caretaker

I had the wrong idea back when he and Fergie split because I thought she was just a bit wild, but now I realise he drove her to it. Can Liz cut this prick out of her will?

Former Lancastrian

See I disagree as I expect most guys knew who they were bonking 18 years ago as opposed to remembering having pizza. I cant remember what I ate last week never mind 18 years ago.

dbd33

I know the major ones of that era but I couldn't name the people I only had sex with three times, even assuming I knew their names at the time. One tends to remember unusual encounters, the location, the language, that sort of thing, but not routine ones. Prince Andrew had a reputation for partying and knew Epstein for a long time, I don't doubt that all those children would become a blur over time. I understand he was asked if he had sex with the then Ms. Roberts and he said he didn't remember her. Was he asked how many people he had sex with that he met through Epstein and Maxwell? Was he asked how many times he had sex in each of the locations cited? I assume he's lying but, if you asked me how many Ford Mustang convertibles I've rented I'd struggle to count them though I do have the general idea that I enjoyed them all; it could be the same with him.

dave_j

An issue with a number of royals is that they operate and think as though they exist in a bubble generations past at a time when actions were never questioned, and when they were their answers were never questioned, and if they were it was by people who didn't matter.
It's arrogance like this that allows the ignorant to think they can still say and do what they like with impunity.
Unfortunately times have changed but they haven't.
It won't happen but a few months in Strangeways might open his eyes.

Oink

He's just a nasty peado.

Jingsamichty

The fact is that his behaviour - and not just him, many others like him - has been enabled by the terrible class system in the UK. I guarantee that there are palace flunkeys, security personnel, journalists etc. who have all decided, or been persuaded, to turn a blind eye to behaviour they wouldn't tolerate from anyone else. People like Andrew abuse their position of privilege and start to believe they really are better than us, and unfortunately, many of us go along with that.

MillieF

Dorothy

It's not just the UK. How do you think Epstein and his ilk got away with his behaviour for so long? Power, money, privilege . Same as Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby, etc.

dbd33

Yeah, but Prince Andrew, Johnson, JRM, Brexit, people do laugh at us every day. Only Americans are more risible at the moment.

Yesterday I jammed the printer and floundered with it . A passing Chinese chap offered "you work it like Brexit". I sighed, "Brexit is our revenge" chuckled an Indian. And then was general mockery although we never had anything to do with the countries of half the people laughing.

Almost Canadian

A woman makes an allegation and, from what I have seen, gives lots of details about what she alleges happened. Man responds stating that the allegations could not be correct (his location and his medical condition) and people on the internet know what happened, believing that he is the one lying. Strange times we live in.

dbd33

The internet is irrelevant here. Whatever the source of the information we have reason to believe:

- people, specifically Jeffery Epstein and Ghislain Maxwell, oppressed young women into sex slavery
- a man, Prince Andrew, moved in their circle and was a frequent guest in their houses
- that man says he didn't notice the rampant bonking all around him and didn't participate (beyond some weird stuff with his feet)

He would say that, wouldn't he? Surely he doesn't think anyone will believe him whether they read what he said on the internet or saw him on the TV.

Almost Canadian

Well, let's assume the middle three sentences are absolutely true - no doubt at all. The middle sentence doesn't automatically mean that the other two occurred during the time of the middle one.

Everyone "knows" Jacko was a pedo and Orange killed those two despite the fact that juries found otherwise.

I simply dislike the fact that an accusation is all that appears to be required these days.

Each to their own.

Jingsamichty

That is reductio ad absurdum, AC, and you know it.

There is a colossal imbalance in the power and influence of the "woman" and the "man". "The woman" was actually a 17-year old girl who was an occasional paid plaything of a then-notorious (and since convicted) sexual predator. "The man" is a privileged and protected playboy, seemingly without the brains to realise that going on TV with a laughable "explanation" was going to do the exact opposite of draw a line under this story.

It's not strange times we live in; they were strange times when this sort of behaviour was considered par for the course, just what people of that set do.

Andrew and the royals have had a damned easy pass in life. It's about time they were genuinely held to account for their behaviour. Their privilege only comes from our willingness to give it, so they should be held to account by us.

Danny B

caretaker

Staying at Epstein's place was bad enough, going to the door to say goodbye to the girls was worse, and saying he went there for 4 days to tell Epstein they were no longer friends is so patently ridiculous his guilt is branded into public opinion. I think cocaine, ecstasy, mushrooms or various other drugs could account for his reportedly profuse sweating on the Rivera as well as some really bad judgement. One possible defence might be that he just wanted to pop by to tell Jeff things were over between them, he was offered a glass of lemonade, and when he woke up it was Thursday, (accounting for no recollection of any clandestine sex and/or drug-fuelled orgy and placing the blame squarely on a dead man).