//That's not what I said.//
I find it difficult to put any other slant on it, Jim. You said that she’s made allegations of bullying and racial abuse and you find it difficult not to believe them (and so by default, find it easier to believe they are true). I don’t follow the trials and tribulations of minor royals too closely but as far as I know there were no reports that the Duchess had mentioned suffering racial abuse prior to the ridiculous interview she gave.
//Just on the subject of "the victim must always be believed", it's either badly-worded or badly-interpreted.//
It’s neither. Sir Richard Henriques, a former High Court judge, undertook an enquiry into Midland. In his report he commented on the obtaining a search warrants. He said:
“FINDING: The warrants to search the premises of Lord Bramall, Lady Brittan, and Mr Proctor were, in my judgement, obtained unlawfully. The written applications stated that “Nick’s” account had remained consistent and he is felt to be a credible witness who is telling the truth. “Nick’s” account had not been consistent throughout. Further, there were, in my judgement, no reasonable grounds to believe “Nick” and the statement that he had told the truth was no consistent with information then available. The magistrate was misled.”
There can be no explanation for the Met’s action in seeking search warrants other than the fact that they believed “Nick” regardless of the facts before them. Sir Richard remarked “The policy of ‘believing victims’ strikes at the very core of the criminal justice process … it has and will generate miscarriages of justice on a considerable scale. The philosophy that “the victim must be believed” has permeated the police to such a degree that objective investigation becomes almost impossible if it is to be followed and it’s filtering down to less important investigations. They should revert to “ABC”: Accept Nothing; Believe Nobody; Check Everything”. Until an investigation on that basis is conducted into the allegations made by the Duchess (which is unlikely to get very far due to her reticence in naming her tormentors) I’ll stick with my doubts because making allegations on the Oprah Winfrey Show does not cut it for me.
Stripped of their titles? I really don't care. She's a D-List actress whose life plan didn't quite pan out as she expected; he's a minor Royal who has thrown his toys out of the pram because he subscribed to the philosophy that "What Meghan wants, Meghan gets." And she didn't.