When I saw the picture of Lord Sewel wearing a jewelled bra on the front page of the Sun, my instinctive reaction wasn’t disgust, or shock, or anger. Instead, I wanted to check the calendar. Is it really 2015? Do powerful men really think that the most transgressive thing they can do is to put on women’s underwear?
The whole scenario felt unbearably clichéd, from his lordship’s excruciating small talk – recounting a recent work trip to the Isle of Man, complete with lunch on a steam train – to the casual racism of his characterisation of Asian women as secret “whores”. He even paid for one of the encounters by cheque. By cheque! What is he, American?
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