Brenda Power on "honest mistake" in April 27th Sunday Times

[fergalr]

I know the woman is a conservative columnist, but her article was jaw-dropping. To compare staff in off-licenses checking passports to young men asking young women what age they are before drunken fumbles in the hay is MAYBE a little poorly thought out. To compare a business transaction of buying and selling alcohol to sex... why is it the social conservatives have the most utilitarian attitude to sexal relations, especially between young people?

To expect fir na hEireann to - essentially - ask "I.D?" of girls in nightlcubs... Thank God for juries more sensible than some journalists

[turdsl]

She just gets well paid for writing stupid articles

[Fr. Hank Tree]

Didn't read her column. She was on Q&A before when she said it was not unreasonable to require that young men not sleep with a girl whose age they have doubts about. But this is well-idiotic, because if you deny the honest guy who takes all the care in the world justice as harshly as you do the randy turn-a-blind-eye perv, then that's not much incentive for the good guy is it.

We are approaching this problem all wrong people. We should make the defence of mistake an objective test, not a subjective one. That doesn't require changing the constitution i think.

[fergalr]

Also, the wrongs don't lie with the parents or the girl in this. I noticed that.