The Author’s Story – and Bichard’s reply

Media interest was sparked in July 2009 when Phillip Pullman, the best selling author, claimed he would be banned from reading his books in schools because he refused to be vetted for the VBS.  He said “..it assumes my guilt”.   Sir Michael Bichard commented “I don’t have a lot of sympathy for people who say that just because they have to go through a checking process, somehow it’s being implied that they are a child molester” …..”I don’t think Roger Federer complains that because he has to expose himself to drug-testing, he’s being accused of being a cheat – I think he accepts that as part of the responsibility of playing top-class tennis.”  

Some cases illustrate how children have been targetted through positions of trust, including that of the author William Mayne