Why are we treating our children as little more than a generation of lab rats, to be experimented on with consequences that could last the rest of their lives? And what does “our” NHS think it is doing participating in this? It has been revealed that more than 200 children, some as young as eight, are to be given puberty blockers, as part of a study into “gender-questioning” children. This must be stopped in its tracks.

It is part and parcel of growing up that we all question our identity. I was never a tomboy but plenty of girls were and grew up to become wives and mothers, something that might have been denied them if they had been part of this terrible experiment. Equally, many a little boy has experimented in the dressing up box before becoming a captain of industry. My (very alpha) husband likes to boast that his first qualification was in make-up. Children go through phases. It’s what being a child is about.

And the job of the parents and the older generation is to watch over them as this is going on, and protect them, not give them drugs that will stunt their growth and render them infertile. Now former employees of the totally discredited Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust have written to the  Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who had previously banned these drugs, saying that this trial should be banned immediately. How can anyone in their right mind think it should go ahead?

We do not need a trial. We have already seen what these drugs can do. There have been cases of people who had “changed” sex coming forward to voice their regrets; in many cases there is no going back. And why announce this now, just as the world is beginning to see sense on the trans issue?

Yes, a tiny percentage of people suffer from gender dysphoria and should be looked after with compassion and respect, but we had got to a stage when we were putting male rapists into women’s prisons. Sheer madness and now this.

If this goes ahead, some (or all) of those children will be damaged for life. And I sincerely hope they sue “our” NHS and anyone else involved into the ground. This is child abuse, pure and simple, all to satisfy the curiosity of a few adults. And I very much hope they will be made to pay.