Justice Violated

Cristiano Ronaldo and Prince Andrew are both lucky that the United States still requires conviction beyond reasonable doubt, which has been abolished by judicial fiat in England and Wales. Juries are directed to "disregard" the concept. Ronaldo, however, may care to look up the English law of libel. As might Prince Andrew, since there is nothing remotely "paedophile" about having even non-consensual sex with a person who was over the age of consent both in London and in New York, where it is 17.

There is no defence to a charge of harassment. The crime consists in having made the complainant feel harassed. If she says that she was, then she was. No lawyer would commit professional suicide by representing you if you tried to plead not guilty; I have that in writing. What matters is that the complainant is well enough connected to have her case taken up by the Crown Prosecution Service. If she is, then she and it are guaranteed a kill.

The clear intention is to do the same with rape. There will be no defence to the charge. If the complainant said that she had been raped, then that would be that. One of the many wretched features of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill is that it will deny disclosure to the Defence in rape cases. Britain will deserve international sanctions for this among many other clauses of that Bill. Guaranteed a kill with a potential life sentence, the CPS would take up every case.

But the census returns are going to confirm the demographic rise and rise of men who had either never been married, or who no longer were. There are votes to be had in standing up to all of this.