Public Interest.co.uk

How do you spend your free time? Me, I like to immerse myself in Big Brother. But Yvonne Roberts over at the Guardian has discovered an even more rewarding pastime: befriending nonces.
"David", ( not his real name ) is a grandfather, and works, for free, for the Circles of Support and Accountability. Lately he's undergone a personal transformation and now sees the kiddie-fiddlers in a new light:

"I've come to see core members not as sex offenders and 'monsters' but as people - electricians, plumbers, Man U supporters, whatever - who have also committed sexual offences. There is a difference: one view denies someone's humanity, the other affirms it".

Well actually it's perfectly possible the nonces aren't human. I've always had a sneaking suspicion that they were cyborgs invented by the KGB and introduced in sleeper cells back during the darkest days of the Cold War. Hence all the messing with fuses, u-bends, and ludicrous enthusiasm for the Red Devils, whatever, but I bow to David's greater knowledge.
Still, it's nice to know the Liberaloids have at last found a new minority to feel sorry for. They're all a bit jaded with racism, sexism, and gays. And pretending that lardbutts are some sort of oppressed minority was always a bit of a stretch. Rampant paedophobia, brought on by an excess of Daily Mail reading, is the way to go, I feel.
It's also a bit of a moneyspinner. This here article keeps claiming these paedopals are doing it for free. But it seems that somewhere along the line Johnny Taxpayer is forking out for this. Isn't he always?

"The Thames Valley project costs £250,000 a year. The saving in suffering to potential victims, of course, is incalculable. The project has been evaluated twice using Home Office measures and judged a success".

So it is calculable.

"The Thames Valley project has 14 high-risk sex offenders waiting for a circle - but funding is uncertain beyond next year. Supporters say more resources and more volunteers are desperately required so that Circles can become an effective part of every community, anchoring sex offenders securely above ground, monitored and stripped of camouflage. Sarah's Law, they argue, will only drive paedophiles further into the dark, multiplying the number of victims".

You know I'd love the Guardian to run an article saying how much we must take racists to our hearts. Driving them into the dark only increases the number of victims. That sort of thing.

"Circles do provide a community response," David points out. "They apply the positive values of compassion, tolerance, kindness and self-discipline. For the health of the whole community that has to work better than vengeance, intolerance and hate".

Tolerating nonces? Maybe young Mr. Cameron should deliver a keynote speech, explaining how they all need a cuddle. And maybe the Guardian will write a leader blaming it all on the Iraq war. Stranger things have happened.