On Tuesday, a jury in the State of Victoria (in Australia) unanimously found the accused guilty of the crimes alleged by the prosecution. The presiding Judge immediately issued a gag order covering the accused, the crimes, the verdict and probably the great-grandmother’s knitting patterns, applicable to everyone and everything Australian, on pain of indefinite imprisonment for Contempt of Court.
To quote a well-known American tennis player, “You have to be joking”. Who does the Judge think he is and what century is he living in? The world knows all the facts (and the Judge’s name, which will rapidly become the butt of all current affair jokes, I predict). Cnut (Canute) had more chance of succeeding.
In other news, the Pope yesterday removed his only Australian Cardinal from the nine-member Committee of the inner circle of Catholic Enforcers.
Boadicea's Chariot 
Good morning Bearsy. That link does not work here. Has it been deactivated by authorities or is it just a local problem, do you think?
Meanwhile, there is a similar kerfuffle in that other antipodean country where Google is being accused of riding roughshod over New Zealand’s legal system.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/13/new-zealand-courts-banned-naming-grace-millanes-accused-killer-google-just-emailed-it-out
Whatever the rights and wrongs of gagging orders, I do think the local courts should pursue action against the Silicon giants and other media who flout them. It is one thing to do so in their own countries, but if they have any presence in New Zealand, as in this instance, then they should be prosecuted and be required to pay a substantial fine. In my view.
I would be interested to know why the Victorian judge ordered the gag. Do you think it was purely to protect the Catholic church, or was it to protect victims; or some other reason?
As an aside, I noticed that you capitalised “the Pope”. In a New York Times article on the same subject, they talked about “the pope”. Not knowing what it should be, I asked the question of the great oracle (sorry Larry Ellison, not your Oracle.) I found this link. https://www.ap.org/press-releases/2013/papal-succession-style-guide-distributed-by-ap specifically,
“pope – Capitalize pope when used as a title before a name: Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Paul. Lowercase pope in all other uses. The pope is the bishop of Rome; the office was held by the Apostle Peter at his death. ”
I suppose that is an entirely logical position.
And a further aside, I suspect the modern spelling of Canute was designed to mitigate the embarrassment caused by dyslexic children.
This cartoon appeared in Private Eye many years ago.
G’day Sipu,
Sorry, the linked page no longer exists (I’ve now removed the link). The site is still there, and there is a small selection of relevant information, but the two main explanatory items have vanished. I can only assume that the site owner has been warned off.
A full answer to your questions would take many pages, but in short –
Hollingsworth was G-G a while back until he was persuaded to resign for covering up paedophilia perpetrated by his staff when he was Arch Bishop of Brisbane. He was recently given the mildest slap on the wrist and the matter set aside.
Bishop Wilson of Adelaide was found guilty a few months ago of covering up paedophilia, but his conviction was recently quashed by some high legal muckity-muck for obscure reasons.
George Pell (until yesterday a Cardinal in the Pope’s inner circle) has been similarly accused and found guilty, but no Australian is allowed to say so.
The usual reason given for Gag Orders is to make sure that the accused has a fair trial, but the real reason is usually money, position or private connections. Australia uses gag orders a lot, especially Victoria which accounts for at least half of them.
More later, but I need a ciggie and a cup of tea. 😎
John Patrick McEnroe’s famous quote was “You cannot be serious”.
Akshully I believe the anglicisation Canute is designed to aid the pronunciation of Knud, the Viking name, in which the ‘d’ ending is swallowed.
Thanks for the explanation Bearsy. I am never sure whether to be encouraged or disheartened by the fact that other governments and their judiciaries exhibit so many of those venal characteristics that are intrinsic to our Zimbabwean leaders.
Janus, when you say the ‘d’ ending is swallowed, do you mean it is silent. I can just here him saying, “I am a Knu, how do you do.”
No not silent. It is a a hard, aspirated ‘th’ which to our unNordic ears sounds as if it is swallowed.
Interesting, just like the Welsh.
Personally I think a lot of malefactors should be paraded naked through the streets, heftily whipped and then hung from lamp posts. Certainly paedos amongst them.
Would rather concentrate the mind on ceasing their depredations upon the rest of us.
Gagging orders my arse. Disgusting, probably find the judge is as queer as a fidler’s bitch.
I certainly hope questions are being asked about judge’s own hobbies.
Somewhere I read that the reason that Pell is going to be facing further charges and that the gagging order is to try an ensure a ‘fair trial’.
However, having seen the ease with which one Bishop here had his conviction quashed it does make one (well me at least!) very suspicious…
I wonder why they bother in Australia as naming him is all over the Daily Mail and discussed on both American and Canadian media news broadcasts.
Sipu, I was delighted to see your pic of Flanders and Swann. I had the pleasure of entertaining Donald Swann to dinner ca. 1963.