It has often been said that "the pen is MIGHTIER than the sword".

Nowadays, especially, NOWHERE is this more true than in newsprint - the so called "popular" press - which, as my thread title implies, appears to positively revel in malicious gossip/scandalmongering at every opportunity!

Now take for instance, the newest *rumours ... about a former Prime Minister ... many years AFTER the death of our subject in 2005:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41503143 ...

Strange, don't you think, ... that *such an otherwise libellous accusation should suddenly "rear its ugly head"? Particularly at this very late stage when he's no longer in a position to defend himself against these allegations of indecency?

Thankfully, at least the bloke's godson has leapt to his defence by quoting:-

"If an appeal is made for victims, then you're sure to get them to come forward - legitimate or not!"

Witness the Jimmy Saville saga. But then ... ... Saville's catalogue of abuse appears to've been already well~documented.

According to the subject's godson, his father had been a university friend of the ex-PM, who was reputed to have been asexual ... preferring instead, to engage in sporting pursuits that entailed messing about on boats,
as opposed to "sailing too close to the wind" in a perverted sense.