Mick Hartley

They can't vote, or go into a pub, or drive – but teenagers under 16 can now go to a doctor to get puberty blockers without telling their parents. Yes, the Keira Bell ruling has been over-turned on appeal, and 13 and 14-year-olds, full of the familiar trials and pains of puberty, and egged on by irresponsible social media telling them that all their troubles would be over if they'd just "change sex", can just go right ahead and potentially ruin their lives:

Under-16s can take puberty blockers without parental consent, the Court of Appeal has ruled.

The appeal was brought by the Tavistock Trust, which runs the UK's only youth gender identity clinic.

The decision reverses a 2020 ruling that under-16s lacked capacity to give informed consent to the treatment, which delays the onset of puberty.

The original case was brought by Keira Bell, who says the clinic should have challenged her more over transitioning.

Court of Appeal judges said they recognised "the difficulties and complexities" of the issue, but that "it is for the clinicians to exercise their judgement knowing how important it is that consent is properly obtained according to the particular individual circumstances".

Puberty blockers are drugs used to "pause" puberty by suppressing the release of hormones.

They are prescribed to some children who are experiencing gender dysphoria, which the NHS describes as "a sense of unease that a person may have because of a mismatch between their biological sex and their gender identity".

The Tavistock clinic said it welcomed the decision.

"The judgement upholds established legal principles which respect the ability of our clinicians to engage actively and thoughtfully with our patients in decisions about their care and futures," a spokesperson said.

"It affirms that it is for doctors, not judges, to decide on the capacity of under-16s to consent to medical treatment."

The Tavistock's Gender Identity Development Service (Gids) said that hormone treatment "allows a young person time to consider their options and to continue to explore their developing gender identity before making decisions about irreversible forms of treatment".

Well no, the evidence is that puberty blockers lead almost inevitably to hormone replacement therapy, and no, it's not simply a matter of postponing pubertal changes while the troubled adolescents make their minds up. This is serious stuff, meddling with the normal maturation process. Also, the assumption that doctors are impartial and guided solely by science and the well-being of the children is far from the truth, as we know from the ideologically driven thinking behind the Tavistock, and the complaints from the many whistle-blowers who've left.

It's a big step backwards.

Not all over yet, though. The Supreme Court very likely awaits.