Prince Andrew

In many ways I have to have some sympathy with Prince Andrew. That coming from me must be a fis=rst. He is a person who uses his position to gain advantages for himself. From reports he is the most arrogent of the royals making sur that everybody treats him as somebody above them. Given all of this, he ahs been put in an impossible position. There are accusations against him which he finds impossible to refute. As the saying goes mud sticks.

I allude to this in my novel An Ordinary Life.

Tom and Brian are undertaking some consultancy in West Africa when the government execute some environmentalist protesters. Brian is appalled and goes on about the rule of law. I quote from the novel.

Tom laughed. “ Brian, you are new to this. The government here can do what it likes. It is supported by foreign companies who have to give their backing or they will not be allowed to do business. Come on. From my experience, this is going to be a tense day."

Back at the hotel that evening over a beer before going to bed, Brian remarked. “ At least this could not happen in the UK, Tom. There would have to be suspicions and some evidence before anybody was arrested. Then the trail would have to be in public with proper evidence.”

Tom smiled. “ I am not so sure that the police are above trying to get at people they do not like in ways other than arrest and trial. Look, if they arrest somebody but do not charge them they can influence the life of that person substantially. They can even spread rumours through their friends in the press or drop hints about people they suspect or do not like without even arresting them. You know how difficult it is to shake off a bad reputation even when any rumours are proved unfounded. Still what happened here could not happen in the UK, I give you that."

Those words were to come back to haunt Tom. His friend Derek is arrested on suspicion of being a gangster and Tom is hauled to the police station on suspicion oif being an associate. Neither are charged because of the lack of evidence. But the police action affects them both in ways that echo Tom's words to Brian.

An Ordinary Life by Edmund Gubbins can be obtained from Amazon both as a paperback and for downloading as an ebook from Kindle.