A culture of contempt and entitlement revealed by Belfast rape trial

The Belfast rape trial ended last week. The past few weeks saw the mix seethe, as preoccupations intersected in Belfast’s Court No. 12: crime, celebrity, sex, power, class, sport. All of it.

The verdict has been a beginning, not an end. A beginning for rallies in support of the complainant all over Ireland, for instance. A starting-point for conversations? That’s less clear.

On social media, which revealed its resemblance to a digital cesspit in the aftermath of the verdict, there were calls for lessons in consent, statements issued, gloating, retractions, deletions . . . if there were tone-deaf or plain wrong reactions available, then there were plenty of people to produce them, and nothing would, or did, stop them.