Sir Richard Henriques, the retired High Court judge who is to conduct the review into the allegations about Sir Edward Heath’s conduct, gave an enlightening interview to the BBC last week.
Speaking to the legal correspondent Joshua Rozenberg, Sir Richard issued a caution about the language used when claims of sexual misconduct of any kind are made. Sir Richard holds to the position – of which we should be constantly reminded – that a person is innocent until proved guilty and that a claim of sexual abuse is not proof of a crime having been committed.
Those who claim sexual harassment or abuse, he said, should not be referred to as “victims” until the case has been shown to be true. Until then, they should be called “complainants”.
There are genuine victims of sexual crimes who deserve full access to justice in law. But Sir Richard, who draws on long experience, said there are also individuals who are fantasists or after financial compensation. Unfortunately, in an era of Twitter-storms and accusations being quickly repeated via social media, a younger generation isn’t always aware of the principle that everyone is innocent until proved guilty.
Celebrities and performers have been, metaphorically, falling like ninepins in recent weeks, as reputation after reputation has been destroyed without benefit of trial. The disgraced actor Kevin Spacey has been subjected to the Soviet practice of being airbrushed out of a new movie. And now, one of the most likeable of TV presenters and singers, Aled Jones, has been taken off air because of sexual harassment claims. He says he sometimes behaved in a “juvenile way” 20 years ago, but denies any allegations of harassment or assault.
Meanwhile, the Court of Appeal has overturned one of the convictions against the entertainer Rolf Harris – the main witness for the prosecution was found to be a fantasist with convictions for dishonesty.
Surely Sir Richard Henriques is right to remind us of the due processes of the rule of law.
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Ireland will be holding a clutch of referendums in 2018, including one on abortion and another referring to Article 41.2 in the 1937 Constitution, commonly known as the “woman in the home” clause.
This says that “the state recognises that by her life in the home, woman [sic] gives to the state a support without which the common good cannot be achieved”.
Some modern feminists deplore this concept, which they interpret as limiting women’s role to mere housewifery. They want the clause deleted.
The language is old-fashioned and may need modernising and amending, but it could also be seen as supporting women (or men) who choose to be homemakers, recognising their value – and contribution to “the common good”.
As it happens, last Sunday’s scriptural reading included that rather idealised passage from Proverbs about the “perfect wife”, as our modern translation has it.
It begins: “A perfect wife – who can find her? She is far beyond the price of pearls.” Perhaps more poetic is the King James version: “Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies.”
Both versions speak of a husband’s trust in this admirable woman, of her industry, her almsgiving, and her enterprise too, when she buys a field and plants a vineyard. She is a person of wisdom, and “strength and honour are her clothing”. Her children, and her husband, call her blessed, and the Scriptures order that she deserves a share of what her hands have worked for.
I can’t see any sensible woman objecting to that.
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Wisely or unwisely, Zimbabwe’s leader Robert Mugabe was educated by Irish Jesuits, and has always remained personally loyal to his mentors. On several occasions, he was a guest in Ireland of the former newspaper magnate Sir Anthony O’Reilly at his Co Kildare home. Tony O’Reilly showed me some of the happy pictures of Mr Mugabe having a relaxing time there.
Tony himself is an alumnae of Belvedere College Dublin, and has had a lifelong loyalty to the Jesuit order which educated him – and a corresponding sense of fellowship with other Jesuit old boys.
I think we can say that the one lesson Mr Mugabe absorbed from his educators was – persistence!
Mary Kenny’s new book Am I a Feminist? Are You? (New Island Books) is out now and available via Amazon
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