Today's 'Satanic Panic'...

Young women around Australia are being struck down by a mystery neurological illness - with experts fearing social media addiction and pandemic stress is triggering the problem.

The Tourette's syndrome-like disorder is seeing teenagers suffering from incontrollable 'tics' - which include outbursts, twitching, pops, noises, swearing, kicking and hitting.

Doesn't sound that different to the behaviour of a lot of modern teenage girls these days... 

'This bright, spunky, fiercely independent young girl just trapped in her own body, in her own head. It's really hard to watch,' Melissa told 60 Minutes of her daughter Metallyka - before the teen slaps her mother.

Which teenage girl hasn't wanted to do that at some point? Have they found a way to do it and get treated as if they are the victim, I wonder? 

Nicole, a British 15-year-old began suffering from her tics shortly before her 13th birthday - with minor facial twitches transforming into violent physical and verbal outbursts. Her mother said the most confronting of her tics is she will commonly shout 'I am Madeleine McCann, I've been kidnapped' in public. Like many other cases, Nicole's tics came on during Covid when she was admittedly 'very lonely'.

Long time readers of 'Fortean Times', of which I count myself as one, will not be unfamiliar with this pattern that's emerging, of course. The ontly real modern twist is it's being spread via the Internet. 

The professor pointed to the mimicking of TikTok videos showing tics being broadcast around the world - with 16-year-old Michaela admitting seeing the clips had triggered her behaviour and even seen her mirroring it. She has now 'fully recovered', with Professor Dale saying the disorder is 'definitely' something that can be overcome but admitted only 20 per cent of his patients have kicked the condition.

The more things change, eh, prof..? 

When Will Priti Get A Grip..?

The Home Office is in the process of drawing up a new hate crimes strategy that aims to 'increase the reporting of all forms of hate crime', including those relating to gender identity.

The plans are being developed despite a court ruling last year, which ordered police to stop recording gender-critical views as non-crime hate incidents, which are declarations of wrongdoing added to someone's criminal record.

This is a department at war with itself. You cannot on the one hand have the law courts refusing you their backing, yet civil servants blindly carrying on with attempting to enforce the impossible demands of a handful of activists. 

What's the Home Secretary doing about it?

But free-speech campaigners fear the new drive could see comedians criminalised for telling jokes, particularly about the rise of transgender ideology.

The move comes after Gervais, creator of The Office, angered Twitter's 'woke' brigade following the broadcast of his new Netflix special, SuperNature, which mocks cancel culture with jokes about trans people, Hitler and AIDS.

It appears to be...nothing.  

Under the new strategy being developed by the Government, members of the public could be allowed to register an official complaint about his routine.

And we know, given the opportunity, they will.  

Last night, the Home Office Minister Rachel Maclean insisted the move was positive. She said: 'Increases in police-recorded hate crime have been driven by improvements in crime recording, better identification of what constitutes a hate crime and increased victim willingness to come forward.

'This is positive and reflects the hard work that has gone in to ensuring police can understand the scale of the challenge, and that victims get the support they need.'

Rein in this idiot, Boris and Priti, or lose yet more votes. It should be another no-brainer, as DumbJon points out. Why aren't you doing it?