This one has everything: drag queens, swastikas, X and freedom of speech. Dr Anne Woodhouse is a clinical psychologist in Inverness who has just been cleared of misconduct charges by her regulatory body, the Health and Care Professions Tribunal Service (HCPTS). The accusation was that Dr Woodhouse’s ‘fitness to practise is impaired by reason of misconduct’ because of two posts and three ‘likes’ from an X account she co-owned. Woodhouse denied all charges against her.

Dr Anne Woodhouse is a clinical psychologist in Inverness who has just been cleared of misconduct charges by her regulatory body

Post one: ‘The majority of trans women are the result of men’s sexual fetishes, the rest are homosexuals who have chosen an alternative path. If you think anyone is born in the wrong body you have committed to a faith based religion. I prefer evidence based science.’

Post two: ‘Normalising sexualised behaviour around children is grooming. Perhaps not groomed for the drag queen but that drag queen has just primed children for the predator who also says this sex malarkey is fun, come join me.’

The ‘likes’ were of posts saying ‘There’s no such thing as a ‘trans kid’. Fight me’; ‘Trans reichs are human reichs’, and an image of rainbow flags forming a swastika.

On Friday, after three years under investigation, Dr Woodhouse was told by the HCPTS that she had no case to answer. The psychologist said: ‘The outcome of this hearing is welcomed but it is too late. The process has been the punishment.’

But how did that process begin? According to a statement released by Dr Woodhouse, she contacted Highland Council in August 2021 to ‘clarify their policies for transgender pupils, sharing information with parents, and staff social media use’. This was prompted, she says, by the appointment of John Naples Campbell as the deputy headmaster of her children’s school.

Dr Woodhouse alleges that Naples Campbell is ‘a vocal and committed supporter of gender ideology’. She accuses Highland Council of having breached her confidentiality by sharing her name with Naples Campbell.

Did I mention who brought the misconduct complaint against Dr Woodhouse to the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)? John Naples Campbell. The Scottish Daily Mail reports that he also goes by the drag name ‘Miss Lossie Mouth’. Deputy headmasters have become a lot more colourful since my day. Ours had all the personality of a week-old Ryvita. He smiled once and we thought he was having a stroke.

It is clear from her statement that Dr Woodhouse has been put through hell, and for the sin of holding and expressing her beliefs in an entirely lawful manner. The deputy headmaster might have brought the complaint, but the real villain in all this is the HCPC, which left one of its registrants fearing for her professional future for three years over social media activity that fell squarely in the category of robust public debate.

It’s not hard to see why some, including transwomen and drag queens, would find her views deeply offensive and insulting, but that alone shouldn’t be grounds for destroying a woman’s career, and perhaps especially not a woman working in a field where clinicians must be free to advance, debate, debunk and rethink theories on beliefs and behaviours and the possible influence of psychological factors. Psychologists once classified homosexuality as a disorder and the reason they no longer do is because professionals within that field were able to speak freely and challenge that consensus.

Social media snitching is a bane of our age, not least because it is seldom a sincere raising of concerns and more often a continuation of ideological warfare by other means. Organisations that overreact to it do so because their institutional culture is shaped by outdated concepts of public relations and crisis management. They prize a performative response designed to communicate swiftness and comprehensiveness, over a proportionate response in which sound judgement, best practice, and legal advice enjoy precedence over optics and itinerant fashions.

Confidence in institutions is no longer eroded by a perception of corporate indifference to values and identity but by a perception that these, or an extremely narrow interpretation of them, have become the central organising principle in bodies both public and private. That no organisation is as committed to its purpose, principles or even its rulebook as it is to being seen to be progressive or socially relevant.

Institutions that do what they were established to do stand the strongest chance of longevity, able to weather passing political and cultural fads by refusing to be captive to them. Institutions which allow themselves to become prisoner to trends risk losing not only their corporate bearings but the confidence of members, staff and the general public.