JAN MOIR: How can Harriet call herself a feminist after this?



Characteristically, Harriet did rouse herself to airily dismiss the revelations as 'rubbish'. However, that is nowhere near good enough

What next for the three senior Labour figures who backed a paedophile group in the Seventies and Eighties?



Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman, her husband Jack Dromey and former Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt have yet to say anything significant about the links, detailed in this newspaper in recent days.



They have not clarified. They have not elucidated. And they have not even, at the very least, apologised for this murky period in their collective past.



Oh. Nearly forgot. Characteristically, Harriet did rouse herself to airily dismiss the revelations as ‘rubbish’. However, that is nowhere near good enough. Especially not from her. She has got some explaining to do.



Chiefly, how can an ardent feminist such as Harriet Harman appear to have had a relaxed attitude to such abhorrent male behaviour as paedophilia? And even Harriet surely would agree that the vast majority of paedophiles are men.



Certainly the members of the Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE) who so successfully lobbied Harman and her cohorts at the National Council for Civil Liberties — now known as Liberty — all those years ago were almost exclusively male.



They wanted child pornography laws to be watered down — they would, wouldn’t they? — and she seemed to be only too happy to support their efforts.



Among other changes Harriet campaigned for? To make photographs or films of naked children legal unless there was evidence that the subject had been harmed. And shortly before she joined the NCCL, it sought to lower the age of consent to 14 and to decriminalise incest.



It is a manifesto that is breathtaking in its haughty libertarian conceits; in skewed ideals that put the aberrant sexual needs of adult men before the protection of innocent children. And yet, Harman & Co’s exquisitely right-on jobs at the NCCL proved to be launch pads to their wildly successful careers in the highest echelons of politics.

At that time, loony Leftism was at its terrible height, and the only excuse they could possibly have was that the fire of idealism must have blazed so bright in their young eyes that it obscured common sense. Back then, they believed that even paedophiles had rights, too.



It seems remarkable that a woman who has long campaigned against Page Three Girls once truly believed that photographs or films of naked children should not necessarily be banned.



One wonders if her views — and indeed those of her husband — have changed since she had children of her own.



This is a woman who has imposed her stringent views on equality and feminist issues onto the British workplace and wider society — sometimes to its detriment. Someone who has force-fed positive discrimination and all-women shortlists down the throat of a sometimes reluctant populace.



So passionate has been her feminism that, in the past, she has wanted to make it illegal to pay for sex in this country; and in 2008 she supported then Home Secretary Jacqui Smith in her bid to impose rape charges on men knowingly paying for sex from an illegally trafficked women.

Harriet Harman pictured with her husband, Jack Dromey

She is one of the most earnest women in modern politics, an MP who has made a career out of being a champion of women’s rights, whether women wanted it or not. Yet here, she has let them down badly.



Her whole approach to politics is that everything she does is right and beyond reproach. Yet this stinks. The actions of the group she supported surely helped create an atmosphere in which monsters such as Jimmy Savile could convince themselves there was nothing wrong with their dark and filthy deeds — and carry on molesting children.



Yet at the time he was at the height of his fame, adored by millions of children who watched Jim’ll Fix It, the organisation Harriet Harman endorsed was calling for the relaxation of the law on child pornography.



There are questions she must answer. And claiming the culture was different back then will not wash in this instance.



It has never been acceptable to molest and sexually abuse children — whether or not paedophiles and their friends have convinced themselves the poor children consented.

Harriet, of all women, should always have known that.

When letting go is an act of motherly love



Reece Puddington (pictured with his mum, Kay), who suffers from neuroblastoma, has chosen not to take new drugs that might give him extra months or weeks, but that will have awful side-effects

This week an 11-year-old boy who has been battling cancer revealed he and his family have decided not to have further treatment to prolong his life.



Reece Puddington, who suffers from neuroblastoma, has chosen not to take new drugs that might give him extra months or weeks, but that will have awful side-effects. Instead, he has resolved to enjoy whatever time that he has left.



In a blog entry entitled The Beginning Of The End, remarkable Reece, from Whitstable, Kent, revealed that his mum Kay, who has been at his side throughout his cancer battle, had always hoped she would have the courage to know when enough was enough.



‘After careful consideration, my mum thought that if she was doing it for herself she would keep sending me for treatment as she wouldn’t want to let me go, but if she was doing it for me she’d let me go.



‘Well, she’s letting me go . . .’ Reece wrote.



The courage of both mother and son — and the rest of Reece’s extended family — is truly humbling. In the face of insurmountable odds, they have realised that the important thing now is for this little boy to enjoy his final days. He has already put up a bucket list of things that he wants to do, including meeting the actor Johnny Depp, and building a Hobbit house in his back garden.



It must be torture for his mother, but she is rightly putting her child’s needs before her own. Most importantly, she has listened to her little boy, who has already suffered so much, and who now just wants to have some fun and some comfort in his final days.



We often hear about parents who cannot accept the word of British doctors that there is no more to be done for their desperately sick children. They scour the world for hospitals that offer new treatments or ‘miracle cures’, and raise funds to get there. No one can blame them for that.



The impulse for desperate mums and dads to do something, no matter what, is completely understandable. They are only doing what they think is right; trying to give their sick children a hope of survival, grasping at straws proffered by hospitals scattered across the globe.



The courage of both mother and son - and the rest of Reece's extended family - is truly humbling

But if there is limited time left, might it not be better for the child and the parents to focus on their quality of life together above all else?



Sharing happy memories rather than embarking on a frantic, headlong flight to a foreign country could ultimately be more of a comfort for all involved.



Hope is important, of course. Yet no cancer specialist in this country would ever stop treating a child if there were even a glimmer of hope for a cure. The terrible truth is that sometimes some cancers are incurable. And when that happens, quality of life is everything.



I hope Reece achieves everything on his bucket list and I’m sure that his mother will find comfort and strength in knowing that she is making this final, brave gesture to support her lovely little boy.

This week, Sharon Stone revealed that she once locked herself in a bathroom with a bottle of wine and cried about her fading looks

Ageing is not easy. We all cope in different ways. This week, Sharon Stone revealed that she once locked herself in a bathroom with a bottle of wine and cried about her fading looks.



You know, Sharon, I’ve often done the same thing myself. With one difference. I do it with my friends. In the middle of a restaurant. We call it a good night out.

When are Marks and Sparks going to get it right?



I am a devotee. I love their hummus and tights! But I wish they would get their act together when it comes to selling proper clothes.



The much-vaunted new range has about a dozen items that cost more than £200.



Look. What British women want from M&S is affordable, everyday quality.



We do not want mass-produced items at designer prices, because we are not stupid.



Indeed, the last time they tried something fancy pants, they got Tracey Emin — among others — to model for them.



And the only person I have seen wearing Tracey’s celebrated red and black M&S sweater is Sally in Coronation Street.



I rest my over-priced, tartan-lined M&S case.

Alex Turner of the Arctic Monkeys gave a cringe-making Brits speech. He never referred to his band, who behind him squirmed with embarrassment as he accepted the award on his own behalf.



‘Invoice me for the mic if you want to,’ he said, before dropping it on the ground like a toddler with a rattle.



He used to be quite a nice bloke from Sheffield. The speed of the journey from charmer to ass is now supersonic.

Bowie's playing my tartan tune



Scotland, stay with us, says David Bowie. What about Bowie, stay with us? Not with your wife in Manhattan, if you don’t mind. Yet you can bet the space oddity is not going to be swapping New York for chilly old Newton Mearns any time soon.



His message might have come via Kate Moss in a vintage Babygro (his own), but we unionists are always grateful for a sane voice on the subject, whoever they might be. Alex Salmond has been assiduous in cultivating celebrities to his cause — but what a shower he has to work with. Sir Sean Connery is a tax exile who lived in the Caribbean. At least supporters Frankie Boyle and the singer Eddi Reader live there — and Scotland can keep them.



Annie Lennox and novelist Irvine Welsh do not, but that doesn’t stop them banging on about it. In the meantime, where does Lorraine Kelly stand on independence?



The canny presenter has not yet expressed an opinion either way — and is quick to silence those who suggest she does. She commands huge audiences for her daytime show. The SNP would be onto her like an osprey digging its claws into a fresh and meaty trout.

Horror of the Week: Cara Delevingne's feet

Horror of the Week: Cara Delevingne’s feet.



We get it. You are a free spirit, the girl of the moment, a person who has even ‘designed’ a Mulberry handbag. Good for you.



However, Cara. A word. Put them away or give them a wash.



For everyone’s sake, including your own.

Jerry Hall has finally had a haircut! About time

About time too, Jerry!



Jerry Hall has finally had a haircut! About time — there are some fashion rules it is hard to break, and having mermaid hair over the age of 60 is one of them.



I interviewed her about a dozen years ago and she was prevaricating about it then.



Perhaps Jerry is part of the new survey that claims women spend 14,000 hours of their life — more than a year and a half — on their hair.



That’s just thinking about whether or not to get it cut or not. Anyway, she looks amazing!