CPS Alison Saunders, the head of the CPS, continues in her staggering complacency

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I have read the first few pages of that book and am shaking with outrage. Self-published unsurprisingly anonymously and advertised as a “step by step guide for destroying a man’s reputation and removing him from power” it has chapters with such titles as Crafting Allegations. It lauds the fact that allegations require no proof just to be made and has the gall to advise that “these methods have been chosen for their utility and results rather than legal or ethical merit”. Brazen, cruel and immoral, this book should be given a wide berth by MeToo if that organisation wants to retain any of its already fragile credibility. On amazon 95 per cent of its reviews are one star.

It is shocking that its publication is even legal. What next? How To Rob A Bank? How To Burgle A House? Meanwhile Alison Saunders, the head of the CPS, continues in her staggering complacency. Last month she said she doubted any innocent person was in prison for rape, despite the release of Danny Kay after two years for a rape he did not commit and that of Mahad Cassim, a few months earlier, who had also served two years. If they, then why not others? Thanks to this awful book, expect a wearying continuation of headlines about the exoneration of the falsely accused, the falsely imprisoned and the inadequately investigated. -------------------- Too much too young

Proposals to lower the voting age to 16 are just plain daft. By definition a person of 16 is either still in full-time education or has only just left. He or she will have had no experience of work beyond a holiday or Saturday job and probably none at all of paying tax or national insurance. Lacking any extensive experience of the world, youngsters of that age have too little on which to base voting decisions. Apart from all that saying that somebody should be able to vote but not be able to buy beer is odd reasoning indeed. ------------------- Why should MPs be quizzed on maths?

Jeff Overs/BBC News & Current Affairs via Getty Nick Gibb was right to refuse to do sums on air

Nick Gibb, the schools’ minister, has been pilloried for refusing to do sums on air but why should he? It has no relevance whatever to the argument at hand. If Jamie Oliver says schools should teach good nutrition is that invalidated if he is spotted noshing a burger? If David Beckham says sport is important is that invalidated if he misses a goal? Interviewers should grow up and treat issues seriously instead of seeing them just as banana skins for advocates.

YURI KADOBNOV/AFP/Getty Hedgehog populations have halved in the last twenty years

Time to save your local hedgehogs Reports suggest that the hedgehog population in Britain has halved in twenty years. As the little chaps will soon be coming out of hibernation, perhaps this is the time to allow them plenty of freedom to wander in search of food by making sure they can get through fences from one garden to another or have a plate of dog food or minced meat at the ready when they emerge. Interestingly statistics suggest that the decline has been halted in urban areas where there are no badgers and no farmers. Maybe that explains why I have never seen one in my garden since moving to Dartmoor. -------------------- The robot will see you now

Media for Medical/UIG via Getty Doctors are now not allowed to hug patients however distressed they may be

The Medical Defence Union (MDU) has told doctors not to hug patients. What cruel, unfeeling drivel. So a doctor must not hold the hand of a dying patient? He must not hug a weeping parent whose child is seriously ill? A poor distressed soul must just sit there uncomforted while the doctor becomes a dispensing robot? Welcome to the MDU's brave new world. How long before we all go about in suits of armour in case someone touches us or in case others allege we have touched them? -------------------- A degree of sanity again

Geography Photos/UIG via Getty Not everybody should go to university says Theresa May and she is right

Theresa May tells the young that not everybody should go to university and that technical courses are a useful way to obtain vocational skills. Bang on, Theresa, but please just pause to consider the folly of upgrading all the polytechnics to "universities", giving degrees for what were once diploma courses and saddling youngsters with debt but no bright prospects. That can't be reversed overnight but it must eventually be tackled if the terms university and vocational training are to have any meaning at all. -------------------- We should be grateful for wary hotels

View Pictures/UIG via Getty A father was suspected of being a paedophile by Travelodge staff

My sympathies are with the Travelodge Hotel in Macclesfield, Cheshire, which phoned the police when a father checked in with his 14-year-old daughter, suspecting he could have been a paedophile. If that had been the case and the girl had been the victim of grooming by a strange man then the hotel would have been blamed for not using common sense. It was however horribly upsetting for the daughter and it is not the first time it has happened. Last year a dad was also suspected when he booked a room to share with his 13-year-old. We should be grateful hotels are alert and it might be a wise precaution if men travelling with their daughters took along proof of the girl’s identity when checking in to hotels. It would save a lot of distress – and police time. -------------------- There are some who are more equal than others

Getty Young Labour’s Equalities Conference

The Equality and Human Rights Commission is probing a proposal to ban white, able-bodied, heterosexual males from a Young Labour’s Equalities Conference. It used to be a joke among those aspiring to Parliament 20 or 30 years ago that unless you were a one-legged, black lesbian you had no chance of getting on your party’s candidates’ list or on to any public body. Now the joke becomes reality at least for this conference. I can only hope the EHRC nips the practice in the bud before it spreads. Anyway, Jeremy Corbyn is a white, able-bodied heterosexual. Is he banned from looking in? -------------------- Employers should be allowed to ask women about their family plans