Cliff Richard – CPS must take action
AS many of us predicted, Sir Cliff Richard has been cleared of the ludicrous allegations of sexual assaults but it now emerges that one of his accusers was himself a sex offender and another had tried to blackmail the singer and was being investigated by the police, who dropped their enquiries when the man then made an allegation.
It used to be the case that a blackmail victim had anonymity but in the crazy world which the police and CPS now inhabit the victim is named and the blackmailer is protected.
As I have said before the CPS needs to find a new formula to replace the phrase “insufficient evidence”. The words are legally correct because any allegations in which complainants state that they were assaulted by somebody they knew or could identify at the time are classified as evidence in themselves. The CPS needs to adopt some such phrase as “no evidence beyond the original allegation”.
Meanwhile the police should reopen the blackmail investigation or is that too much like justice for them to consider?
Bob Geldof’s behaviour was a disappointment
SOME years ago I was invited on to the Michael Parkinson chat show alongside Victoria Wood and Bob Geldof. I knew I would like Victoria Wood, who had done an affectionately funny sketch about me on her Christmas show, but I did not expect to warm to Bob Geldof whose vulgar language at one of his big charity concerts repelled me.
To my surprise he was charm itself and made me, then an overweight middleaged woman, feel a million dollars. His manner was entirely courteous, indeed it was positively courtly.
Then we found ourselves united about fathers’ rights. I had recently written a novel about a man whose ex-wife was trying to prevent him seeing his children and Bob had been through the whole separation-from-children experience himself.
So for years I have admired Bob Geldof but now it seems as if he has reverted to his old ways with his unbecoming conduct on the Thames last week in the Remain flotilla. All I can say is thank heaven he is on that side of the argument so I need feel only disappointed by his rudery rather than embarrassed.