Who would have thought it?
asserted
Who → think → it
Russell Brand is now behind bars, jailed for over ten years on rape and sexual assault charges.
asserted
Brand → jail → charges
David Walliams has been uncovered as the celebrity trying to prevent the publication of allegations of sexual misconduct.
asserted
Walliams → uncover → misconduct
Another male celebrity has also taken out a gagging order to protect himself against allegations over his sexual behaviour.
asserted
celebrity → take → behaviour
No doubt several other legendary lotharios, perhaps even some of those who were prominent in the lads mag-era of the 1990s, will now be quaking in their sensible old‑man loafers, wondering when the knock is coming to their door.
asserted
knock → quake → door
For, encouraged by the guilty verdicts in the Brand case, more women are coming forward to tell of their bad experiences at the hands of these powerful, rich celebrities.
asserted
women → encourage → celebrities
They are convinced the time has come for their allegations of abuse to be believed, no matter the circumstances.
asserted
allegations → convince → abuse
As Judge Bennathan said in his sentencing remarks last week: ‘Whatever women wear, wherever they go, indeed whatever they drink, they retain the right to say no and to demand justice from the criminal courts when sexual predators like you, Russell Brand, act without their consent.’
asserted
predators → say → consent
Women have waited years to hear a British judge speak these words.
asserted
judge → wait → words
However, I do worry that fresh complainants may clog up the legal system for years, along with police and court time, with nothing more than petty grievances and hurt feelings; the last gasp of the spurned and the reckless in a world where celebrity warps everything.
uncertain
celebrity → worry → everything
Is this a price worth paying for justice for the long forsaken?
asserted
this → pay → forsaken
Russell Brand was jailed this week for rape and sexual assault, while his one-time pal David Walliams was unmasked as the celebrity accused of sexual misconduct and grooming
Certainly, we have reached a moment – but what precise moment is it?
asserted
it → jail → moment
To be honest, I loathe the triumphalism that has accompanied the Brand guilty verdicts.
asserted
that → loathe → verdicts
For everything about this case makes me feel sick, not least because it is not a cause for celebration but a tragedy for all involved.
asserted
it → make → all
A tragedy for the assaulted women whose lives have been blighted by their corrosive contact with Brand, a tragedy for his poor wife and children and, yes, even a tragedy for Brand himself.
asserted
lives → assault → Brand
In the fetid pool of celebrity where he once swam, he was indulged and invited to believe he was so powerful and adored that he could behave as he wished, without censure.
uncertain
he → swim → censure
As with David Walliams – who, it must be said, currently faces no criminal charges – this seems to have brutalised and emboldened both men.
asserted
this → say → men
I attended some of Brand’s trial at Southwark Crown Court and watched this priapic idiot shrink and wither in the dock as the law took its course.
asserted
law → attend → course
He first swaggered in convinced he had done nothing wrong – but exited less than four weeks later in a police van heading for a grim London jail, his life trajectory now a downward arc that goes like this; comedian, actor, guru, preacher, podcaster, convicted rapist, prisoner.
asserted
that → swagger → this
The case has been very high-profile and, unsurprisingly, the government have been quick to act, or to pretend to act.
asserted
government → act → ?
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy says the media industry – and by this I think she means primarily the entertainment industry – must stop abuse, improve safeguards or face crackdowns.
asserted
she → say → crackdowns
May I suggest they could ban NDAs for a start, the Non-Disclosure Agreements with which badly behaved celebrities insure themselves against the complaints of staff, fans and other lesser beings in an egregious suppression of freedom of speech.
uncertain
celebrities → suggest → speech
That would help, but I am not holding my breath.
asserted
I → help → breath
New workplace codes of practice would improve matters, but who is to implement them?
asserted
who → improve → them
Miss Nandy is calling a meeting next week – with whom, gosh I’d love to know – so she is on the case, she’s got a file and everything, look at her go.
Yet where does she progress from here?
asserted
she → call → go
Any ‘crackdowns’ in the entertainment industry would have to be voluntary, any changes self-implemented and at the mercy of the great ratings war, all of which gets her precisely nowhere.
asserted
all → have → her
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has put the entertainment industry on notice to clean up its act
And while Miss Nandy means well, look at the mess in her own back yard.
asserted
Nandy → put → yard
Over the last few years, several MPs in the House of Commons have faced criminal convictions or resigned following sexual assault and harassment allegations, including Imran Ahmad Khan, Charlie Elphicke and Andrew Griffiths.
asserted
MPs → face → Khan
Others such as Rob Roberts and Mike Hill have faced suspensions or tribunal findings regarding sexual harassment of staff.
asserted
Others → face → staff
And let us not forget that in 2020 Jess Phillips wrote: ‘I fear the young women who work for me, or those who serve our drinks, write our legislation or guard the doors in parliament, do not feel completely safe.’
asserted
who → let → parliament
Power imbalance, the sexual harassment of women just trying to do their jobs – it happens everywhere and it is hypocritical for all of us to pretend it does not.
I think back to my own time working in the music and entertainment industry, when the kind of saturated celebrity that protected men like Russell Brand and David Walliams was pretty much impregnable.
asserted
that → try → Brand
Yes, readers, I am an old lady now, but I was once a young and pretty publicist, exactly the kind of low-hanging fruit – the receptionists, production assistants, radio station workers – that Russell Brand targeted.
asserted
Brand → hang → that
I can think of at least three instances with famous men who are still household names whom I had to fight off in lifts, in a restaurant and, yes, even in a hotel sauna in Germany.
asserted
I → think → Germany
I would suggest that at least one of the sexual assaults was more serious than those claimed against Russell Brand – but what can I say?
asserted
I → suggest → what
I am a policeman’s daughter who grew up on a council estate in Dundee, and I am as physically tough and emotionally resilient as all that suggests.
uncertain
that → grow → Dundee
When these incidents happened to me, I chalked it down to experience.
asserted
I → happen → experience
I moved on.
asserted
I → move → ?
Or I fought back.
asserted
I → fight → ?
My father taught me many things, including a handy claw grip to apply when someone puts an unwanted hand on your knee.
asserted
someone → teach → knee
I still sometimes do it as a dinner party trick, just for the quiet joy of seeing disbelieving men crumple to the floor whimpering after five seconds of application.
asserted
men → do → application
…and 48 more, not listed.
The Aporia
