Matthew Steeples suggests that Brendan O’Neill’s mocking attack on alleged victims of Westminster VIP abusers as a ‘paedophile panic’ in ‘The Spectator’ is nothing but a disgrace
On Tuesday, in The Spectator, a journalist named Brendan O’Neill stupidly claimed “Harvey Proctor has done us all a favour” and suggested what he ridiculously termed “the paedophile panic” has “more than a hint of homophobia to it”.
In the article, which has attracted over 250 mostly negative comments, O’Neill went on to suggest that the investigation into VIP abuse was about nothing but “bash[ing] gays, finger-point[ing] at the political classes … [and] pursu[ing] some other ugly moralistic agenda”. He mockingly termed the matter “hysteria” and “a full-on conspiracy theory” and went as far to refer to this as “social madness” and “half-baked”. Plainly, to his mind, not one of those accused could be in any way guilty and whilst some allegations will without doubt flounder, many will not. Decent men like Labour’s Simon Danczuk MP and the Conservative wannabe-Mayor of London Zac Goldsmith MP also would simply not support the numerous victims without first seeking out proof and unsurprisingly, he failed to mention that.
O’Neill, no doubt, would have taken the same attitude when he was told of claims against other since convicted abusers such as Max Clifford, Stuart Hall and Rolf Harris. None of them were gay and though they claimed a “witch hunt” also, they were rightly brought to justice. It is now time for the course of justice to run in regard to claims of what went on amongst Westminster’s VIP elite and that Brendan O’Neill wants this stopped is nothing but a disgrace. Shame on him and his tawdry article: May it one day come back to haunt him.
Subscribe to our free once daily email newsletter here: