Serious Subject ... Synthetic Rage

You'd think a chubby old codger like Ken Clarke would have trouble getting his foot into his mouth, but it seems not - Rape Controversy .

First and foremost, what an insensitive dickhead. But beneath the Westminster Punch and Judy show there is a deadly serious juridical issue underlying all of this and it is one which is rarely given a dignified airing. Because rape is problematic from a philosophical point of view. The debate is not moved forward even a tiny bit by synthetic rage from the loathsome Ed Milliband, who, by the way, is making me miss the good sense and charisma of Gordon Brown.

Let me ask you a question: if you were accused of a crime, would you expect the right to be considered innocent until proven guilty? I suspect you would. Would you want the right to be tried before a jury of your peers? Again, I suspect the answer will be yes. So why do so many seem to feel that accusations of rape could be singled out in the English legal system and tried differently? Because if you are one of those people who turns the focus solely onto the 'victim' of the unproved crime, then that is what you are proposing. You may in fact have a point, but please do not pretend that this is easy. It is fundamentally and intellectually difficult and deserves some adult thought.

Here's the news: scumbag scallies get off in court. On all sorts of charges - theft, robbery, deception, wounding, murder. Guilty men go free. That is the way we have chosen to tilt the balance because the other extreme where the innocent are punished fills us with dread. I am not persuaded that we can use a different set of scales just because the allegation is the heinous one of rape. Rape is indefensible but, if for rape, why not a new system for child sex offences? (is that cheering I hear at the back?) Or benefit fraud? Or tax evasion? All of these are reprehensible in their special ways. One of my favourite little sayings (you may have noticed) is 'be careful what you wish for.' And if you are of the 'no smoke without fire' school of jurisprudence, remember some day it may just be you on the receiving end. What we have is a bit like democracy ie a system that sucks but which is quite possibly better than all the alternatives.

And finally (that's twice already that I've started a sentence with 'and' - Miss Ross would be livid) just to prove I'm not some lily-livered liberal, rape sentences for the proven guilty should be harsh. I stop just short of 'chop off their nadgers' but I'd put them away until they can't use them any more. Hang the expense.

Light blue touch paper and retire.