We all need friends. People who give us a shoulder to cry on, laugh at our jokes, sympathise with our problems. What sort of support can you expect from a good friend? Maybe buying you lunch when you're broke; helping you to move house; driving out to pick you up from where you've stranded yourself when your car breaks down. Or how about making headlines nationally by criticising a wide-ranging investigation into sexual abuse in the name of defending your honour? Because if you happen to be a friend of Stephen Fry, actor, gadget fan and self-appointed fact master, then that's the level of support you can expect.
Fry's comments criticising Operation Yewtree were made at a fundraising gala for the Labour party last week.
His friend, theDJ Paul Gambaccini, was arrested as part of the investigations in October and released on bail without charge. Fry is angry that, "fewer than half" of the people arrested as part of the Operation have been found guilty, and called for tougher laws to deter false claims of rape and sexual abuse.
His comments are remarkable for many reasons. At any time, it's shocking to hear that old canard that what rape and sexual abuse sentencing really needs is more to deter false claims. There are no more false claims of these than of any other crimes, but there is a problem with under-reporting, difficulty in prosecuting, and stigma attached to victims.
But for Fry to make his comments following the high-profile successful prosecution of Rolf Harris, and as the government finally, agonisingly opens the inquiry into whether public bodies failed in their duty of care to prevent child sexual abuse, with new stories about institutionalised abuse being made public shows a gross lack of awareness and empathy.
His friend, theDJ Paul Gambaccini, was arrested as part of the investigations in October and released on bail without charge. Fry is angry that, "fewer than half" of the people arrested as part of the Operation have been found guilty, and called for tougher laws to deter false claims of rape and sexual abuse.
His comments are remarkable for many reasons. At any time, it's shocking to hear that old canard that what rape and sexual abuse sentencing really needs is more to deter false claims. There are no more false claims of these than of any other crimes, but there is a problem with under-reporting, difficulty in prosecuting, and stigma attached to victims.
But for Fry to make his comments following the high-profile successful prosecution of Rolf Harris, and as the government finally, agonisingly opens the inquiry into whether public bodies failed in their duty of care to prevent child sexual abuse, with new stories about institutionalised abuse being made public shows a gross lack of awareness and empathy.
| It becomes clear, in a way that many people were probably aware of but which was never made explicit in public before, just how many powerful people abused their positions in the worst way imaginable - and how many others looked away. | let's not forget that Gambiccini hasn't been falsely imprisoned, or even charged. |
How can police investigating claims now do anything other than listen to the people who come forward and take them seriously? Of course that's what should have happened all along, but it didn't.
The high profile of the cases that have been in the news recently have given survivors of sexual assault the courage to come forwards, the belief that they will be listened to and their stories acted upon - something which was robbed from most of them, sometimes for decades.
And let's not forget that Gambiccini hasn't been falsely imprisoned, or even charged. That is the job of a decent investigation - to explore evidence, which will occasionally mean arresting people in order to question them.
Gambiccini has not been charged, and perhaps a different question Fry should have concerned himself with is whether the media should have covered his arrest in such great detail. I'm no fan of the idea of anonymity for people accused of rape, but there is a difference between not being anonymous and having your picture on the front page.
I've no doubt that was unpleasant. But what victims and survivors have been through has been horrific, and there will be no justice until they are respected, listened to and we start to root out those who would use positions of power to abuse.
Squeamish Louise
The high profile of the cases that have been in the news recently have given survivors of sexual assault the courage to come forwards, the belief that they will be listened to and their stories acted upon - something which was robbed from most of them, sometimes for decades.
And let's not forget that Gambiccini hasn't been falsely imprisoned, or even charged. That is the job of a decent investigation - to explore evidence, which will occasionally mean arresting people in order to question them.
Gambiccini has not been charged, and perhaps a different question Fry should have concerned himself with is whether the media should have covered his arrest in such great detail. I'm no fan of the idea of anonymity for people accused of rape, but there is a difference between not being anonymous and having your picture on the front page.
I've no doubt that was unpleasant. But what victims and survivors have been through has been horrific, and there will be no justice until they are respected, listened to and we start to root out those who would use positions of power to abuse.
Squeamish Louise
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