© Off-Guardian
The scandal doing the rounds across all British media is the BBC's revelation that an as-yet-unnamed
BBC presenter has been suspended following allegations he allegedly paid over £35,000 for nude pictures of an unnamed teenager.
This would technically be a crime,
due to a strange legal set-up in the UK which says that even though the age of consent for
actually having sex is 16, the age of consent for taking naked photographs is 18.The story broke a couple of days ago in
The Sun, which reported that the "BBC star" had sent the money over a period of three years, starting when the complainant was 17 and continuing until they were 20. Apparently the teenager spent a lot of this money on crack cocaine.
Since the revelation hit the papers have been filled with speculation as to who the presenter might be, and spirited denials from various BBC luminaries.
#BBCnonce is trending on twitter.
Guessing the suspect has turned into a national pastime over night. (For our non-UK readers "nonce" is
British prison slang for pedophile)
So what's going on here? Doesn't the whole story raise a lot of questions?
Firstly, why has no one named the man? That's bizarre, he's suspended and allegedly the subject of a legal complaint so his name will be public anyway soon enough. Explainer articles claim it's
a legal issue, but rumours and accusations get published with names all the time - that's the facts of life in the age of "cancel culture".
Secondly, why did this man spend 10 grand a year to see a naked "teenager" when OnlyFans exists and an almost infinite amount of free pornography is only a google-search away?
Third, and most importantly, why on Earth should we be listening to anything the BBC or The Sun say about anything, ever?
Comment: Indeed, this spike in attacks - that, notably, often target societies most innocent and vulnerable - is occurring with an especially disturbing frequency in China, but it's also on the rise elsewhere; just what factors are contributing to it?
- 2 girls seriously injured in knife attack at primary school in Germany, 9 dead after 13-year-old student shoots up high school in Serbia
- Annecy, France: 4 children of nursery age stabbed in playground by Swedish-approved Syrian 'refugee'
- 3 stabbed near University of Tokyo ahead of entrance exam, student, 17, arrested
- Outcry over lack of police disclosure in Taiwan kindergarten druggings, 4 doctors also accused in 'separate' incidents
See also: 2 women stabbed to death in brutal knife attack at Hong Kong mall before alleged assailant subdued (2nd June)