Ann Olivarius

McAllister Olivarius Files Lawsuits Against Harvest Christian Fellowship and Greg Laurie on Behalf of Survivors of Child Sex Abuse The complaints, which were filed in the United States District Court for the Central District of California on September 16, 2025, allege systematic negligence, sex trafficking violations and a 20-yea...

Well done! Speaking of lawsuits. I wanted you to see this: mcolaw.com/mcallister-o...

Jingo and Monstrous Regiment are particular favorites of mine. Of course, as a lawyer, any book featuring Mr Slant.

Lawsuits accuse former California megachurch pastor of child sex abuse in Bucharest Two Romanian men have filed lawsuits in U.S. District Court in California accusing a former megachurch pastor of sexually abusing and trafficking children for years at a shelter he ran in Bucharest.

There is no bad time to stand up for survivors. They have waited long enough, for decades, to be heard and be helped.

We say it's time.

apnews.com/article/cali...

The Defiant Conventionality of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce Swifties love seeing him take pride in her success.

Choosing a man who'll champion your success as his own is a very, very smart thing to do in this particular political and legal climate.

Taylor Swift and @helenlewis.bsky.social are as always ahead of the curve.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

“Flexible working shouldn’t cost women their careers – it must be central to gender pay gap action” “This kind of inequality shouldn’t exist in the 21st century.”

Do you have 44 years to wait for the gender pay gap to close?

It's overwhelmingly women who go part-time and flex time, to care for children. As long as flex and part-time are seen as less than, women will miss out on promotions and pay increases.

www.stylist.co.uk/life/careers...

‘A new low has been reached’: Church abuse victim on data breach The Church of England has described a data breach which revealed the personal details of abuse victims as "deeply regrettable".

The @churchofengland.org
-keeps delaying the Redress Scheme
-remains fuzzy on its funding
-staunchly refuses independent safeguarding
-still can't seem to find an Archbishop untouched by the clerical sexual abuse coverup

www.channel4.com/news/a-new-l...

The downward spiral continues:

Ex-archbishop of Canterbury sorry for blaming Chris Brain victims Lord Carey of Clifton said he was shocked to read back what he had written about the Nine O’Clock Service scandal in his 2003 autobiography

IF @churchofengland.org truly was "shocked" by its own victim-blaming, if it truly HAD learned "much" about safeguarding it wouldn't:

- drag out the Redress Scheme
- have survivors data leaked on its watch
- refuse independent safeguarding
#notshockedatall

www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/art...

EasyJet manager sacked after calling colleagues ‘lovely ladies’ Male cabin staff member claimed his comments were ‘flirty banter’ but an employment tribunal dismissed his appeal

Let's not lean into the "you just can't say anything these days" panic, when writing headlines about employment law.

He was sacked after saying “I’m not doing anything. I’m just staring at your ass” (and worse).

www.thetimes.com/uk/scotland/...

Legal rights ‘persuade couples to marry instead of cohabiting’ One in five adults would not make their partnership official if they had the same protection as married people, a study has found

A common misconception about common law marriage: that it offers the same legal protections as marriage.

It doesn't, not quite. We see too many people who assumed they were covered, only to find out they weren't. Ask a lawyer, not the internet.

www.thetimes.com/uk/law/artic...

Vicar claimed £30,000 from church in bogus charges ‘Talented and charismatic young priest’ has been banned from holding services for two years after claiming £500 a month in ‘clergy spouse’ payments

Why does @churchofengland.org insist on coddling "charismatic young priests" while ignoring its own survivors of clergy sexual abuse?

Apart from the money, this vicar created a safeguarding nightmare with an app showing exactly which children attended services.

www.thetimes.com/uk/law/artic...

Metropolitan Police detectives arrested over ‘sex assault cover-up’ Five officers have been detained in anti-corruption raids related to a complaint made after a CID Christmas party

I wish I could say that I was surprised. But having the clients that I do, I'm not.

The Met wouldn't be so hard to clean up, if there were no cover-ups.

www.thetimes.com/uk/law/artic...

From Noel Clarke to Gregg Wallace, why is the UK still battling a toxic TV culture? Power imbalances and precarious employment for production staff mean whistleblowing remains a rarity

Easy. Sexual harassment is endemic.

And a creative industry with intermittent funding, powerful gatekeepers for projects and precarious working conditions remains the perfect breeding ground for toxicity.

www.theguardian.com/media/2025/a...

Ministers vow to give sexual violence victims ‘the justice they deserve’ Exclusive: Figures show proportion of sentences referred back as unduly lenient has risen in England and Wales

Care to calculate the odds for a just sentence for a rape victim? Or the toll of getting "justice"?

Less than 2% of rape claims go to court. Less than 1% result in a conviction.

And 62% cases referred Unduly Lenient Sentencing Scheme are for sexual violence.
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Fertility rate hits record low in England, Scotland and Wales Last year’s total fertility rate of 1.41 for England and Wales was lowest since comparable data was first collected in 1938, ONS says

How weird, given how available, affordable and excellent child care is and how little pregnancy discrimination women face at work.

It's just inexplicable that women have fewer children, later.

They must just not know their own interests.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Ten organisations write urgent letter to home secretary over violence against women and girls strategy Groups including the NSPCC, Barnardo's and The Children's Society wrote to Yvette Cooper to say that violence against women and girls and child sexual abuse are "inherently and deeply connected".

Male violence against women becomes so entrenched because it starts when we're girls.

What is the government's thinking here? That girlhood is this magical, golden safe space and all the violence and abuse start on our 18th birthday?

news.sky.com/story/urgent...

Denmark Summons U.S. Envoy Over Espionage Allegations

“Denmark summoned the head of the U.S. Embassy … after allegations emerged that three Americans with close ties to President Trump were running ‘covert influence operations’ in Greenland.”

Is there a Nobel prize for creating a conflict by threatening to seize the territory of a democratic ally?

It's deeply gratifying that the judge saw through Clarke's claims of victimisation and his "well, it was funny at the time" defence.

A hopeful day for survivors, their lawyers and the brave reporters who investigate. Well done!

Lucy Osborne and Sirin Kale did excellent and sensitive reporting, capturing all the complexities of why it's so difficult to be a victim of sexual harassment in the creative industries (and in any industry).

Noel Clarke loses libel case against Guardian over sexual misconduct investigation High court rejects actor’s claim that accusations against him by more than 20 women were false and part of a conspiracy

Clarke claimed to be the victim of a conspiracy between the Guardian and 21 women who somehow all had a grudge against him.

He wanted an astronomical £70m in damages, a clear deterrent for future reporting on sexual misconduct and for survivors coming forward.

www.theguardian.com/media/2025/a...

Luckily, victims don't have to rely on the Church of England to do the right thing. If so, they'd be waiting a long time, the Church doesn't move fast to held itself accountable. In this case, the Crown Prosecution Service did a stellar job. When it can't or doesn't, victims can go civil.

The sorry last chapter - when the scandal has broken and the perpetrator escaped accountability, there's instead a performative "reckoning", with little aftercare for the victims, much less compensation or justice.

This is what a lawyer calls "notice". There's usually someone, somewhere, who sounded the alarm.

And they're usually ignored. Because, when you're a star, they let you do it.

Especially if the institution is faltering and desperate for a success.

Victims (especially women) are conveniently always crazy, mentally ill, hysterical, vengeful, jealous or obsessed.
This gives those who should have acted an excuse to not act ("poor woman, she was awfully unwell, I understand").

It's not abusive, creepy sex, it's, uh, a new "Post-modern definition of sexuality". What a relief!

It's profoundly difficult to go against a cult leader when you're in the cult. To be able to label wrong-doing as something else instead can be a relief.

"Chrissnapping". Classic cult dynamic to normalise abuse by creating a cute moniker or developing specific in-group euphemisms.

Abuse is more readily accepted when it's called something else, by everyone else. This increases the plausible deniability for all involved.

In a cult, the Charismatic Leader will clasically start off humble and gradually, as his power grows, develop a taste for luxury and vanity purchases that props up his increasingly grandiose self-image.

Are we seriously wonder why the Church of England chose to close its eyes to a sexual misconduct scandal in its midst?
That particular response is deep in the Church's DNA (any news on that Redress scheme, incidentally?).

If there's no inquiry, nobody gets blamed.

A classic lie: the victims are only coming forward because ... it's simply so much FUN to enter the criminal justice system as a witness.

Who wouldn't want to devote months to relive their trauma, not work, lose money, only to be grilled and slandered by the defence?

This is the heart of the case. Victims can't "just leave" or "just say no", because their abuser A) has a hotline to God and B) they'll lose their entire community.

Everything about a cult is engineered to put people in a situation where obedience is the only outcome.

First, some good news: Prosecutors realised and successfully convinced the jury that consent is meaningless in a high-control group.
This is a massively important point, as usually victims are blamed for the abuse they endure.