies to young people struggling with their gender identity. Treatment initially consisted of careful and lengthy exploration of the issues and family counselling in a supportive setting. It involved small numbers of patients, mainly boys, who exhibited gender incongruence before puberty. Most of these boys desisted and grew up to be gay.
By the time of the announcement of the clinic’s closure last year, the number of young people being treated had skyrocketed into the thousands; the vast majority, representing a rise of over 4,000 per cent, were now teenage girls exhibiting extreme distress and complex problems.
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