Yes, Schofield and the cover up at ITV is a real scandal and there is a double standard there in that had Schofield been shagging a 17 year old junior female employee he’d have been out three years ago. As he today takes to the airwaves to accuse his critics of being motivated by homophobia there is a humungous double standard. This is the Kevin Spacey defence “Look I am gay so ignore the huge power disparity between me and that teenage boy I shagged but if a male executive shags a female intern he is exploiting a power gap and must be crucified. I so support #Metoo.” I discussed the ITV cover-up of Phil and how everyone knew HERE. However…
The bigger current scandal in British media concerns Nick Cohen, a celebrated and award winning Guardian and Observer writer for three decades.
Cohen was a serial sex pest for years. Female staffers at the Grauniad were terrified of him. But he was such a star that the Guardian, that supposed fighter for progressive causes and women’s rights, did nothing for years. They all knew but they did nothing and young female staff continued to fall prey to this dirty old man. Finally, in January this year Cohen was “resigned” with a huge payoff and no mention of all of his groping.
An FT hack got the story but her paper said that one of the most celebrated journalists in Britain being resigned for being a serial sex pest and his paper covering it up was not a story. Really? Had it been a leading right wing hack on the Mail or the Torygraph, one of those papers star columnists, the left of centre FT would have been all over it while the Guardian would have been screaming for blood.
I once met Cohen at the only ever Private Eye lunch I attended. Like everyone in the room bar myself and one other he was your usual metropolitan elitist wanker. His fall from grace is exactly the sort of thing that Private Eye’s Street of Shame column would have feasted on. But then Cohen used to do a column at the Eye so, like the FT, it stayed silent. Again in this cover up we see a truly massive double standard.
If Cohen wants redemption my advice is, like that Tory MP who ran away from the scene having drunkenly wrapped his car around a lamppost while wearing women’s clothing, to come out as “trans” and blame ones sins on the stress of dealing with your private angst. The liberal media classes would praise you, as they praised Schofield on his coming out when they ALL knew the real story, as being “brave” and pretty soon Cohen would be hosting Dancing on Ice while holding Holly Willoughby close to his/her side and clutching her buttocks. Come on Nick. Be Brave. You know it makes sense.
As Private Eye used to say “Pass the sickbag.”