Tolerating the intolerable

IT'S an age thing. A BBC correspondent describes the life of the one-eyed, one-handed war hero Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart as " like something out of a Boy's Own comic." As generations of British kids raised on ripping yarns from 1879-1967 can testify, it was BOP, the Boy's Own Paper. Dash it, sir, we did not build the British Empire on comics. Harrumph.

IN Wednesday's Thought for the Day (Radio 4) an Anglican bishop, Nick Baines, delivered a hand-wringing little homily, condemning protests in Germany against "the Islamisation of the West." He asked: "Why is it that in such matters, perception is so much more powerful than reality? Why is it that the fires of fear are so easy to stoke?" Five hours later Islamist gunmen burst into the offices of a satirical magazine and slaughtered a dozen Parisians. You were saying, Bishop . . .?

A FEW days ago I wrote about the curious veil of silence which has descended on the Scottish bin-lorry tragedy. Six people were killed on December 22 when the lorry careered along the pavements of Glasgow. Yet all has gone very quiet. The city council says it will never identify the lorry driver or crew. It gets worse. Now, a senior Scottish lawyer says it could be years before the bereaved and injured are told what happened. He condemns Scotland's fatal-accident inquiry process as flawed and "bordering on inhumane." So far, no decision has even been taken on whether an inquiry will be held.

YOU might imagine that Scots would be demanding answers to this appalling national tragedy. But the majority of comments I can find online insist the authorities know best and all will be sorted out eventually. I can only conclude that folk have more faith in their lords and masters north of the border than we have down here.

STOP press. Latest news is that Scotland's Justice Secretary, Michael Matheson, says the decision on whether to hold a Fatal Accident Inquiry will be taken by the Lord Advocate "in due course." So that's all right, then.

IN the name of "common decency and child protection," (and at the urging of Hannah, wife of the rock star Paul Weller) the Lords are considering making it illegal to publish photographs of children without their parents' consent. In the same week, MP Mark Pritchard, falsely accused of rape, called for a review of the law which grants anonymity to those who allege they have been raped, but not to the accused. I have no doubt Mr Pritchard has endured a most unpleasant time and that the Wellers were annoyed to see their children on the Daily Mail website. But if there is to be a debate, let it consider all the issues. Because every time you chip away at what the media may report, while waving the glorious banners of privacy, protection or fairness, you make life a little easier for those who believe the public interest is best served by the public not knowing anything.

MORE tales from BM (Before Mobiles). A reader, inspired by the 30th anniversary of the first mobile-phone call, remembers the era when a colleague carried a bag of mints and humbugs for the specific purpose of bribing receptionists to allow him to use their phone to call his head office. He remembers getting his first mobile phone as "blissful".

AND what about the bliss of being able to bribe a receptionist with a humbug? Those were the days.