If not reciprocated with sufficient enthusiasm, it’s an imprisonable felony. Former Tory MP Charlie Elphicke found that out the other day, when he was sentenced to two years in prison for two counts of sexual assault.
One count involved the self-described ‘naughty Tory’ inviting a thirtyish woman to his house for a drink, then kissing and groping her without permission.
The other count came after Elphicke tried to kiss another woman and put his hands on her breasts. Two counts, two years, there’s a certain harmony there.
Yet the sentence is bad news, and not just for the ‘naughty Tory’. It’s one of those miscarriages of justice that undermine the very basis of legality.
The men among you should strain your memory and try to recall whether you ever tried to kiss or feel up a reluctant woman, ever had your hand knocked off a reluctant knee. I bet you did, if only in your testosteronal youth. Did I? I insist on my right not to incriminate myself.
If such behaviour isn’t merely boorish but criminal, then we all – well, most of us – have committed criminal acts. Hence the law that sent Elphicke down criminalises practically the entire male population and, I’m guessing here, a fair chunk of the female one as well.
This in itself is criminal: if everybody is a felon, nobody is. Hence this law is meaningless, which makes it harmful.
The greater the number of meaningless laws on the books, the less respect people will feel for the law in general. And less respect will become outright contempt when people realise that increasingly more laws have nothing to do with justice and everything to do with idiotic fads imposed by subversive pressure groups.
But fine, let’s agree for the sake of argument that kissing a woman against her will is a heinous crime. However, there’s the issue of commensurate punishment.
A friend of mine, an expert on such matters, has calculated that burglars serve, on average, three days per burglary. And long is the list of crimes, such as theft, burglary and mugging, that practically never draw a custodial sentence on first offence.
Yet Elphicke, who had no previous, was treated more harshly than thieves, burglars and muggers. Remember that neither ‘victim’ was raped or hurt in any way. They were mistreated and mishandled, as it were. Either of them would have been justified in slapping Elphicke’s face, or perhaps have her boyfriend do so later with more pow.
Had they felt that further action was in order, they could have complained to the Tory whips, who would have certainly censured the libidinous MP for misbehaving. But the whole ethos being shoved down our throats led them to report Elphicke to the police, who then saw fit to pass the case on to the CPO – and then the jury, sufficiently primed by said ethos and the judge’s instructions, saw fit to convict.
I do hope this monstrous verdict will be overturned on appeal. Yet even if it is, the damage has been done – to the law, relations between the sexes, the very notion of justice and therefore to us all.
A quick question: Do you think a dweller of a Brixton council estate would have received the same punishment for the same offence? And if the answer is no, as it has to be, are our courts waging class and political war? In addition to enforcing every wokish fad? Don’t answer that.
Spot on, once again! Alas alas for justice and common-sense!
Since race is the rage nowadays, I wonder what the racial demographic percentage of these unjustly kissed/felt up plaintiffs in the Western world are. I would assume that most of these women are white, mostly of UK (incl’g Americans), German, N. European, extraction. I think one is safer planting an unexpected smacker on a black or Asian woman nowadays, even fully modernized ones. Or am I deluded?
You are probably right – provided the Asian woman isn’t a Muslim covered head to toe in what I call a Halloween costume. She may well turn out to be a man in disguise. And I do wonder how strict the new laws are in Italy, where pinching strange women’s bottoms is both a national sport and a rite of passage.
1). “inviting a thirtyish woman to his house for a drink,” …did he drag her there or not?
2). Location? It sound like it wasn’t in the public square.
If a woman asked me to come to her place for a drink my wife would lecture me if I even thought about for more than two seconds before saying “Best not”.
If it’s possible that a woman would invite you over, try to force a kiss and then chase you around the dining room table, I congratulate you, my friend. I’ve never been so lucky.