The Rehabilitation of Jeffrey Archer.

[Serial_Apologist]

Everyone on TV seems to welcome this man, who nowadays invariably says all the "right things", as some sort of celebrity. This morning he was on The Jeremy Vine Show on 5, dispensing his wisdoms to compliant host Vine and panel member Myleen Klasse.

Is this just another sign of the times? I've just been checking Wiki for exonerations that may justify this man's welcome back to the fold and finding none. Without landing ourselves in potential libel territory, what do people think?

[RichardB]

Is this just another sign of the times? I've just been checking Wiki for exonerations that may justify this man's welcome back to the fold and finding none. Without landing ourselves in potential libel territory, what do people think?

As Ringo Starr is supposed to have said, "He strikes me as a nice enough fella, but he's the kind of bloke who would bottle your piss and sell it." I presume though that you've noticed that the highest political office in both the UK and the USA has recently been held by people whose honesty is on a similar level to Archer's.

[Bryn]

Everyone on TV seems to welcome this man, who nowadays invariably says all the "right things", as some sort of celebrity. This morning he was on The Jeremy Vine Show on 5, dispensing his wisdoms to compliant host Vine and panel member Myleen Klasse.

Is this just another sign of the times? I've just been checking Wiki for exonerations that may justify this man's welcome back to the fold and finding none. Without landing ourselves in potential libel territory, what do people think?

Is, perhaps, his conviction, like his credibility, now 'spent'?

[smittims]

In a civilised country he would have been ostractised by all for what he did. It's a classic example of how prison is an unequal punishment. He had his posh house, his book royalties, to return to, but for a man on a wage that prison sentence could have lost him his home, his livelihood, etc.

[Dave2002]

Is, perhaps, his conviction, like his credibility, now 'spent'?

He seems to be, or have been, a "colourful" character, if not an honest one.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Archer

[eighthobstruction]

....puke can be colourful Dave...

[cat]

Let me get this right. During a trial 35 years ago (on the weighty matter of whether the Daily Star ought to have said that Archer had sex with someone) he said he was happily married, despite that perhaps not being the case.

Has he done any other unspeakable crimes, because I'm not sure that's enough for him to be permanently ostracised from society?

Jonathan Aitken, similarly imprisoned for perjury, is now a priest. Ought the church have told him to get lost and go clean some bins for living or whatever?

[eighthobstruction]

....a somewhat different take...." He was imprisoned (2001–2003) for perjury and perverting the course of justice"

....ah, I see he wasn't imprisoned for being an arrogant little nasty Elf....as I thought....

[oddoneout]

....puke can be colourful Dave...

Indeed, hence technicolour yawn.

[Andrew]

This man is the personification of the phrase "there's no such thing as bad publicity; just spell my name correctly!"

On which point, those of a literary bent may find it interesting to note the there's a GEOFFREY Archer, also an author, who writes superb spy and espionage novels. I've read them and they're very good, if one likes this type of literature.

[muzzer]

I think it’s all in Adam Raphael’s book M’Learned Friends. The story of the libel trial that centred around Archer making a cash payment to a professional lady and what followed.

Fwiw I think ‘the Establishment’ reviled JA because he was an upstart by the standards of the time. He sold staggering quantities of his books.

He pops up in Giles Coren’s prog about GC’s novel and is hilarious in the way he exposes GC for the superannuated offspring he is. E&OE, ymmv. Etc.

[LeMartinPecheur]

Is, perhaps, his conviction, like his credibility, now 'spent'?

In the legal sense a conviction resulting in imprisonment is never 'spent'. Good job, otherwise we'd all be in big trouble for mentioning it here

[pastoralguy]

This man is the personification of the phrase "there's no such thing as bad publicity; just spell my name correctly!"

On which point, those of a literary bent may find it interesting to note the there's a GEOFFREY Archer, also an author, who writes superb spy and espionage novels. I've read them and they're very good, if one likes this type of literature.

I read somewhere that his wife, Mary, was the real brains behind his writing. The judge famously said ‘Has she not fragrance?’ at his trial.

[smittims]

I think what annoyed many people is that even as a prisoner he was over-privileged, his posh friends taking him out for champagne lunches, breaking the rules of his term , and still was allowed out early on remission. At the same time an elderly man had spent 17years in gaol for setting fire to a church as a 'cry for help' , being refused remission as he didn't understand how he should 'show remorse'.

[oddoneout]

I think what annoyed many people is that even as a prisoner he was over-privileged, his posh friends taking him out for champagne lunches, breaking the rules of his term , and still was allowed out early on remission. At the same time an elderly man had spent 17years in gaol for setting fire to a church as a 'cry for help' , being refused remission as he didn't understand how he should 'show remorse'.

Going back to the old version of debtors' prisons, where those with connections could live in reasonable comfort?