Barabbas trumpets a Golden Age

A day of two commemorations

Considering that I seem to observe events, it would have been remiss not to have noticed yesterday's activities; the unfortunate propinquity of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and the inauguration of an American president. It was totally missable (a word rarely used) and redolent of something to be disregarded.

If anything, it was so totally predictable; someone undeserving of it was accorded the respect and courtesy of being peacefully handed the reins of power that he stroppily refused to do out of a total lack of decorum, at the last inauguration. I guess this already sets the tone for how this blog will go. [The Guardian: Trump says he won’t attend Biden’s inauguration]

The humour in a travesty

As the event would pervade the airwaves, it was impossible to ignore, I had a news blackout and decided anything about it was best viewed through the prism of how the night talk shows depict the events of the day. Like I have handled cancer with humour rather than despair, this was to be seen through the prism of humour before despondency sets in.

At the swearing-in, which was to be hand on the Bibles held by his spouse, at least two talk shows suggested, since the inauguration was moved indoors, the fire services had refused the bibles be touched by the president to avoid a conflagration of the Capitol. We could well assume either the person or the book would burst into flames if they came in contact. Outside, the freezing cold might have extinguished any point of ignition.

The silhouette figure of his spouse cum black chapeau with a wide brim created an air gap to the intended public intimacy between man and wife that did not escape the amusement of a global audience. Many other things were said that require no repetition. Barabbas of the modern age is quite different from the one gambled on by Pontius Pilate who only had a history, this one will have a future that many might view with trepidation.

Blog - Give us Barabbas!

Blog - It is well with my soul

Winding back a century in time?

The full personification of felonious Barabbas came with the pardons granted to the mobs involved in the invasion and insurrection at the Capitol on the 6th of January 2021.

A rash of Executive Orders followed, and a new era of American exceptionalism and isolationism has begun. Leaving the WHO and some predicated on the America First notion. Why it has not reversed straight into the Prohibition era of a century ago escapes me as that would be the Golden Age being sought before it was snatched away by the Great Depression. History will repeat itself as a risible farce and that is not a prophecy. [Wikipedia: Roaring Twenties] [The White House: Presidential Actions]

We shall not be moved

We in a broader sense would refuse to be affected or impacted by the expected dysfunction of that place, while adopting a perspective that should exhibit surprise and mirth. His predecessor bought himself a life of peaceful retirement without regret by the pre-emptive pardons of relations and others in the gunsights of a vengeful kakistocracy.

Lest anyone be deceived, the tech plutocrats of this incoming oligarchy had the front seats, this will not be the government of the people, for the people, by the people, but who wants to listen to the truth when the lies appeal so well to our basest instincts?

Life will go on; most of us survived the first time, as we, and Americans especially, forgot those who did not, because of the heartless incompetence of managing the global pandemic then. We have mostly climbed down the peak of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs towards its base; which is why every similitude of Barabbas in democracies worldwide is chosen over a better person. The day after is a time for reflection and anticipation.

The low cost of a locust fib

A new locust menu

The bizarre is something you cannot begin to understand, it is like a tale you heard on the grapevine. Peeping at me through a phone screen was a head ahead of its game in fantabulous stories that astound beyond the reach of sitting at the feet of a vizier raconteur regaling us with tales in the Arabian Nights.

The baldie suffering in the African sun, weeding and tending his plants was overwhelmed by a swarm of locusts that had no appetite and thankfully so for his crops, they had acquired a taste for hair and those with non-black highlights too.

They stripped his scalp of every strand that he looked like he had just left a side-street Thai massage parlour that offers Brazilian waxes of places nether and places obvious.

That is his story, and this is for the record.

#PartyGate: Of the conceited kakistocrat of 10 Downing Street

He is impervious to contrition

It has come as no surprise, at least not to me that Prime Minister Boris Johnson has indicated that he has no intention of resigning after the submission of the #PartyGate report, in fact, after having escaped the necessity of The Queen demanding his resignation after he lied to her majesty on the illegal prorogation of 2019, it was obvious that he has no character, dignity, integrity, embarrassment, sense of responsibility, or shame that could lead to his relinquishing office except by the loss of an election. [BBC News: Sue Gray report: Drunken No 10 party culture in lockdown laid bare]

What is disturbing is the realisation that the United Kingdom is in the unconscionable grip of a kakistocracy never seen in the performance of government ever. A man who has had an undistinguished record of being unable to acquaint himself with the truth that he would lie with such ease and no pang of conscience, who is ready to abandon international treaties that he himself negotiated and signed because of the inconvenience that has exposed his double-dealing and perfidy is not on a journey to become a better man.

Here is one who does not believe he should be held accountable for anything; he constantly gets away with impunity even as his acolytes have joined in his way of doing things to preserve the perverse. Apparently, we met with Conservative MPs and said he was sorry, just like the boy who cried wolf and they believe him. Boris Johnson in his arrogance and conceit is incapable of contrition, but more fool them, as they know who he is and now choose to vouch for his honesty and sincerity.

An unprincipled lot

When friends suggested his brush with a possible COVID death might moderate his outlook and behaviour, I knew Boris Johnson had no redeeming quality that could help him reflect on infirmity or adversity to see a reform of his character, he is utterly rotten to the core. Sadly, his party has become the freemasonry of the unprincipled that would coalesce rather than rid themselves of this pox on our democracy.

If truth and justice cannot be the lodestar of our government and democracy, you can only wonder what these people would allow to happen, if they ever think there is any need to have any sense or purpose. The handful of Tory MPs that have any semblance of integrity are too few to move the needle.

Self-interest rather than national interest is the guidance for most of them and some would be let out like rabid dogs on our televisions to defend the indefensible perfidiously that Beelzebub the father of lies would find himself an amateur to their parselmouths.

Somehow, we are just left with no other choice than to watch and hope that they would exhaust themselves and go the way of oblivion with history judging them as the worst that has ever come to power, the bookend of Queen Elizabeth's amazing reign besmirched by an intolerable government.

Ashli Babbit, a needless death

What a shame for her

Ashli Babbit, 35, an Air Force veteran from San Diego, California was at the US Capitol yesterday as a staunch supporter of President Donald J. Trump having been fully persuaded of the unfounded claims of voter fraud determining his loss of the presidency.

Egged on by the president, she, unfortunately, found herself at the end of a bullet to the neck or the chest, as she climbed through a broken window as part of a hooligan mob invading the sanctity of the Congress, depending on the reports you read and soon she was dead and probably will not be remembered or celebrated for her needless martyrdom to a hopeless cause.

Silliness as patriotism

Some will have us believe that she was a patriot and there are many who fly the flag, stand for national anthems recite pledges of allegiance with gusto, who believe they are patriots or are more patriotic than those not so enthusiastically consumed of nationalism, jingoism, and belligerence.

The concept and meaning of patriotism has been corrupted, abused, and misappropriated to odious and nefarious ends. Many so-called patriots need to sit back down and have another in-depth civics lesson on the constitution, the rule of law, the separation of powers, the freedoms we all have in the kingdoms and republics in which we live and the responsibilities we have as citizens of our different domains.

Cut loose or perish

I am sorry that Ashli foolishly and needlessly lost her life in the pursuit of an alternative reality that had no evidential bearing of truth even in the broadest sense if there is an afterlife where an account is required of our deeds, anyone would hate to be in her shoes, it almost qualifies for a Darwin Awards citation. If you lose your life hitching your wagon to Donald J. Trump, you should be entered for that award and it is likely Herman Cain is celebrating his somewhere in the Great Beyond.

It is a salutary lesson, regardless of what you are asked to believe, take time to engage your head and do not be so closely hitched to anyone that you cannot cut loose when they are careering into a ditch.

All metaphors of the dame

The call in the land is, let us pray,
          For we all are prey,
Caught in the way of predators of yesterday,
          Dinosaurs be they that roam our lanes today.

Present thyself, dame of infamy,
          To wit, a game of villainy,
Stashed away in the servant’s coffer,
          You reach now, the loot to recover.

Will they have known their name was rich,
          Never a day again for them to twitch,
Abused they were to conceal a crime,
          Yet to them, not a dime.

Promoted you were beyond your competence,
          Not once strung together a good sentence,
Married to him who rose without rectitude,
          Much educated beyond his aptitude.

The sheriff sued the serf for possible theft,
          Then you entered the stage from the left,
With an embarrassment of legal pandas you came,
          Black from white you all knew no shame.

The loot is mine you cried,
          As we asked what could you have tried?
No job you ever did altogether could have paid,
          What is now to be reclaimed.

Then you opened up a treasure trail,
          A bank account tells a money tale,
For how your term as first greed,
          Is not the last of help you’ll need.

Yet, you will walk away scot free,
          Not to say how the filthy lucre tree,
Watered your purse with riches real,
          For that is how we deal.

We have implicitly enshrined,
          In the law of the land most refined,
Every means to allow the perfidy,
          Of immunity for gross impunity.

#NigeriaDecides: It is a part of a campaign - Anything but the truth is what we need

Enough of it

Yesterday evening, after watching as many sickening lying tweets pass my timeline that veers from exaggeration, through embellishment to outright falsehood, I had to react to one particular one about Transparency International.

The tweet suggested Transparency International data made a comparison between the present and a period 8 years before Transparency International came into existence. For the record, Transparency International was founded in May 1993.

The worst comes forth

Now, I would have ignored the tweet as noise, but the person who I have not met before, however, respect as a 'journalist' who runs a newspaper as an Executive Editor is someone I respect for reasons difficult to explain since we have never met. The fact is people project a personality on social media that you grow to like and generally follow and engage.

What has bothered me is this electioneering season in Nigeria has brought out more of the worst of than the best of people. The propaganda with sensationalist headlines has reached a crescendo that the whispering truth and facts have been lost in the cacophony of the malevolent.

Desperate times

The air is rife with conjecture and conspiracy, the opinions rock perspectives like a small boat tossed about in turbulently rough seas, we are literally left at the mercy of the hope that we still have our wits about us to be breathing for the wish for discernment and discrimination is long far gone.

All I can say is these are desperate times, the chaps in charge, in a Nigeria that was barely functioning to its potential would have hardly scraped entry-level management, but they have found themselves holding Nigeria’s purse strings.

With literally untrammelled power, wealth and opulence beyond their wildest dreams, these people are not going away without the dirtiest political battle for office Nigeria has ever witnessed.

Their being in office supports the most aggrandised company of gluttonous pigs with their snouts in trough of the national largesse, the prospect of change is fearsome and terrifying for them because not only will they go hungry, they risk incarceration for their heretofore excused and celebrated criminality.

It is a part of a campaign

Indeed, we have a Nero who fiddles as Nigeria burns, thinking like the man in the street that has never left the street, he pardons the corrupt, elevates the questionable, excuses the inexcusable, utters the intolerable, celebrates the reprobate and redefines corruption with platitudinous acceptance. He does not give a damn.

With that kind leadership, it is no wonder that when I challenge someone about tweeting lies and creating tales represented as fact, I am told, "It is a part of a campaign."

That is the danger we face in Nigeria, "It is a part of a campaign." Anything goes, without consequence because reputations count for nothing if your patron is in charge to give you the semblance of normalcy and success whilst offering the delusional Utopia of everything is well in Nigeria.

They promptly take credit for the successes of others despite them and even more rapidly apportion blame to others for the failures they are responsible for.

"It is a part of a campaign." That is one thing I will remember of those who abandoned principle, virtue, honesty and truth for political expediency. I am beginning to lose my respect for people I once respected, but "It is a part of a campaign."

Nigeria: Where the afflicted have no respite being cobblestones to the comfortable

Reflections on writings before

Every once in a while, I go over some of my almost 2,500 blogs written over 11 years to check if when I have contributed to the global body of social commentary in my own small corner, whether I have expressed the best of our common humanity.

Especially as we are in the Nigerian electioneering season, I have watched with horror compounded by disgust as heretofore respected members of the press and individuals of seemingly respectable views have hitched their wagons to incredible embellishments, amazing fantasies and outright lies – Propaganda most vile.

Reflections on the times

I have tried as much as possible to ignore many of these infractions that are engendered by the struggle to survive and the willingness to rent out the conscience for a while, to the highest bidder seeing that circumstances are tough and difficult.

It is sad that people are left with no other option than to forfeit principle and honour for temporary reprieve, reputations painstakingly built over time squandered for pecuniary advantage that we are in a race to publish the lies with such fervency that the repetition of those reprehensible untruths would almost eventually begin to sound like the unassailable truth.

Reflections on our state

We are up against an entrenched establishment that has made corruption the norm that no conscience exists to moderate behaviour for the better. Impunity is the default licence of the powerful to pillage without restraint, because the system not only encourages it, but celebrates it as the sign of success and the wealthy returns of divine providence.

This has become both the inspiration and the aspiration of many, the access to great wealth without industry and to absolute power without responsibility or accountability. This is how we reward politics and politicians, the powerful and religious leaders, and the stupendously rich with no audited means wealth in Nigeria that each and every contest for electoral office or position to influence has become a fight to the death.

If not that serious, these people clog the courts with grievance, little and large, buying up legal expertise to intimidate the bench into yielding to their demands.

Reflections on comfort and affliction

In every sphere of life, we have the afflicted and the comfortable, so many of the former and a select number of the latter who vie for the spoils of the commonwealth at the expense of the afflicted without any inkling of consideration or humanity.

It is in this area from politics though religion and our broader community we find that the press, the leaders and individuals have amassed into the absurdity and hence commit the atrocity of comforting the comfortable more by afflicting the afflicted even worse.

As we stand today wondering if there still is that difficult expression of compassion in our humanity and hopefully the last breath of life in our consciences, we should ask ourselves whether in thought or in deed, in good intentions or in real actions, in silence or in expression, by omission or by commission, we comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable, speaking the truth to power and bringing change that really does matter and benefit our greater humanity.

“The job of the newspaper is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.” Finley Peter Dunne [Wikipedia]

Will Self on The Purpose of Satire [BBC Radio Four – A Point Of View]

Double life: Denials creating a first time every time

Learned to perfection

Society sometimes helps model people into quite interesting and unique individuals with somewhat common traits. I have observed this in people with fantasies, maybe dreams or daring ambitions.

The secretiveness that governs the quest should be a case for study; it might well have been studied, who knows?

They come across as knowledgeable of what they want having relived the fantasy so many times, it has become experiential as to be performed as rote.

First time every time

Having satisfied that fantasy, the truth then emanates that it is really just the first time and then a torrent of denials follow.

First about whom they are and how their deviation of the public façade they present is an anomaly, then about their fears about being discovered calls for utter discretion.

This is quite duplicitous and probably dishonest too, the secret double-lives puts all interactions at varying levels of risk as the protagonist finds an accommodation that balances quest and guilt with managed daring and pangs of conscience.

The art of denial

Using the device of denial, they deign to wipe the slate clean every time that each real repetition of the fantasy is projected as a novice who just seems to have the deft hand of the expert. Denial has become an art form, practiced with all the necessary safeguards to prevent the Jekyll and Hyde lives in the same person from visiting each other.

At which point you begin to wonder, who you can believe and who has created a world of make-belief, therein lies the erosion in trust of strangers with fantasies.

Pouring cold water on cancerous hot meals

Trusting well

It is commonly reported that Ronald Reagan said regarding the nuclear treaties signed with the USSR, “Trust, but verify.”

Considering what I am about to write, I probably should trust that this quote was from Ronald Reagan but verify that it really was spoken by the Gipper; however, I would rather the quote was not attributed to anyone else because I need the authority of Ronald Reagan to press this quote to the widest audience of those who will trust but NEVER verify.

Only recently, a posting on Facebook [1] at the news of the death of Osama bin Laden which belonged to the writer and was followed by a quote by Martin Luther King suddenly lost its punctuation and before you knew it, MLK’s quote had been dropped and the musings of the writer became MLK’s quote and it was round the Internet on Facebook and Twitter like a wild fire.

Inadvertent trust

I never gave it much attention mostly because I was not passing the quote on because I know it would have looked unfamiliar to me and I would have dug in to find out the context of the quote before sharing that wisdom of the day with my friends.

There is a need for people to develop a sense of curiosity, a sixth sense about issues, a need to wonder if, find out why, understand what, appreciate how – I could go on.

As I rolled off my sleeping mat this morning the first thing I saw on Facebook was this title, “Drinking Cold water after a meal = Cancer!”

Now, it was on my Facebook timeline because I to an extent trust the person who posted it, yes, a Facebook friend is a trust exchange; what they post becomes part of your Facebook experience just as much as what you post becomes a part of their Facebook experience.

Twitter is however asynchronous, you only see what comes from those you Follow, things reTweeted by those you follow or those things that have your Twitter nickname attached to the message by others, you do not by default see in your Twitter stream the tweets of people who are just following you.

I don’t have itching ears

Now, I rarely ever take anything at face value on the Internet, I have this source, attribution, verification complex, even those who claim to be authorities in their fields of expertise in my view need to provide research and incontrovertible evidence to support their claims – it applies to professionals as doctors, engineers, lawyers, accountants and most especially preachers, I just do not have itching ears, I have an annoyingly inquisitive mind.

I find it so irksome when people publish news stories without the authoritative link, it means I have to go find out where they got the information from or condemn it as a rumour or urban legend. So this is how I addressed my friend on Facebook.

Some Friday mirth?

I don't know if this is a joke, I hope it is because if it is not, I will be mightily disappointed in you.

Why? I expect people who become I become friends with on Facebook to learn a few things from me, like research anything thrown your way before publication and then publish such only with references - in this case, the medical research that corroborates this urban legend.

I had never heard of this before so the first thing I did was do a search on Google and immediately it was clear that this was no science it was mumbo-jumbo.

http://www.snopes.com/ Is the Google of urban legends, usually within days of any story, issue or myth breaking they do the research and clear it up.

The second reference went to http://urbanlegends.about.com/ I suppose that speaks for itself.

http://www.snopes.com/medical/myths/coldwater.asp

http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_drinking_cold_water.htm

Like I said in the beginning, I do hope you were creating some Friday mirth and it was all a joke. It looked like one. :D

Trust, but verify

It was necessary that I convey my displeasure with a modicum of jest just to ensure my views are not thrown in the waste-bin and in response my friend has erred on the side of this being confused science, fine with me.

In any case, I felt I should share this before it spreads like wild fire, an urban legend with no medical basis that was first posted in an email in February 2006 and carried on the wave of the trusting but incurious until it found a solid footprint on the Internet that I had not gotten halfway through the search terms before Google threw up suggestions that proved once again that you can always trust, but VERIFY.

The first link within my sources shows how you can avoid being caught out.

As for the Trust, but Verify [2] quote attributed to Ronald Reagan, it was originally Russian and said to be a frequently used phrase by Vladimir Lenin – next I expect someone to suggest Ronald Reagan was a communist, you saw it on my blog first.

Sources

[1] How to Identify and Avoid Spreading Misinformation, Myths, and Urban Legends on the Internet - Lifehacker

[2] Trust, but verify - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Malevolent Twitter Rumours Trending Dangerously

Rotten trends on blatant lies

The usefulness of social networking or news propagation forums that allow for the free expression of thought, sometimes hopes there would be responsible usage in terms of what is shared and maybe some consideration or concern for community or personality when information is given out.

I opened up my Twitter home page this afternoon and had one glimpse of the trending topics, what came up first was RIP Kanye West [1], I was both surprised and shocked. I am not that much a Kanye West fan, I cannot say I know any of his music but some of his antics sometimes makes me hope he finds a low profile coordination consultant that could keep him out of the news.

Not too long ago, he lost his mother to an unfortunate cosmetic surgery incident, in a split second; thousands of thoughts had rushed through my mind, many already of sadness or grief.

Between relaying and confirmation

I was also busy chatting to a friend on Skype and as one would naturally do, mentioned this trend to her. Thankfully, she, just as I did not automatically take that as truth, we quickly checked on news sites to determine if there was any truth to this news before we became part of the herd.

Apparently, it was a hoax [2], some malevolent and rotten person had started a Tweet that Kanye West had died in a car accident and instead of readers of the Tweet checking first if there was any truth to that story, they propagated the rumour with their RIP messages or ReTweeted the messages of others trying to affirm that an untruth in its entirety from conception was fact.

The shame of it all is that there are some many lazy people in the herd, crowd and bandwagon movement who could have within 30 seconds checked and confirmed the lies but they would rather be part of a trend and rather not let the truth, the just, the fair get in the way of an atrociously machinated nasty rumour.

Praise for trends

In the process this became the top trending topic on Twitter and it does much damage to he credibility of Twitter just as false postings have benighted Wikipedia.

The more incredible thing to me is that I have not seen any clear condemnation of this malicious and hurtful rumour, rather I have noticed people commending the genius of a person who has been able to get their lie to the top of Twitter trends, no matter whose ox was gored.

This is a dangerous development, where scandal, controversy or blatant untruths can capture the unimaginative minds of the easily lead and lazy crowds who propagate the selfsame thing to create a major democratic truth of a lie, the pressure of numbers then gives some legitimacy to the lie which then becomes news – this is not good.

Generally, I do not trust Twitter, I always follow the links to and interesting Tweet that comes up and try to corroborate that with other sources before I respond or ReTweet.

Seeking originality

To be honest, I must say that I am not particular enamoured with people who cannot combine the news topic with the URL and a basic opinion in 140 characters. I will never Tweet on an issue if I could not add an opinion, it is like relaying the news verbatim in a blog. In fact, it is the height of arrogance to think you are the original source of a story in the news on Twitter, it only matters for me when you can also add a soundbite, a quip, an opinion, a comment, something that gives the story a perspective.

After a while of not seeing original stuff from a Twitter friend, that friend gets pruned from my list, I believe in 140 characters you can create a unique personality with good opinions rather than be a relaying robot and a conduit for trash and the brash.

Can it be policed?

I suppose we can put this down to human nature that there would always been a misuse of social networking facilities but there has to be some mechanism in place to prevent falsehoods, lies and issues inimical to community building from trending dangerously with the affirmation of numbers.

This cannot be by peer review but some logic that notes the trend, verifies its purpose and sometimes removes it completely from the public timeline with a comment on the matter whilst the purveyor of the falsehood gets a sanction.

Always check before relaying

Inevitably, you can trust nothing but only by review and diligent research from authoritative and respected sources, it takes time and a bit of work of information management, but that better than joining the stampede for trends like swine running to destruction over a sheer cliff into the sea.

For all who contributed to this rumour, you should be sorely ashamed of yourselves, you have really let yourselves down, I do hope there would be a greater sense of awareness when next something like this happens again, just don’t give it oxygen if you have not confirmed from reliable sources that you have received in a Tweet.

Source

[1] Twitter Search from trending topic

[2] Kanye West Is Not Dead, Just Victim Of Latest Internet Hoax - News Story | MTV News:

Lies - Between human frailty and the law

Lying to protect - the unrecognised dilemma

Being economical with the truth or lying is something too many human beings do for one reason or another - many do think they can get away with it, but when they get caught it is never a good end result.

In the best of situations, the truth - honesty being the best policy - can come with some pain but your integrity, honour and respect is maintained, in the long run there might even be a reward.

When it comes to great men with much to protect, a reputation, a stake, a relationship or some circumstance, much as the luxury of being an observer makes one entreat the principal to come clean and be over with it, there are some extenuating circumstances that might prevent them for speaking the truth.

Sometimes, there is conflict, when dealing with the law; the truth is expected regardless of the situation, but when the issue touches on the very personal which could bring shame - the human dimension is lost whilst they who have never sinned rile the principal to derision.

This is no advocacy for lying, but put yourself in these two men's shoes.

Truth in a dress

Just about 10 years ago, a man of great importance in a long-term relationship coming to 20 years had been involved in some infidelity with an intern in his office. This improper relationship became the means by which he was assailed by his political enemies when he was asked if he had any sexual liaisons with the intern.

Now, an improper sexual relationship is not something you go and tell your wife like you just made a fantastic deal, in fact, the likelihood for any man caught in that kind of situation would be to completely deny that situation till the accuser can produce incontrovertible evidence, at which point, disgrace, dishonour and disdain are heaped on the principal as he apologises for a lying.

In this case, it was the sperm stains on the dress that caught him out, one could almost say that it as all planted to ensure that he was caught in a desperate situation. The man was Bill Clinton, the lady Monica Lewinsky and prosecutor Kenneth Stark - Mr. Clinton is the man making history, the other two who sought to bring him down do not have footnotes on those esteemed pages.

Mr. Clinton definitely should not have lied but if anyone asked you in his circumstances about an improper sexual liaison would have owned up in public?

Where did you meet?

More recently, a well-respected businessman had a relationship with a young Canadian that lasted four years. There is no doubt that the young man would have in that time grown accustomed to the style and status of his amazingly well-to-do spouse.

When the relationship ended, it would appear the wealthy businessman cut his ex-lover adrift, but having not made sufficient contingency for the welfare of his "discard", the young man in dire straits after entreaties to his ex-lover decided to monetarise the information about this relationship by selling his story to the tabloids.

Now, there was nothing improper about the relationship though it was homosexual and private, the business man being a closet gay man.

What amazes me about this whole situation is how the businessman's support infrastructure which usually is quite solid and disciplined allowed the situation to degenerate into that what we have now.

In trying to prevent the young man from selling the story, the businessman went to court and the question about where they met arose. Obviously, any respectable person would like to say they met their partner in some romantic setting; it has only become socially acceptable to say you met on some online dating site.

The businessman with a career and reputation to protect said he met the young man in Battersea - probably a gay cruising area - innocuous, but plausible, however, the young man who had nothing to lose said different; he met the businessman on a gay escort website.

Oops! Someone has been caught in a lie; the businessman on court documents - his undoing and this disgrace as this has now been exposed - a resignation with a loss of probably £20 million in payments where probably £1 million in a blackmail payment might just have kept this under wraps for another few years.

The businessman is Lord Browne who resigned as the Group CEO of BP yesterday, the young escort, Jeff Chevalier - time will tell how history would play this out. Lord Browne however could face perjury charges.

If asked and indeed you met your partner as a Pretty Woman, gigolo, on an escort website or some place of ill repute tell anyone that is where you met?

The law deals stridently with perjury, however, there has to be mitigating circumstances when it comes to what might be lies of passion.

The Iraqi Travesty - Saddam escapes justice

Conned with a false promise

To use what I think is an Americanism, it was a no-brainer that dawned on the Iraqi High Tribunal despite the protestations to the contrary before the 30^th of December 2006.

A whole set of charges were laid against Saddam Hussein but there was an innocuous proviso that allowed for Saddam to be condemned to death and then have that sentence carried out before all the other charges were tried in court.

Every sensible person opined that there was no way the tribunal could legitimately try a person who is already dead, in fact, we also found as in the case of Ken Lay of Enron, whilst his first trial found him guilty, his death before sentencing or appeal meant the whole case had to be set aside.

Like I said before, no lawyer would waste their time defending a dead man except if there is a principle at stake.

Saddam innocent and cannot be proven otherwise

As it now transpires, the Iraqi High Tribunal has dropped all charges against Saddam Hussein and invariably there is no legal sanction for all the other atrocities that Saddam committed against his people.

Technically, whilst Saddam Hussein might have directly or through his proxies committed crimes against humanity, legally, he is not charged with anything, hence, he cannot be tried for anything and the principle of the Presumption of Innocence abides that everyman is innocent till declared guilty.

In this case, Saddam Hussein is only guilty of the crime against the 148 of the village of Dujail, a crime for which he has been totally and fully punished – his book is now closed, though issues still are pending.

A government immune to good sense

Obviously, the government of Iraq who are immune to constructive discourse and criticism view the death of Saddam as the panacea to all Iraqi ills and the opportunity for a new beginning; well, that was a possibility they squandered with their rush to the gallows where everything that could go right went wrong.

The National Security Adviser himself still has the gall to appear on television to advise the people to move beyond Saddam having told a bare-faced lie about the atmosphere around the execution.

Where really is the integrity, honesty, probity and equity in this puppet contraption of government masquerading as a democracy?

Now, the blood of the innocent

The blood of the innocent should be requited and this could have been legitimately, legally and consummately done with trying Saddam for each and every offence, bringing to scrutiny the evidence of those atrocities – finding against Saddam would have served as a point of change, healing and reconciliation.

However, Saddam the tyrant and despot before death has at the point when the noose went round his neck with the sectarian taunting of the observers that included the cool National Security Adviser who was caught in a lie, is now becoming Saddam Hussein the martyr.

The irony of it all is not so much that Saddam’s evil was unforgivable, but that Saddam was a symbol of an Arab or Middle-Eastern personality standing up against the West – a lesson none of the Neo-Conservatives ever took on board.

Meanwhile, there is the simple matter of who now bears the blood of the innocent since justice could not be done – for those who have no part in this debacle, learn and learn well – this is how men bring great damnation upon themselves, by errors of omission when they rush to incomplete justice.