Lynch mobs and witch hunts are very scary things. They happen so easily, and they develop a momentum of their own. A couple of years ago in a tabloid fuelled spasm of that kind of thing in Wales, a paediatrician had to leave home to escape attacks purely because that prefix "paed" caused a misunderstanding on the part of the mob.

There's a certain mentality that seems to wish to leap into action in advance of knowing the facts, and in total disregard of "due process". You see it when some person accused of some offence is being taken for trial or whatever, and the crowd gathers and shouts and tries to overturn the van and all that kind of stuff. What's going on in the minds of the people like that? Getting some kind out of kick out of a situation where there is a socially accepted licence to mob?

And that old saw "No smoke without fire" - which is not actually true, as anyone who has ever walked out on a frosty morning knows when they breathe out.