Prince Andrew taken back into the fold this weekend.

[Wishiwasinmalta]

AIBU or will the popularity of the RF drop like a lead balloon if they keep on doing this?

Yes that brave man!
after his trials of defending Donald Trump and Jeffery Epstein against terrible accusations of sexual assault!

such a hard life! And such odd shocking accusations considering the impeccable company he chose to keep!

I mean there’s no way a wealthy successful lawyer could avoid befriending convicted criminals and sex traffickers is there? Poor bloke 🙄

She was taking a civil case against him, but a criminal one

That's what lawyers do...

How can VG have a shred of credibility after this revelation?

Megan has been subjected to torrents of abuse by the British press and on social media. I am quite sure that a huge part of this is because she has mixed race ancestry and there are a lot of people who want to put her down because of it. Welcomed my arse.

And good for Harry in not putting up with it and putting the safety of his family first.

You mean he was doing his job as a lawyer? Do you normally judge lawyers by what their clients have done?

What about him @Canthave2manycats ?

have I missed something by which his presence magically removes the fact that PA chose to befriend a convicted child sex offender and hang out with him and a bunch of underage girls

or do you think that is acceptable behaviour from a privileged man in public office!

MM has been criticised because of her behaviour - fuck all to do with her race!

One thing we do know if that Alan Dershowitz was one brave man who refused to back down.

Bit more difficult for the person who largely implicated himself, in a public interview on TV, to 'refuse to back down' though.

I've already said PA's behaviour regarding his friendship with Epstein - it was stupid, ill-judged, arrogant, inappropriate, unacceptable - use whatever pejorative adjective you wish.

However in this latest revelation, VG says she might have wrongly accused AD. I think that's a terrible slur for anyone to cast on a person's reputation.

Yes she took the money when she said it wasn't about money and she wouldn't settle.

As to morals well yes I don't make allegations about people, I don't automatically jump to the conclusion that an allegation means someone is guilty.

It wasn't tax payers money.

What is fishy about the AD case other than her suddenly realising she was wrong?

However in this latest revelation, VG says she might have wrongly accused AD.

With Andrew there was a lot more than an accusation. There was a photo. His own ridiculous testimony. A widely reported 12 million.

It wasn't tax payers money.

As we don't have access to their accounts, we have no idea what stream of funding it came from.

Fair point!

It depends on whether those lawyers choose to attend parties given by their convicted sex offender clients where underage teenage girls are present.

Yes I judge any man for that, plus any man who has abused his wife and who argues against statutory rape laws, saying the age of consent should be 15.

you may be ok with those things. I’m not.

I find it interesting that many Royalists will suddenly become staunch defendants of criminals, sex abusers and thoroughly unpleasant powerful criminal men in an effort to ‘defend’ the Royal status quo, when they never would in their daily life.

I wonder how many Royalist posters would happily send their 15 year old daughters off to a party with Alan Derschowitz and Prince Andrew? I suspect not many.

but they are happy to malign and victim blame women who were that age when they were assaulted

Well said @ancientgran . None of us are privy to the settlement amount but why did VG accept when all along she said she wanted her day in court?

The photo does nothing @TheKeatingFive other than show they met - and there is doubt over its provenance. It's just credible that they did meet but given the number of people PA made the brief acquaintance of, that she was not someone significant that he would remember.

None of those things, while distasteful and morally reprehensive, are proof of any criminal offending.

As for allowing my 15 year old to party with these older men - where the hell were VG's parents while she was flying and partying all over the world??? It sure as hell wouldn't have been my 17 year old!

The photo does nothing @TheKeatingFive other than show they met

Yet he denied that

and there is doubt over its provenance

No serious doubt, only slurs from his camp

It's just credible that they did meet but given the number of people PA made the brief acquaintance of, that she was not someone significant that he would remember

Yet he could remember in great detail his alleged movements of that night (pizza express and so on) which funnily enough, were not able to be verified by anyone else. 🤔

Exactly. Paying off was far less damage than the constant media speculation. Not an admission of guilt.

My reading is that he is an unpleasant, self-centred and arrogant personality who thinks he is so special that attractive young women will want to have sex with him. And plenty of attractive young women have wanted to have sex with him because he is a member of the royal family.

That doesn't mean he knew that VG was being trafficked, if that is the situation. Unless she told him that before they had sex.

The payoff ended the media speculation, and made it yesterday's news. Worth the millions for the royal family to have the speculation dropped. Even if, legally, PA did nothing wrong.

And legality and morality have little connection to each other.

@ancientgran
thete us no ‘allegation’ that Prince Andrew befriended a convicted child sex abuser and prioritised that friendship for many years. It is fact.

there is no allegation that Andrew travelled with a convicted child sex abuser including to many parties in the UK and overseas where that convicted child sex abuser provided underage girls. That is a fact.

you might be totally fine with that behaviour.

if so then we clearly just have different expectations of our public officials.

you’re comfortable with and willing to defend Royals who hang out with and support child sex criminals simply because you feel is a privilege of their birth/rank.

I don’t believe that being born rich/white /privileged gives you an exemption from moral decency.

where the hell were VG's parents while she was flying and partying all over the world???

Maxwell deliberately targeted children of parents who were struggling/absent/not coping.

Lovely bunch that they were

Mine too.

thete us no ‘allegation’ that Prince Andrew befriended a convicted child sex abuser and prioritised that friendship for many years. It is fact.

Not just fact, but he reflected positively about it in the interview, talked about the many benefits it had delivered to him and never once referenced the pain experienced by the victims

Agree 100%. The number of proven lies she has told is shameful

Exactly. Paying off was far less damage than the constant media speculation. Not an admission of guilt.

Look, I think you could attempt to make this fly if it was a couple of hundred thousand.

It was 12 million people (widely reported). No one shells out that ok d PF money with nothing to hide.

@Canthave2manycats they were abusive and neglectful. That has been documented.

regardless of that they are not responsible for Jeffrey Epstein abusing her, or for Prince Andrew promoting and prioritising a convicted sex offender.

you clearly don’t have a problem with Royals promoting child sex abusers as that’s not a criminal offence in and of itself.

perhaps that’s the difference.

there are some of us that think our public officials shouldn’t be encouraging and promoting crimes against children.

you seem to be fine with it.
Different moral expectations I guess 🤷‍♀️