Home  Attitudes & Opinions October 27, 2002, unabbreviated piece on Lynn Barber in the Observer |
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October 27, 2002, unabbreviated piece on Lynn Barber in the Observer |
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Monday, 25 November 2002 |
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I loved LYNN BARBER'S piece in the Observer on Sunday 20th October. I'd have preferred her to have proclaimed and believed in my innocence of the convictions, but I much appreciated her positive and supportive approach. I also quite understand her position. 1. Everyone wants to believe the law gets it right. To accept police corruption or laziness and legal flaws is to realize the fundamental unfairness of British justice. When I was out there I, too, chucked letters from criminals in the bin. They are probably guilty, I thought, and, if not, who cares? Now I'm in the same position as thousands of other innocent men and women, I feel differently. 2. The trivial details of cases are monumentally boring. Who cares whether someone lied about the colour of a front door or the date of a photograph? Those details proved to me, irrevocably, that police deliberately assist witnesses in interviews. But who else cares? Clearly and understandably - no-one. 3. It is, however, disturbing to realise just how superficial we have all become. We can only be bothered with caricatures. We simply cannot any longer deal with shades of grey. It's a symptom of social cancer of the soul. I am no more evil than Rebecca Wade or Ross Kemp. They know that and I know that. But lazy editors allow bad journalists to write in cliche's and cartoons because that's what many readers understand. It's not the media's fault. It's our fault. 4. How do I feel about those who lied or exaggerated or provided 'similar facts' for statements or made thousands from their false allegations? Good luck to them. I'd prefer to spend a hundred years in prison than to live with that on my conscience. Karma will kick in. It always does. I sometimes wonder what is around the corner for MAX CLIFFORD. I dread to think. But ponder this - if Jeffrey Archer deserved four years in jail for lying to his wife and the media about visiting a prostitute, how much do those deserve whose lies have ruined the lives of priests, care workers, husbands, children and other decent people? Heaven only knows what the Devil has in store for them. JK.
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