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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Eamonn Holmes is a bit of a know isnt he

183 replies

AVoidkaTheKillerZombies · 27/10/2011 16:40

here

Asking a rape victim why she didnt take a taxi.

Knob!

OP posts:
Pan · 27/10/2011 19:27

SQ - he v. probably won't be out in 5.5 years. He got an Inderminate Sentence, which means he will serve at least 11 years, and then be reviewed by the Parole Board each year afterwards to assess whether he is safe to be released.

HerdOfTinyElephants · 27/10/2011 19:27

To be fair to Holmes, I don't think he's a git based on his comments to this woman. I think he's a git based on those comments and his "retarded" comment a couple of weeks ago (or more specifically his half-arsed excuse for an apology afterwards) and his comments about gay parents.

SardineQueen · 27/10/2011 19:28

I very much hope that is the case Pan.

HelveticaTheBold · 27/10/2011 19:28

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Pan · 27/10/2011 19:30

well it is! 11 years is his 'tarriff' - a bit like lifers being given a minimum time to be spent in gaol.

SardineQueen · 27/10/2011 19:31

What did he say about gay parents?

MonstrouslyNarkyPuffin · 27/10/2011 19:32

So does the fact a woman is a woman exempt her or somehow entitle her to be at such a level that she from taking reasonable precautions?

So a woman has to take 'reasonable precautions' to walk down a street?

If that's not society standing up and saying exactly who was to blame I don't know what is.

She was attacked two streets from home, sober, by a stranger with army training. She had the presence of mind in a horrible situation to actually plant her DNA in her attacker's car. The man had also attacked other women. She waives her identity protection to speak about her rape and the first thing she gets is 'Why didn't you get a taxi?'

Raped by a stranger in the street with DNA evidence and she still gets blamed for not being careful enough. What chance does a woman who knows her attacker have? Or one who Shock had a drink? And we wonder why we still have such low reporting rates for rape.

SardineQueen · 27/10/2011 19:32

Pan - good Smile

DontCallMeFrothyDragon · 27/10/2011 19:32

^What Helvectia said

I had the rape myth discussion a few weeks back with a male friend.

His reply?

"Well, they make men seem a little stupid, and unable to control their actions, don't they..."

That's coming from a man. Who doesn't actually identify as a feminist.

Wooooooooooooooppity · 27/10/2011 19:32

I have had far more incidents of feeling really, seriously scared in cabs, than on the street after dark.

I can't believe people think cabs are safe. I gave up getting them because they were so scary. It was less scary to walk in the dark.

ljgibbs · 27/10/2011 19:35

The man is a stupid twat and it's about time he was sacked.

Wooooooooooooooppity · 27/10/2011 19:36

You know, the other dangerous thing about saying women shouldn't be out after dark alone (apart from the fact that it would mean we'd all have to give up work in winter), is that every time you say that, a rapist hears you. So when he sees a woman out after dark, he remembers all the times people have implied that women who don't want to be raped, shouldn't be out by themselves in the dark and his sense of entitlement to rape that woman, is reinforced.

Why would you want to encourage a rapist in that way?

DontCallMeFrothyDragon · 27/10/2011 19:36

I tend to get freaked out if a cabbie tkes a different route to what I'd take, or what DSil would take. I have an unfortunately overactive imagintation

Pan · 27/10/2011 19:36

gay parents? retard? and he is given this woman to interview? Producers have a lot to answer for as well.

ElderberrySyrup · 27/10/2011 19:37

what Woooooppity said, exactly.
Cabs can be scary. You're alone in a car with a strange man and occasionally they have started acting a bit weird (saying creepy things or taking a route that doesn't make sense to you); they are utterly in control, they can lock the doors and take you anywhere. Walking home, especially if you know the area or there are other people around, can feel safer because if something happened you would have more chance of escaping.

I just googled taxi driver rapes - bloody hell. There are loads. Not just Worboys.

Alliwantisaroomsomewhere · 27/10/2011 19:37

As an aside, has anyone noticed how fucking rude he is to his wife when presenting? He is so patronising and just plain goddam rude.

Eamonn Holmes should be sacked.

MonstrouslyNarkyPuffin · 27/10/2011 19:37

I would feel a lot safer walking at night than going in a cab alone. If something happens and you're on foot you can at least try to get away. If you're in a cab you're locked in.

NoOnesGoingToEatYourEyes · 27/10/2011 19:38

Woooooooooppity - same here.

One driver drove me quite far past the place I had asked him to take me, completely ignoring all my attempts to get him to stop, including eventually banging on the plexi glass divider thing.

I had the number for the taxi firm in my mobile and I rang them to tell them to radio him and make him stop because I was about to call the police to say I had been kidnapped by my taxi driver.

I was shaking and terrified when he stopped and although he explained he had made a mistake about the address I refused to allow him to drive me back to the place I wanted to go because by then I felt distrustful of him and safer on the street.

chickswithbricks · 27/10/2011 19:38

I would rather walk than get a cab if I was alone.

My friend was raped by her driving instructor when she was 17. She didn't report it because she thought it must be her fault.

MakesCakesWhenStressed · 27/10/2011 19:38

hate hate hate hate hate hate this man - can we start a campaign to get him off our screens? I boycott 'This Morning' on Fridays and half terms because he makes me want to throw stuff at the TV. He's rude, ignorant, greasy, sleazy, a bad interviewer and not even eye candy. Get rid!

HerdOfTinyElephants · 27/10/2011 19:39

The perception (and AFAIK the reality) is that you are far more likely to be mugged if you are wearing visible jewelry or holding a mobile phone. Police do issue warnings about that from time to time.

If Holmes had interviewed Joseph Frederic would he have started off

He was on his way home from a night out with his friends, wearing a wedding ring and carrying a mobile phone.

It's that old thing, I always say. Why were you tempted to wear jewelry and not hide your mobile in your boxer shorts?'

or conclude the interview with

I hope you take your ring off now. Everywhere you go, coming home at night.

?

No, because he would come across as an offensive git if he did. Even if he regularly advises his sons to keep their mobiles hidden in public to reduce their risk of mugging.

MonstrouslyNarkyPuffin · 27/10/2011 19:46

I actually got a cab driver to drop me off a street and a bit from home and then hid behind a bloody electrical thingy building on the edge of woodland while he was turning the car around and stayed there until he eventually drove off. 5 minutes later. After doing a couple of loops of the streets .

I was a teenager, I was actually with a friend, but the bloke was creepy as hell and kept offering us stuff to smoke and I thought it was a lot safer that he didn't know where my friend lived - she would need to get taxis again and I didn't want him to be able to pick up the calls. This was her local minicab firm, which we always phoned to get us because we thought it was safer to stick to a company we knew!

MonstrouslyNarkyPuffin · 27/10/2011 19:49

Because men are victims of 'unprovoked attacks.' Women are 'attacked whilst walking home from a night out.'

SardineQueen · 27/10/2011 19:56

I have got cabs to stop and let me out more than once because they were freaking me out. Once was very similar to yours - I was with a friend too and didn't want him knowing where she lived.

Following your instincts is always the best move IMO.

Pan · 27/10/2011 19:59

as a bloke who never gets cabs I don't see this side of some cabbies - only aware from media pieces and the very occassional rl stories, but do see the power dynamic in having a woman locked in a car.