Freedom of speech given a thrashing

THEY do look alarmingly identical, don't they?

How incredible would that be, for Jon Snow to be reporting on his own court case?!

Sadly, though, there was little to laugh about following today's High Court ruling, in which the judge decided the right of Max Mosley to indulge his obscene fetishes supersedes the rights of newspapers to report the truth.

Mr Justice Eady has set down a dangerous precedent, one in which the rich and powerful will be able to stifle the truth and get away, almost literally, with murder.

Yet again the Human Rights Act, Article Eight in particular, is working against the public interest and in favour of certified fruitcakes. One wonders if any normal, decent citizen has benefitted from this ill-thought-out piece of legislation.

    

In what possible way can Mosley claim to have had his "private and family life" breached? Family life? Since when does indulging in vulgar acts with vice girls constitute "family life"?

Mosley is the one who had no respect for his family; one can only imagine how embarrassed and ashamed his wife and kids were by his sickening acts of depravity.

And how about the hookers' Article Ten rights for "freedom of expression"? Their right to tell the truth about Mosley, the elected head of a world sporting body, the FIA.

We're not talking about some bawdy burlesque house with a small clientele of loyal perverts, but the son of Sir Oswald Mosley, leader of the British Union of Fascists.

As Channel Four News's Carl Dinnen put it, "in this, as in many of these cases, Article Eight has given Article Ten a good spanking"!

• Watch the sordid video
• Read the News of the World reaction