In Sir Igor Judge's book, she has to be unconscious before anyone having sex with her can be accused of rape.

What world does he live in? Certainly not "Sinderland", as our city was branded in The Daily Sport in November 2004 after a rogue DVD was doing the rounds made from CCTV footage of couples copulating behind a city nightclub.

The DVD was shown in some clubs and perverted punters charged a £1 a head to view it.

Sex in this city's streets and back alleys is a way of life every weekend. Too many girls have no respect for themselves and go out on the town with the intention of getting plastered and having sex. This is coupled with the fact that men do take advantage of paralytic lasses.

That's the grey area that has escaped Sir Igor, president of the Queen's Bench Division, when ruling on the issue of consent involving alcohol.

The fact is scores don't know who they have had sex with and some, I have no doubt the morning after, cry rape when they come to their senses.

That's why Sir Igor's ruling is ludicrous when he decreed that where a woman has "consumed even substantial quantities of alcohol but nevertheless remains capable of choosing whether or not to have intercourse and in drink agrees to do so, this would not be rape."

The fact is when she's blotto, she's incapable.

The only sensible thing he did say was that it would be impossible to draw up general rules on whether or not someone is too intoxicated to say yes to sex. His comments have thrown into chaos the government's plans to change the law so that men can be charged with rape if they have sex with drunken women.

Men, from time immemorial, have taken advantage of women out of control. You only have to see on a Monday morning the panties left outside of the rear of the Echo's city centre office to know that drunken sex is the norm.

In my day women had respect for themselves and knew how to say "no", and mean it. But today society has slid into a morass – too many men have no respect for womanhood because too many women don't value themselves.

Sex is too easy. And when a woman cries rape the consequences can be devastating. One pal in the newsroom told me of a 17-year-old mate of his whose life was devastated when he was accused of rape after a girl came on to him and they had sex.

When her boyfriend found out she cried rape.

My mate told me: "He ended up living away and just before the case was due to go to trial it was all dropped. But by then his name had been blackened and he had lost his job. His mother and father had been supportive but the pressure was enormous."

There's no CCTV coverage at the rear of our High Street office, and the street cleaner clears up the knickers every Monday morning just as in other alleyways left by the alley cats.

Sir Igor suggested it would be impossible to draw up a general rule as alcohol affects people differently. Too true. It's a pity he hadn't had a few stiff drinks before going into court – or maybe he had!

HELPLINES: Rape Examination, Advice, Counselling, Help, Ellis Fraser Centre, Sunderland Royal 565 3725.

Women Against Rape: 020 7482 2496, www.womenagainstrape.net
Victim Support: 0845 30 30 900, www.victimsupport.org


Bottling up your hopes and fears

YOU can't beat a billet doux in a bottle if you want to spill your heart out privately.

So, I raise my glass to Stuart Conway, a 45-year-old dad-of-two and self-confessed romantic, who for 10 years has run a website offering to take people's innermost secrets, hopes, dreams and all too often despair, pop them in an empty bottle and hurl them into the English Channel.

Even better, Stuart does it out of the goodness of his heart because the service is free.

The retired data administrator is providing an excellent service hurling empty bottles of Chardonnay, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Black Sheep, Gordon's Gin, Moet Chandon and Newcastle Brown Ale, into the sea off Brighton pier. More than a third of the messages concern unrequited love – all from women and most of them pining after an ex-boyfriend.
But most upsetting are those contemplating suicide.

Stuart is sanguine and says: "I never interfere. I never contact them. After all, I promise confidentiality. It's a bit like being a priest hearing confession. You get a glimpse into other people's lives – what makes them tick."

I'm all for keeping your own counsel and whether the bottles are ever found is immaterial.

As Stuart says: "The cathartic bit for the sender is writing the message and emailing it to me. The bottles don't need to be found."
And after throwing 6,000 he should know.

And if you fancy doing a Stuart at Roker or Seaburn or want to know more, log on to http://www.conwasa.demon.co.uk/bottle.htm


Who do these 4x4 bigheads think they are?

BIG-HEADS and big jeeps go together. And the women are the worst.

With more "Chelsea tractors" on our roads than than ever, four times more than 10 years ago, fuelled by women drivers, I'm sick of almost being pushed off the road by pushy pieces who think they own the road now they've got a 4x4.

Do they need one to take the bairns to school? Of course not but they need one to go swanning around, snooty-like and get their kicks feeling oh, so superior.

And you know what? You don't get that in the country, only in the towns and cities, where a 4x4 is certainly not indispensible, unless we are talking image.


Silver tongue

THE wonderful, larger-than-life woman at the birthday bash had me captivated with: "I once ran off with a Russian count." Why did you do that, I asked. "Because I fancied the pants off him," she replied.

It was then that the man sitting opposite me - not her Russian count – started talking to me in Russian. What was he saying to me? He translated: "Your eyes are like stars." What a great chat up line in any lingo.

Where there's muck there's rats

DIRTY rats are running riot with our pest control officers.
I blame the dirty people who chuck half-eaten grub, littering our streets with pizzas, sarnies, chips, curries and take-aways.

Now the rats have invaded some folks' homes. Rats take some destroying just like feckless people, young and old take some educating about their filthy habits.