Despite his villainous behaviour, anyone feel a teeny bit sorry for Andrew?

I think it's a specific form of stupidity where people attempt false pattern recognition without applying any critical thinking. To a dumb person, they will remember how Diana was chased to death by the paparazzi which was obviously horrific. So there is the narrative of "press intrusion = bad". Then another case shows up many years later where a different Royal is attacked by the press so they simply apply that same sentiment, which they learned can be used to fake the idea that you have formed a clever, independent opinion.

It's all very tiresome tbh. Some people have a knee jerk reaction to wanting to prove they're clever by taking a stand against the mainstream opinion. However they only succeed in proving how limited their ability is at genuine critical thinking. They basically remember the whole #bekind campaign, Carolina Flack, Princess Diana (all female without no criminal records) and think that it's perfectly fine to apply that same idea to actual pedophiles and highly evil privileged wealthy men.

@simpsonthecat and saying one thing but doing another seems to be a family trait.

Comparing Harry to Andrew is minimising what Andrew did.

Your language doesn’t surprise me, this is about the level of discourse we can expect from the Harry/Meghan bashers.

100% not one grain of sympathy for this over privileged sweaty gonk. Sick of seeing his face now. He or that grim pig of a man Epstein are on the TV screen every fecking day now, and I am SICK of seeing them. I wish there was a block option on the TV so I could activate it and not see them!

YABVU @busymomtoone

Of Course not, he took advantage of everyone and mummy covered everything for him, Navy had to make up a role for him as he couldn’t cope with normal work.

That depends on what the case is and who the defendants are which should be irrelevant.

If the case is Jane Smith accused of jewel burglary on a Friday night then sure they a jury works. However with a politicised case like the Filton Six or it involves someone rich or well known then the jury system doesn't work, because people's beliefs/ prejudices come into play.

... and Harvey Weinstein when he 'shuffled in' to court. DJT/family would play the dementia card if it ever came to that (it won't). Musk & co would be happy to say; 'but I'm ASD it's not my fault' if justice ever came ffor them (it won't). Of course dementia & autism can make a difference to behaviour (both in my family as I type) but this is not why they have behaved this way. They are simply rotten.

AMW is fine. Housed, fed, clothed securely for the rest of his life (the majority of which he has squandered, with his zip down - see 'Randy Andy') Obnoxious to the UK 'little people' whilst happily trading UK Govt info for even more £ for him.

If there is enough evidence I'd be pleased to see AMW charged for his crimes.
But of course he is a small-ish fish compared to Trump & Co. The release of (still only some of the Epstein files I imagine) which 'exonerate' Trump but include many identifying details of the victims tells you where the priorties lie.

I am a survivor of CSA. It stays with you for life.
Certain smells, looks, phrases. Can't sit with my back to the door in a cafe etc.
I'm FAR from the only one. I've had good therapy. I make an effort not to 'dwell'.
But I have to mitigate it when it 'jumps out at me' which it does often. Currently, watching the world protecting men who do this on a grand stage, it's draining.

So, I am biased of course, but my sympathy goes to all the young people who will likely have been affected, at some level, by CSA for the rest of their lives.

Your post is very sad and I can't even imagine what it must be like to live with what your father did to you. It's truly abhorrent. VGs father has dodged a bullet and he's still a free man , and yet she accused him and he denied it and that seems to be that! I really hope that you can find some semblance of peace in your later life.

So, if the distressed person had harmed your DD like AMW has harmed women, you’d have empathy for him?

Or is your empathy because you don’t know the women involved so they’re facelesss and unimportant.

Not true.

Beatrice was seen with him recently taking one of her DDs riding with granddad. Eugenie appears to be more low key but I doubt very much they have washed their hands of him. It's easy to say something but do something different.

Only as far as him being extremely thick and totally spoilt for his whole life.
I did find it completely puzzling that he was ever made a trade envoy, until I read that Peter Mandelson was involved in that recruitment!

Oh I know, still it's £80 million (or however much) that could still be better spent elsewhere!

I really don't think material comforts around you compensate for a life dismantled. He has no friends, no meaningful work, no bosom of the family, staff who want nothing to do with him, no community around him, no daily chit chat or small talk, an isolated life filled with shame and a reputation in tatters. That isn't by any measure a good life, no matter how much money you have.

How do you know he is 'obviously very distressed'.

For all we know, it is just shock and anger and how dare the police take me to a police station and question me.

much like his victims then, they harmed themselves. He was the master of his own destiny, they weren’t.

157 million actually. And that doesn't include the Millions of duchy pocket money, round about another 50 million.

In regard to family. His kids are not speaking to him. They have all washed their hands of him. I honestly can see him harming him self.

Is that you Beatrice? Eugenia? Fergie? Come on- own up.

In the '80s there was this ' Randy Andy' image portrayed by the media ,that he was more of a playboy than his brothers. Reports of him dating models and actresses like Koo Stark were met with ' good for him' type of reports.

I remember 'Spitting Image' caricaturing him as a bit of liability to the Royals due to him not being able to keep it in his pants.

I wonder how many knew, apart from Epstein and his victims, that at that point he was a lot darker character than his public persona?

The only ' unfairness' ..if that's the correct word, I think is that he seems to the only one paying for the Epstein island crimes when there are loads, including Trump, wandering around getting off scot free.

It is almost like if we nail AMW, then the whole disgraceful mess will be over.

Sadly I think he is not long for this world one way or another.

My main sympathies are for his daughters, who have found out they have two moral-less deviants for parents. I guess they knew they were shallow but probably had their true natures hidden.

I'm not saying he shouldn't be punished at all. He definitely should. I'm just saying it's understandable to feel a bit sorry for someone who is obviously very distressed.

Is it? I think it’s human to realise that vile people should be punished without thought.

You feel empathy for Hitler?

You’d feel sorry for AMW if he’d abused your daughter?

I did. It's human to feel empathy for another human being in severe distress, regardless of who they are or what they've done.

Nope. Consequences, innit.

You’re right! Sorry! Not sure where I got that from, nevertheless is not so thick that he commits crimes without realising it.

Absolutely zero sympathy for him, rewatch the newsnight interview where he lies, tries to paint himself as an honourable hero, admits to spending lots of money to discredit thw now infamous photo of him and VG (which latest release of epstein files now show he knew was genuine), and exhibits zero empathy for the victims of Epstein - after all their friendship had so many "beneficial outcomes" for him regarding his business interests.

One gets the overwhelming impression that whilst he was Trade Envoy his main priority was enriching himself, not furthering British business interests for the good of the nation. Im convinced he's earnt tens of millions of pounds by schmoozing the very worst men in the world, and I'm curious to see if any court case against him dives into his finances and we get to hear which other delightful people were funding him.

Neither do i have any sympathy for Charles - he helped fund the pay off to VG, so all his press releases saying his thoughts are with the victims sound very hollow to me. His thoughts and sympathy are with them so much, yet hes willing to finance their silence so the perpetrator doesn't have to face them in court.