WHO, WHOM?

Looking at the wan, pathetic face of Pete Townshend, the rock musician arrested for possessing child pornography from the Internet, it is hard not to feel a smidgen of sympathy for him. He has not yet been convicted of any offence, and it may turn out that he has not committed one – but his reputation has been destroyed for ever.

Over the next few weeks, we are going to see pictures of many more men peering sadly out of car windows as they are driven off for questioning by the police. More than 7,000 British men are on the list of individuals who have accessed child pornography sites on the Internet. That list was passed on to British authorities by the FBI. The policemen involved in the inquiry have promised that doctors, teachers, judges, politicians and other high-ranking public officials are on it. The officer leading the inquiry has even gone on record to say that he could make headlines every day for a year by exposing the famous names on his list.