Tomorrow night, the great and the good of the film industry will gather for the Baftas in London.
Hollywood’s female stars will again be wearing black to show their support for the #MeToo campaign, the international support group for women who have suffered sexual exploitation or assault.
They will also wear white roses as a sign of peace, hope and reconciliation. For those who forget to bring their own flower, white-rose brooches will be provided.
Which is all very commendable. But why is it that, in comparison to the howls of outrage that followed the Harvey Weinstein scandal, we heard barely a squeak from the #MeToo sisterhood when the veil was lifted this week on a truly terrible sex scandal?
We now know countless employees of Oxfam and other aid organisations have, for years, been using the foreign aid industry as a front to procure sex from the world’s poorest and most vulnerable women and children.
Amanda Platell accuses #MeToo luvvies of turning a blind eye to the systematic abuse of the disaster-traumatised who were exploited by employees of aid charities (Pictured: Roland van Hauwermeiren who was implicated in the Oxfam scandal)
Every day, there is a fresh revelation — only yesterday, we learned that a senior UNICEF children’s rights campaigner has been jailed for raping a 12-year-old boy.
As Professor Andrew MacLeod, an aid expert who worked for the UN and the Red Cross, wrote in this newspaper, this ‘appalling state of affairs shamefully has been common knowledge in aid circles for 30 years’. Paedophilia, he added, is the word that dare not speak its name in the charity world.
What is so sickening is the hypocrisy of oh-so liberal quangocrats who preside over the charities.
Shamelessly, they promote their Left-wing agendas about evil capitalism, austerity and food banks — indeed, Oxfam produced a poster on these subjects in 2014.
Yet, at the same time, they turned a blind eye to the systematic abuse of the disaster-traumatised and vulnerable victims of tragedy they are meant to be helping.
Just like the #MeToo luvvies who will be virtue-signalling tomorrow night at the Baftas, these charity bosses are more concerned to show how virtuous they are than running efficient and disciplined organisations.
Meghan Markle has been making secret visits to Grenfell Tower survivors, drawing comparisons with Princess Diana’s charity work.
Hopefully the similarity will end there.
While Diana was spending nights either at homeless charities or hospitals, her husband Prince Charles was squiring his mistress Camilla.
It’s swift justice
A U.S. judge has ruled that Taylor Swift did not plagiarise the lyrics for her hit single Shake It Off.
The memorable lines ‘Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play / And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate’ were declared too ‘banal’ and lacking ‘the modicum of originality and creativity’ required to be protected. The song still sold 9 million copies.
A U.S. judge has ruled that Taylor Swift did not plagiarise the lyrics for her hit single Shake It Off, saying the lyrics are too ‘banal’ and lacking ‘the modicum of originality and creativity’ required to be protected
Don’t dredge up history…
Former Formula One boss Max Mosley is attempting to use the data protection laws to delete any references to his German-themed, sadomasochistic sex party involving five young women.
Silly old sausage. Most of us had already relegated it to the darkest dungeons of our minds.
By going to court again ten years later in an attempt to whitewash his colourful sexual history, all Mosley has managed to do is whip up interest in his proclivity for nymphs in uniform.
After Tom Daley and his partner Dustin Lance Black proudly tweeted the first scan of their expected child, some were sceptical about the parenting abilities of gay dads.
Not me. In a pub recently, I witnessed appalling behaviour from some spoilt middle-class kids, with Mum and Dad uncaring and oblivious. Sitting next to me were a gay couple with two beautifully mannered children and a docile labrador.
‘Your dog’s better behaved than those brats,’ I told them. And they agreed.
Getting your tweet revenge
Hours after giving birth to her fourth child, Coleen Rooney tweeted this picture with the message: ‘So happy to welcome our baby boy.’
You can be sure the image was meant not just for her million-plus followers, but also for Laura Simpson, the trollop who canoodled her husband Wayne and almost ended their marriage last September.
Coleen was saying to her: ‘Back off, you witch. I’ve got the kids, the husband, the lot.’
Hours after giving birth to her fourth child, Coleen Rooney tweeted this picture with the message: ‘So happy to welcome our baby boy’
Top Gear legend Jeremy Clarkson returns from a trip to Barbados with his latest girlfriend Lisa Hogan to start filming as presenter for a new series of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?
Well, clearly he does if he’s stooping this low — he will need every penny he can get if he has to give a £10 million divorce settlement to his wife Frances.
Westminster noticeboard
Our new Defence Secretary is reluctant to allow the two remaining members of the bloodthirsty Islamic State cell nicknamed The Beatles to return to the UK for trial. As Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh have had their passports withdrawn, he wants them to face justice abroad.
While many may agree, the bitter truth is these are British jihadists who relished beheading hostages and they should face justice here. Our country created these monsters; it is our duty to give them a fair trial — then lock them up and throw away the key.
Hot on the heels of the BBC’s pay gap row comes news that a former regional presenter has been ordered to pay back £420,000 in tax.
Christa Ackroyd was anchor for BBC Look North in Yorkshire. Like many stars, including Jeremy Paxman and Emily Maitlis, she chose to be self-employed, rather than staff at the Beeb, reducing her tax liability.
It’s bad enough that the BBC allowed such practices. But worse that a presenter unknown outside the Yorkshire Dales got some £200,000 a year in the first place.
When asked who should replace the Queen as the head of the Commonwealth, the Aussie PM Malcolm Turnbull said: ‘Prince Charles. Who else is there?’
Who else?! Given the opportunity for endless free holidays to sunny climes with a bunch of flunkies catering to your every need, this must be the moment Prince Andrew’s been grooming Princess Beatrice for.
Hilarious Helen Mirren took a bus to the premiere of her latest movie Winchester as a publicity stunt in Rome
Hilarious that Helen Mirren took a bus to the premiere of her latest movie Winchester as a publicity stunt in Rome.
The only surprise is that the film-star dame — so grand now at 72 that she probably thinks an Oyster card gets you discounts for champagne and seafood — didn’t turn out in a bikini.
Just good friends
After just two-and-a-half years, Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux have announced the end of their marriage. The decision was ‘mutual and lovingly made’.
Now Jen’s fans have taken to social media demanding a reconciliation with her first husband Brad Pitt — stolen from her by the vampirish Angelina Jolie, who’s thrown him out.
Sorry, but a reunion’s about as likely as either Jen or Brad having another hit movie — i.e. never.