I have every sympathy for Nicky Morgan MP who, last night, announced she was standing down from Parliament, essentially because she has had enough of being a politician. The abuse and the toll it was taking on her family life were the principal reasons given. I completely get that. However, only two weeks ago the same Nicky Morgan, as Secretary of State at DCMS, announced a delay in implementing age verification for commercial pornography web sites.
Children who could have been protected from viewing horrific, abusive images will now be exposed to them for maybe a further year, two years, no one knows, at any rate for longer than need have been the case.
That is entirely down to Nicky Morgan and now she is walking away. Something about that does not feel right. In the forthcoming General Election campaign I look forward to hearing Boris Johnson’s views on children’s exposure to pornography. How will he explain and justify his Government’s decision not to act when everything was ready to go?
Desiderata 