The Spectator's Notes | 2 March 2017

Chief Constable Simon Bailey, who heads Operation Hydrant, the police investigation of ‘non-recent’ child abuse cases, now says that paedophiles who view images of child abuse should not be prosecuted, because police cannot cope with the numbers involved. Mr Bailey is wedded to the doctrine that someone who says he is an abuse victim must automatically be believed. The result, said Sir Richard Henriques in his scathing report on Operation Midland, is that the criminal justice system totters: ‘Chief Constable Bailey’s argument ignores the consequences of false terminology.’ Another consequence is that the child abuse statistics, unchecked, explode. Mr Bailey will not admit his error and so, in order to prevent police collapse, decides to excuse a huge category of paedophiles.

The great Oscars mix-up could have been worse. If the true winner had been La La Land, and Moonlight had mistakenly been declared victorious by Faye Dunaway, rather than the other way round, the ensuing argument would have provoked the second American Civil War.