Well, of course, they are a huge state-run bureaucracy and thus a couple of dropped bollocks are to be expected. Undoubtedly, there are more than just two but if they never hit the headlines then we don't hear about them. Even so, the failure of the Crown Prosecution Service to prosecute the two doctors who aborted killed babies simply on the grounds of their sex is disgraceful. Similarly, the two mothers concerned should have been hauled up in the courts and, if necessary, their husbands, too. If I hear or read anyone expressing astonishment at how the German people of the '30s and '40s managed to ignore the mass murder going on around them I will simply point them in the direction of their local butcher family planning clinic!
Equally, stupid was the decision to prosecute the actor, Michael le Vell, for child abuse and rape on the unsubstantiated word of a young girl. According to The Mail, the original decision was that the case had a snowball's chance in hell of succeeding and it was dropped but following a complaint from the girl's mother another lawyer - female, natch! - over-ruled the decision and thus a shed-load of dosh - our dosh! - was poured away, most of it, I guess, ending up in the pockets of the lawyers concerned. If there are no witnesses and no forensics and the case is simply one person's word against another's then no jury will - or should - convict. It's tough if the girl concerned is telling the truth but who said life was ever fair?
Now, of course, given that Mr. le Vell is a 'sleb' actor - although needless to say I had never heard of him - there are calls for the accused in such cases to be given the same anonymity as the 'victim'. Dangerous tosh, and in fact, the anonymity for female complainents should be lifted, too, in my opinion. The whole essence of courts of law is that they should, indeed they must, be public. If you have an accusation to make then you should have the guts to stand up publicly to make it. Equally, a defendent should stand openly, too. Let justice be done but let it be done openly.
