Newspapers

I'm a great lover of newspapers, much preferring news from those sources rather than from television, and a number or reports have recently caught my attention.


The first concerns a lady charged with a string of sex offences which occurred 25 years ago when she was 28 and her 'victim' was 15.

Now I can't comment on the specifics of the case, and I won't get into the rights and wrongs of it but I do wonder how and why it has now comes to light. I can only presume, for I can think of no other way, that the now 40 year old man has decided to report it to the police.

But why?

I can't speak for him but I would have thought that sex with an attractive 28 year old was/is right up there at the top of every 15 year old boy's wish list.

Why the sudden urge to confess all? If he was unwilling then I can only say that it's awfully difficult for a woman to have non-consensual sex with a boy/man, unlike when the positions are reversed, so again I wonder, why now?



The second report to catch my eye concerns a 60 year old army veteran who, having served his country for 16 years, in Cyprus, Kenya and Northern Ireland, has had his job-seeker's allowance stopped because he committed the heinous sin of selling Poppies in the run-up to Remembrance Sunday.

I have nothing but contempt for those desk-bound pen-pushers, who have never contributed one iota to the security and well-being of the nation, but who exercise an evil power over those that have and whose only comment to this disgrace is that 'rules are rules'.

May they rot in hell, all of them.



On a somewhat lighter note I read that Frederick Forsyth (Daily Express 6th December 2013) was put out because two Nigerian defendants, on trial at the Old Bailey, were allowed by the judge to be called by their jihadist names (whatever that means). Mr Forsyth maintains that if in similar circumstances he wished to be called Father Christmas it would be refused - I disagree.

Many years ago, when I was a very new Magistrate, I was sent to Huddersfield to observe a court in progress. The defendant, I can't now recall the charge he faced, made it known he wished to be called Rupert Bear. With an absolutely straight face the rather formidable Lady Chairman promptly did just that. Her "please sit down Mr Bear", and all subsequent such utterances, has remained with me to this day, reminding me that all who come before the courts have a right to be treated with dignity and respect, no matter how grave the charges they may face.