Green Light for Brett

It now seems certain Brett Kavanaugh will win his nomination to the Supreme Court despite the allegations of sexual assault levelled against him by several women. At one level this is no bad thing. It would be a shame if a moment of alcohol fulled bad behaviour 36 years ago destroyed a man’s chances of reaching the highest office. But, rather than adopting a hectoring, defensive posture, it would have been nice if he’d said: “I do not remember the incident described by Dr Ford, but if on the night in question I behaved in a less than appropriate manner I apologise unreservedly.” Then he might have won more approval from the women currently most strident in condemning him.

In 1977 I was a young psychiatrist when I was asked to see a medical student who, during someone’s 21st biurthday celebrations took it upon himself to drink an entire bottle of vodka in one go. Hardly surprisingly he suffered a cardiac arrest and very nearly died. Even more surprisingly, he was remarkably unrepentant when I challenged him over his arrant stupidity. Amazingly, he persisted in thinking it was “a bit of a lark’ that had perhaps been taken a bit too far. As you can imagine, I tore him to shreds over the incident, not least over the amount of NHS resources that had been devoted to keeping such an idiotic person alive. That man is now in his 50s, if he is still alive, having modified his behaviour since those crazy days, and may have carved out a distinguished career in medicine. I don’t know. But I don’t think that moment of extreme recklessness should have destroyed his career.

There are 2 problems in the ‘Kavanaugh epsisode’ which trouble me, as an observer far from the land of the ‘Free’. The first is that Mr Kavanaugh, and his sponsor Donald Trump, have made no secret of their partisan, ultra-right wing agenda, and that the former will put these views into action once he becomes a member of the Supreme Court. I know this has happened before, and probably many times, but you would have thought that a neutral, impartial position would be what was required from any judge, never mind one in the highest court in the land. Now the decisions from that court will be coloured with a far-right hue for many years to come, and heaven help those people trying to pursue any kind of liberal agenda.

The second is about a huge banner unfurled by demonstrators in the Capitol building yesterday.
“BELIEVE ALL SURVIVORS!” It proclaimed, suggesting that professor Blasey-Ford, and, presumably, all other complainants of sexual abuse, should be believed, and unquestioningly. The only problem with that is, if my accuser had been believed unquestioningly, not just by the police and the CPS, which she was, but also by the jury, then I’d be in prison right now, 9 months into a life sentence for a series of terrible sex crimes - crimes that in truth did not take place. Unfortunately, we cannot, in the interest of justice, afford to believe all “survivors”. If we did, hundreds of innocent people, like myself, would be in prison. Rather we have to take all complainants seriously; I have no problem with that, but then investigate their claims impartially and objectively. I’m sorry, Me Too movement, but that’s the only way.