These are the standard UK guidelines. The equivalent “rape” sentence would be for repeated rape with aggravating factor (the deception), so at least 15 years. This wasn’t technically rape, as she didn’t have a penis, so hence she seems to have gotten something of a discount:

Adding fraud and the 2-year long period of the offense was probably a factor, imho.

In fact, if deception had been involved, a male rapist would have gotten a similiar sentence. Rape with fraud has a high starting point. Also, I assume that the fact that it went on for 2 years was also a factor.

They are implying that the rapist in this case seems to be getting more of a thoughful treatment than most convicted rapists. Usually it’s a case of “no excuses”. Having read around about this case, this does definitely seem to be true.

This is apposite.

All fair points.

During the Blitz, Londoners continued to go to work, even though that put them further away from their home shelters (and public shelters were limited in central London). They did this knowing for certain that another bomb raid would occur sooner or later. Just saying.

It would be foolish to dismiss an entire nation of human men based on a feeling you got from a fictional TV drama, wouldn’t you say?

By the way, that picture is not actually the House of Representatives, but a reception room that used to be the House of Lords before it was abolished in 1951. It’s now used as a reception room, but in fact anybody can request use of it, for a legitimate reason and at no cost. You can even get married in it. Almost…

Cameron probably is as well, but they all pay the piper in that regard.

With Key in NZ, Abbott until recently in Aus, and Cameron in the UK, it’s been a particularly bad period for rich, white, Christian dudebros being in charge.

The current conservative PM is particularly dudebroish, but NZ was the first country to allow women the vote (1893), and one of the first to allow marriage equality. It also was the first country to have women in all the top positions (between March 2005 and August 2006: the Sovereign Queen Elizabeth II of New…

It stems from the fact that in it’s early European settlement, their were hardly any women, hence a very blokey culture overall. But let’s not forget that NZ was the first democracy to acceed women the vote.

Are you sure you’re in New Zealand?

NZ doesn’t have anything non-human that can kill you, apart from one extremely rare spider. It didn’t even have any mammals until human beings came here 800 years ago (apart from one bat). NZ and Aus are very different. Though everybody does talk kind of funny.

Question: is it privelege if you earned it doing an actual job?

See now that’s proper dismissive. A+.

I’m never going there. It sounds like a dystopian nightmare.

Your husband’s an asshole. Get rid.