Being on the wrong end of a cheat, Savile and a feeding frenzy…
It seems like not very long ago that I was celebrating the new Century in the centre of London and recently we’ve arrived in 2013 – where have the last 13 years gone? 2012 was a fantastic year for London and for the country in general, whilst being a bit of a roller-coaster on a personal level.
There have not been any updates for a while, partly due to time constraints and partly because of a lack of things worth writing about. I didn’t realise that I’d not posted anything since the beginning of November which perhaps serves to illustrate how quickly time seems to be moving.
I had intended to make some fairly big edits to recent entries but trying to do so was proving really difficult, both in terms of conveying the flavour of the recorded events and in trying to air-brush history, which is something I try not to do; so after much deliberation and soul searching, I’ve left everything as it was. I am still pretty raw about what has come to light in my hula-hoop over the last couple of weeks and it will take time to fully recover from what has happened.
I’m not going to denigrate anyone and my last words on the subject are these: “Why didn’t you use some of the honesty you profess to rate so highly from the beginning? I took you at your word and believed you totally. What price “Your Everything” now? You could have saved both of us a lot of time and one of us a lot of subsequent heart-ache and almost unbearable pain. I wish your actions had matched your words, but they didn’t and the damage is done. However, I’ve got some wonderful memories of our time together, for which I thank you and I wish you well in life”.
I’m just glad I’ve got people around me that I can really trust. (I know it will probably mean nothing to most, but I feel better for getting it out of my system – the person it is aimed at will know it when they read this and I hope they feel thoroughly ashamed of themselves!)
Right then – ever onwards!
Whilst I’ve been writing this, the Met has released a “report” on the investigations into Jimmy Savile. I’m not going into a diatribe on what I think of someone who seems to have had pretty much the whole world fooled, but I am concerned that there seems to be a sudden need for the victims to want to sue anybody and everybody connected, however loosely.
One of the BBC’s correspondents has been saying that the BBC is liable for anything that went on under its roof – which I think is totally ridiculous! If you were assaulted on a train or in a shop, would you sue the Train Operating Company or the retailer concerned? No! So why persecute the BBC because some of the offences allegedly took place in its buildings?
The law apparently recently changed so that people who are not directly employed by an organisation but are working on their behalf are considered to be “staff” and therefore the “employer” is responsible for the actions of that person whilst conducting business on their behalf, but as I said, this is a recent (last year) amendment. This does pave the way for the BBC (and others) to face action, but should such a law be able to be applied retrospectively? If it is a “yes” then there should really be a time limit on how far back such application should go – maybe 6 years or so? The BBC has taken a kicking over this scandal already and has two of its own investigations running; as has been widely reported, some have already lost jobs over the matter.
But why does everyone feel the need to kick the BBC whilst it is down? I’ve heard the catch-all phrase “Duty of Care” bandied about today – fine in this day and age of rabid arse-covering; but we are talking about things that happened as long ago as the 1960’s – the phrase “Duty of Care” had not been heard that long ago and I think a feeding frenzy is gearing up to dine off any organisation with a few quid – will Rolls Royce be facing action because JS owned one? I’ve no doubt the NHS will also come in for another pounding, given the close relationship it and JS had.
Yes, let us have the truth of the matter, but let us also apply some common sense to any actions that may arise from the various reports, investigations and their findings.
I had occasion to be back in Basingstoke on Friday. It changes more every time I go back, which I suppose is inevitable, but it still tugs at me. For some reason it was really hard coming back to London on Friday night – a large part of me really did not want to, which is most out of character. Possible reasons are few, but I think recently gained knowledge had much to do with it. I do know that I’m currently feeling very different about this City and I’m not sure I want to stay here – I was in town on Monday and Tuesday of this week but it does not feel like “home” any more.
In other news, I was recently sent a copy of a quite rare 12″ single – Al Jarreau’s “Moonlighting” which brightened up an otherwise very dull Boxing Day.