Strauss-Kahn freed

ONCE it was the Valley of Elah, where David, to use that wonderful Old Testament verb, smote Goliath but for the last six weeks the battle between a giant and a minnow has played out in a New York courtroom.

It looked to have come to an end yesterday when former International Monetary Fund chief and French presidential hopeful Dominique Strauss-Kahn was released without bail following a hearing in his sexual assault case.

Neither the accuser or the accused seem without a blemish but it was always likely that someone as powerful as Strauss-Khan, even though he lied and had some sort of sex with the 32-year-old maid, would enjoy whatever luck was going.