FAT LOT OF GOOD
MR GEOFFREY Dickens, the Conserva- tive MP for Littleborough and Saddle- worth, is not without his uses. So great is the public anger about sexual crime that it was natural, when first hearing of the doctor accused of rape and the clergyman accused of homosexual assaults last week, to feel that these people should be punished one way or the other. It took the intervention of the repulsive Mr Dickens to remind us that such a feeling is wrong. No decency can exist if people can be punished without evidence. No adult responsible for the care of children would be safe if Mr Dickens's idea of justice were to prevail. He is a perfect example of the dangers of populism in politics. He thinks that he is blunt, in touch with ordinary people, not afraid of the mighty; in fact, he is just nasty, brutish and fat.
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