Cllr Mandy Clare - What Happens When You Don’t Look Away

This is a bonus episode - an extended interview with Mandy Clare, a local councillor who did what so many others wouldn’t: she turned up, she paid attention, and she refused to pretend that safeguarding failures were none of her business.

Mandy isn’t a campaigner by instinct. She’s a councillor who took her responsibilities seriously, particularly her role as a corporate parent to children in care. What she found when she began scrutinising Pride events in her area was ideological capture and a total collapse of basic boundaries around children, sex, and public decency.

This conversation is difficult listening, but it’s essential.

Mandy walks us through what she witnessed at Pride events in Cheshire: sexualised performances in child-accessible spaces, fetish material at child eye-level, public bodies marching alongside explicit sexual imagery, and a complete refusal by organisers, councillors, and police to intervene when concerns were raised.

What follows is one of the most disturbing accounts I’ve heard in years.

Mandy describes how, after gathering evidence and pressing for safeguarding improvements, she became a target. At a subsequent Pride event - which she attended openly, calmly, and in an observational capacity - she was singled out from the stage, surrounded by a hostile crowd, physically assaulted, ignored by security, and ultimately arrested.

She was held in police custody for nearly a full day.

The case against her collapsed because there was no evidence to support it. Yet the punishment had already been delivered: months of fear, reputational damage, financial stress, trauma, and silence enforced by legal threat.

In this episode we talk about:

* How Pride events became embedded with local councils, police, and public services

* Why safeguarding concerns are reframed as “hate”

* The weaponisation of crowds, security, and police against women who speak out

* How ideology distorts policing decisions in real time

* The chilling effect this has on democracy and scrutiny

* Why so many people stay silent - and why Mandy didn’t

This is a story about what happens when an ideology is allowed to override law, evidence, and basic human instinct.

Mandy’s experience should alarm anyone who believes in child protection, freedom of conscience, or the right of elected officials to do their job without fear of mob violence or state retaliation.

If you think this couldn’t happen to you, or where you live, listen carefully.

Content warning:

This episode includes discussion of mob intimidation, physical assault, arrest, police custody, and safeguarding failures involving children.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit juliebindel.substack.com/subscribe