Squashed car

...And so the public's desire to destroy Ched Evans continues. The desperate David Milliband has even got in on the act and is currently urging Oldham Athletic not to sign the troubled footballer. Milliband (and the ghastly curtain-twitching moral majority of this country) criticise Evans for refusing to "show remorse" for the crime he still claims he didn't commit, despite the fact that he's been to jail, and served his time. It seems any form of sensible debate on this issue is impossible. Those who support Evans, or at least suggest he should be allowed to re-integrate himself into society,  are accused of being misogynistic, and not giving a damn about the large number of women who are raped in this country every year.

I'm not altogether sure what difference it would make if Evans issued an apology for his actions. In fact, someone calling for him to do so on the Channel 4 news this evening had to admit it wouldn't make the blindest bit of difference. So Evans is damned if he does and damned if doesn't, in true Salem witchcraft style.

If Evans honestly believes that he's innocent, can someone explain why on earth he should show remorse? Judges get things wrong. I of all people ought to know this, having been utterly shafted by one four years ago. If Evans genuinely thinks he's innocent, even after serving four years in prison, I actually feel great sadness for him. Just imagine how that must feel? Refusing to acknowledge guilt is very different to not showing remorse...

It would appear that the great moral majority are simply taking umbrage because someone they've decided to hate isn't playing their game. As long as Evans claims he's innocent he maintains a degree of dignity, which the general public don't like. I'm pretty convinced that the missing piece in this particular jigsaw is a grovelling apology from Evans so that the public can all say "I told you I could spot a wrong un" and throw rotten cabbages at him to prove that his punishment wasn't big enough the first time around! As long as he refuses to acknowledge guilt, he somehow has the upper hand, and the great moral majority will have to keep talking about the safety of children so that we're all shocked into agreeing with them. Someone on the telly tonight even claimed that Evans' return to football would send out a message that rape was acceptable. No. Evans' four years in prison proved that this is not the case. His return to the football pitch would mean we lived in a forgiving society which believes in its justice system.

Today was the worst sort of weather for an hairy man. Wet and mild. My biggest mistake was wearing a winter coat which soaked in external moisture and simultaneously trapped anything I was sweating inside. I've seldom felt so uncomfortable as I trudged to the osteopath.

What was lovely, however, was meeting Michelle of the Turkie for lunch at Somerset House. We caught up on at least six months of gossip over a toasted goats cheese bap!

I have decided to make a rather late New Year's Resolution to learn something new every day. Yesterday I learned about castanets. Today I learned (on Countdown) a new word: Farouche, which means shy.

I went for a swim at the gym this evening and stumbled upon a nasty-looking accident as I drove along the West Heath. A woman's car had been squashed between two buses. The fireman who stopped me, fortunately also told me that though the friend had been injured, she'd not been killed. In fact she was sitting by the side of the road as I drove past. Her car had been squashed to about half of its size, however, and its bonnet had completely disappeared. What a terrible start for a year. For her, 2015 will always be the year when she had that awful accident.

We took the Christmas tree down tonight. It was rather odd to wonder what we'll be feeling when we take it out of its box again in 11 1/2 months' time. What will have happened in the year? Will everyone we know still be happy and healthy? These are the sorts of thoughts which increasingly occur to me the older I get.