You cannot read a newspaper, hear a news bulletin or read very far on your Twitter timeline without there being mention of an injunction or super injunction at the moment.
Should being able to obtain a super injunction be allowed, though? I don’t think it should.
Whilst I agree that everybody is entitled to a private life, celebrities and the wealthy included and that their every movement should not be documented in the press, should that extend to being allowed to buy privacy to hide indiscretions? No, I don’t believe it should.
Imogen Thomas hit the nail on the head on This Morning when she said that she had been thrown to the lions because she couldn’t afford to take out an injunction. The “family man international footballer” did have the reported £50,000 necessary to pay to keep his name out of the paper and has remained anonymous ever since. This family man that thought nothing of that family when he was having an affair for seven months with a single woman. How can that be right? How can that be fair? I actually wrote about John Terry and his ilk bringing the game into disrepute in another blog post if you want a read.
I am sure there are many family men (and statistically it is men that take these injunctions out. I heard on the BBC this morning that not one woman has instigated one of these injunctions so far) who have been caught with their pants down having had an affair with a colleague etc. Men who would love nothing more than to stop that indiscretion becoming public. Family men who would like to “spare their family”. But due to lack of the necessary money are unable to do so. So their affair is allowed to be made public, a report is run, the family pose together and vow to “put it behind them” and move on. Or not. But that is up to them.
When did this apparent two tier legal system start? The legal system should not be there purely for those that can afford it.
Now we have a situation where innocent people are having to deny any involvement. What must it be like for those people and for their spouses? I cannot imagine the stress they are under having to make statements to deny indiscretions that haven’t even happened.
Do the spouses of those people involved really have no idea this is about their other half? Does Mrs International Footballer have no idea? How can you take £50,000 from family funds to pay for this without their knowledge? Blimey if Mr B bought a £50 new golf club I would know about it in four minutes flat.
I have also just read a story online where the footballer involved has threatened to sue the News of the World over a silhouette they have used to accompany their story saying it makes him look like “a numpty”. What?! Does he want the outline to look like him? It’s a farce.
Here’s a radical thought. If you don’t want to get caught don’t do it in the first place.
Injunction image courtesy of Shutterstock