File this under "Headlines that left you speechless"

[Tonyblack]

I got the impression that Theroux would rather have been anywhere else for most of it

He looked more comfortable when he spent time with Fred Phelps's family.

F**k me with a pogo stick, sideways! This guy was more comfortable with Phelps than with Jimmy Savile?

I was being ironic.

[Dotsie]

Maybe she got turned down and it has stuck in her craw so to speak, and just doing it out of bitterness also for the money.

This sort of comment might be why she kept quiet for so long.

When I was a teenager, older men trying to cop a quick feel wasn't that unusual. They knew there wasn't anything I could do about it, and no doubt they would all be horrified at the accusation now. It was all harmless fun! I once chased a man down a street at night for feeling my arse, thank god I didn't catch him, but it was a close thing. But, I'm probably lying, to set up an attempt to ruin some man's life, right? It's what we women do, you know.

[Tonyblack]

I agree, Dotsie.

By the same token - years ago when I worked in the Post Office, we had a young girl come to work with us in the cash centre. I was walking across the sorting office with her and I was appalled at the lecherous comments made by the postmen. She was clearly upset and embarrassed by it, but was too embarrassed to do anything about it. So I did. I reported the incident to my line manager, who reported it to the officer in charge of the sorting office and an announcement was made telling the postmen that this sort of behaviour was out of order.

There were absolutely awful comments made about this girl because of this. The postmen had assumed that she had had the audacity to complain about being treated like a piece of meat, when she hadn't in fact made any comment because she was too afraid to. I made sure to let them all know that it wasn't her but me who'd complained. They thought it was "just a bit of fun".

I've seem parties of school children being shown around that sorting office where lecherous comments were made to young girls who were too frightened to respond. It really p*sses me off when people try to make the victim into the culprit.

It's always easier to say nothing and try and get on with life than to stand up to possible ridicule.

I knew a woman (sadly dead now from suicide) who was brutally raped by a man who left her for dead after using a large screwdriver. The police questioned her about the man but she was so terrified that he might catch her again, that she refused to describe him. This man went on to commit several more rapes which culminated with the rape of a six year old girl. The woman I knew was tormented by the fact that she might have saved that young child, but was also terrified that somehow this man would get out of prison and come after her.

That rape of her by him effectively ruined her life. Would she have been happier if she'd helped to convict him sooner? Who knows? But I do understand why she felt that trying to keep quiet and get on with her life would be easier than making a stand.

Why do people assume that when these victims finally come forward it's because they think they are going to make money out of it? Isn't it more likely that they finally feel safe enough to admit what happened to them and what they've been bottling up for years?

[Bouncy Castle]

Trick, indeed.

[Catch-up]

Dotsie, Tony, very well said.

[Bouncy Castle]

Trick, indeed.

That was in response to Q's link about cocaine in trick or treat bags.

[Tonyblack]

Trick, indeed.

That was in response to Q's link about cocaine in trick or treat bags.

I did wonder.

[Quatermass]

He looked more comfortable when he spent time with Fred Phelps's family.

F**k me with a pogo stick, sideways! This guy was more comfortable with Phelps than with Jimmy Savile?

I was being ironic.

God, you had me believing you there. I saw an interview done with Phelps on A Current Affair after Heath Ledger died. Gawd, he's a nasty piece of work.

[Jan Van Quirm]

Not been saying too much on the Savile situation because enough's being said and I've nothing much to add, but Batty has a point about the one allegation Freddie Starr's been arrested for. In fact, is it actually arrested under caution or simply 'helping police with their enquiries? He's responded to this accusation very swiftly and publicly several days ago and said he'd welcome a police interview - not exactly the actions of a man with some gruesome secret to hide, although with him and his history I'd say the real danger he may have presented was in being inebriated or high around children and perhaps that will come out in the investigation rather than deliberate molestation?

The danger of a McCarthy style witch-hunt into anyone associated with Savile is growing with every press speculation and whilst the reportage is very much in the public interest and shouldn't be suppressed, it's important to keep a lid on things in perspective and not get hysterical at every new 'revelation' that emerges.

One thing that's not being said too much is the general lack of presence of Savile on TV shows (rather than news programmes when he was knighted etc) in later years, but the one that has been - his being 'banned' from association with Children in Need - seems to underline that there was an awareness that his activities were suspected, if not acted on by some people in the entertainment media and some nursing staff at the hospitals where he 'worked'. Also his comments supporting Gary Glitter weren't exactly sprayed across the headlines when that can of worms exploded were they? I think Esther Rantzen has it about right about him. There was nothing concrete to pin on him and so people too blinded by the positive public image and his fundraising all those years and the ugly rumours therefore remained just that in his lifetime. This also goes some way to explain his relatively small estate of £4 million - he was something of a miser in his private life (living in trailer parks or cheap appartments) so most of his earnings went into feeding his charitable smokescreen and tacky bling persona that supported his main activities.

Talking of tacky bling - did anyone else think of Savile when the Austin Powers movie Goldmember came out?

[chris.ph]

dont look at me i like rolex and cigars

i think there should be a witch hunt and that everybody involved in this sordid little ring should get wot they deserve

[Bouncy Castle]

Senior political figure' set to be outed as paedophile in Newsnight probe tonight

The man at the centre of the 'paedophile' storm has apparently threatened to sue the BBC after claims he is about to be identified on the programme presented by Jeremy Paxman (above).

The investigation into the senior political figure is being legalled by the Beeb and was revealed in a tweet by the London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism, which wrote: 'If all goes well we've got a Newsnight out tonight about a very senior political figure who is a paedophile.'

Jezuz it gets worse.

[Tonyblack]

I think you'll find that's chris.ph (above), NOT Jeremy Paxman.

[Bouncy Castle]

You know what it means.

[Tonyblack]

Talking of tacky bling - did anyone else think of Savile when the Austin Powers movie Goldmember came out?

Something I saw the other day (an old episode of QI I think) suggested that, with the tracksuit and all the bling, he was an early model for rappers.

[Dotsie]

Not been saying too much on the Savile situation because enough's being said and I've nothing much to add, but Batty has a point about the one allegation Freddie Starr's been arrested for. In fact, is it actually arrested under caution or simply 'helping police with their enquiries? He's responded to this accusation very swiftly and publicly several days ago and said he'd welcome a police interview - not exactly the actions of a man with some gruesome secret to hide

But Jan, as an ex-teenager who did get felt up by men on occasion, I would have to say that none of those men would think they would have anything to hide, or that they did anything wrong. I would say it's unlikely that anything would come of this anyway unless there were witnesses. Or even if there were witnesses, if they have a sudden attack of amnesia.

None of this means that Starr had sex with minors. But is it such a stretch to think that he could have groped one?