Old News

[maggiebee]

Oh dear!

https://metro.co.uk/2022/04/06/royal-family-prince-charles-wrote-letters-to-jimmy-savile-16414228/?fbclid=IwAR37faBZV2ngvQJ1nfxtW3tkF662BPy6KR2JOnWqV0MlrFujNMKf13_Mq4s

[gness]

I have my reasons for being creeped out by Jimmy Saville from a fairly young age.
When the heir to the throne is asking him for advice on how to manage the media your “oh dear” is a masterpiece of understatement, Maggie.

[andy-hughes]

Gness, Surely Prince Charles was only as taken in as literally millions of other people were.

It's unfair to assume he has forensic powers of deduction simply because of who he is.

[gness]

Because of who he is, Andy, he should have exercised due diligence before taking advice from a person who was by then “controversial” and he was. You don’t need to look far to know that.
Did Charles not have proper advisors?

[andy-hughes]

Savile was spending his Christmas's with the Thatchers, and busy being one of the highest rated stars on Saturday night prime time television.

Are you sure your position that he was already 'controversial' isn't being served with a large side order of hindsight?

[gness]

Oh I’m sure, Andy. Believe me I am more than sure. I wouldn’t have posted had it been hindsight.

[douglas9401]

'The Establishment' have been shown to be wilfully blind to the bleedin' obvious over time and their adoring public seem to think it's okay.

[DTCwordfan]

'Did yah screw ma waaf then Jimmy - well, if so, off the Bridlinton cliff wi ya, yer barrsteward.'

[andy-hughes]

gness - // Oh I’m sure, Andy. Believe me I am more than sure. I wouldn’t have posted had it been hindsight. //

The tone of your response suggests that you have personal evidence that you may prefer not to discuss here.

But my point remains valid I think - even allowing for the fact that some people will have been aware of Savile's activities at the time, the fact remains that the vast majority of the population, including the great and the good in power, were simply not aware of his 'alternative' life because he was so skilled at hiding in plain sight, and simultaneously building a network of protection around himself that made his exposure almost impossible at the time.

[andy-hughes]

douglas - // 'The Establishment' have been shown to be wilfully blind to the bleedin' obvious over time and their adoring public seem to think it's okay. //

I think the issue was far less a matter of seeing and ignoring, than literally not seeing.

[andy-hughes]

DTC - // 'Did yah screw ma waaf then Jimmy - well, if so, off the Bridlinton cliff wi ya, yer barrsteward.' //

Your humour is as inaccurate as it is un-amusing - had Savile confined his activities to liasons with mature women capable of being responsible for their own actions and consequences, then there would not be the trail of ruined lives of children and vulnerable adults left in his ghastly wake.

[pixie374]

I have personal experience of him. A total creep, and well known (in the 80s at least), by many working with him.... even my grandad told my sister and I to keep away- but nobody he was reported to, would listen.

[douglas9401]

"douglas - // 'The Establishment' have been shown to be wilfully blind to the bleedin' obvious over time and their adoring public seem to think it's okay. //

I think the issue was far less a matter of seeing and ignoring, than literally not seeing."

I don't.

[gness]

Andy. If by the great and good in power you include Charles then surely he would have better people to advise him than the likes of Savile. An odd thing for anyone to do.
God knows what DTC is waffling on about.

[anneasquith]

Many of us did not suspect he was a paedophile , but dear God who would take him home for the weekend to your country residence. At best he was an old grubby clown . .?

[DTCwordfan]

stop being so sanctimonious, andy....my comments were deliberately ironical, the man was a creep as pixie says and, more than that, an effing boor. I ran into him coming into the Glasgow Deep Throat Hotel, aka the Queen's Moat one lunch time. We had a 'cartel meeting' in the gas industry going on - believe that if you must - and in walked the Lord Provost with the arrseholl - and what a pain in the proverbial that he proved to be, the whole restaurant learning that he was 'I'm the wonderful saint who rapes adults and youngsters in Leeds St Jammies.'

The advice to pixie was well merited.

[gness]

Exactly, Anne. Who would look to him for advice on anything?

[DTCwordfan]

are we talking about JS or the Duck of Rothesay and Lord of the Isles?

[tomus42]

I wasn't taken in by him. He always struck me as a deeply unpleasant individual that made me change TV channels whenever he appeared.

How anyone would want advice from him on anything is beyond me. All this is before you even factor in that he was a serial child rapist.

[sandra4444]

How easy is it for people to be taken in? Well there's a very large part of the population in Russia being taken in by Putin, and he is openly displaying his hobby/ satisfaction.

The ones that do know what this maniac is up to and try to bring it to light are either jailed or go missing.
The rest are very close rich friends, or so they think.

[andy-hughes]

Sandra - // How easy is it for people to be taken in? Well there's a very large part of the population in Russia being taken in by Putin, and he is openly displaying his hobby/ satisfaction. //

I can see why you make the comparison, but it doesn't actually hold up under scrutiny.

Putin is a totalitarian leader with control over his country's media, so the people get the messages that support what he is doing.

He has no need to pretend or create a facade as Savile did, he can act with impunity and without sanction, Savile could not.

Savile had to manufacture a personality and a lifestyle that enabled him to act without being regularly observed or held to account, Putin has no such restrictions.

The two men were and are single minded in pursuit of their own personal agenda, but there the similarity between them ends.