The Times this morning has a piece by Gabby Logan, who has chosen to speak out about being accused of taking out a superinjunction over an affair with Alan Shearer. (Both rumours are untrue.)
It’s interesting that, despite the whispers – and the abuse Logan has suffered on Twitter as a result – she is broadly opposed to injunctions. She writes (£):
There are occasions when the exposure of a genuinely private matter may lead to deep hurt and mental anguish for a family. But being granted an injunction to protect your image because you might lose endorsements and contracts if people were to discover that you have cheated on your wife is not what most people would assume to be the spirit of the law.
She adds that social networking sites have become a “seemingly lawless wasteland”, where it is impossible to gain any legal redress over those who falsely (and perhaps even maliciously) libel you.
But perhaps the most astonishing part of the story is the reaction of the mainstream press once Logan had commented on the story (by saying she was seeking legal advice).
On one crazy day, after being followed by a photographer all the way to school with my five-year-olds and having the door buzzed all day by journalists, I finally found a reporter standing uninvited in my hall.
This was a particularly special episode of intrusion. The journalist took advantage of my son answering the front gate and leaving it open, to come in and find me. She went through the gate and then the open front door. Brazen does not even begin to cover it.
Who is this enterprising young hackette? That’s the real mystery here.