The truth about the latest Epstein photos

All women will recognise the same thing in the latest Epstein photos

I spent time with a bunch of British teenagers aged 13 and 14 this weekend – and this is what I noticed about the slang du jour: every time one of them does something jokingly inappropriate, the others all shout "Epstein!"

"Don't Epstein me," said one of the boys, when his mate tried to stuff a chocolate bar down his trousers. "Epstein's coming," another murmured, while they were playing a game of hide-and-seek. "Epstein's gonna get you!" Epstein, it seems, has become a bit of a bogeyman and a byword for assault, for lack of consent, for misconduct, for predatory behaviour. "Epstein" is a way of calling it out, of saying "no". Epstein is a warning, a way of signposting, "I recognise this for what it has been for others – and what it could be". Epstein means "I see you".

As a mother standing by, rolling her eyes and tutting a lot, it felt to me like a classic teenage "joke" with serrated edges. Distasteful, certainly. Yet still the only way kids can make sense of the very real, human horror they have heard and seen and read about. The only way they can process what adults like the late paedophile Jeffrey Epstein have done – and in some cases, continue to do – to other young people like them. Can't handle the nauseating dread of the latest Epstein file dump, full of famous names these teens recognise as well as their own? Make a joke about it.

So, what, then, of the name Andrew?

I look at the latest, lurid photographs of the former prince, hunched on all fours over the prone, seemingly unconscious body of a much younger woman, and I want to weep. I want to scoop up my daughter and her friends, to protect them from harm at the hands of men like this. Because I have known men like this. We all have. 

Click here to read more... (and do take a look at the comments! I've been in a state of disbelief since I dared to peek below the line – there are an awful lot of Epstein/Andrew apologists, on there. Apparently, I'm a "man-hater" for writing about the late sex offender and his too-close-for-comfort royal pal… there are people who don't think the photos "look anything like" Andrew anyway, and that commenting on the sordid allegations is an example of "feminist double standards". Are they right?

Get in touch

You can write to me about anything you care deeply about – and I'll feature some of the emails sent in, alongside guest pieces from writers who want to have their say on a subject. Send it straight to me at victoria.richards@independent.co.uk.

Or, if you want advice on love, work, family and relationships, email me at dearvix@independent.co.uk.

VIX'S PICKS

Lily Allen's big school-gate secret

I love this piece by Charlotte Cripps on one of my favourite topics: school gate dramas! Like them or loathe them, they're always gripping (and that's why we all loved Motherland and spin-off show Amandaland). 

But this one is a little different – and all the more refreshing for it. Instead of focusing on hellish cliques and tribes, on whether it's a cake sale this Friday, or what we can do to get out of the next PTA meeting, Charlotte reveals the secret reality of her "mum tribe".

Click here to read more...

When my dad died in 2024, it was in these mums that I found solace. They whisked me round the corner from the school gates as I burst into tears at the drop of a hat, and gave me a huge hug. When the fight over my dad's will exploded, it was the mums at school who offered me respite from my suffering by sharing similar family stories of greed and resentment. When I had to go to A&E with suspected sepsis three years ago, I didn't call my family; I called my school mum friends...

The doctor who helped convict Lucy Letby lives with 'tiny guilt' about this one horrifying prospect

This story has captured public imagination since the first terrible, unthinkable details first emerged in 2018. Then, we learned of the arrest of the nurse Lucy Letby, after a higher than expected number of baby deaths at the Countess of Chester Hospital. In 2023, Letby was found guilty of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder six others. In 2024, after a retrial, she was convicted of a further count of attempted murder and is now serving 15 whole-life orders. A new Netflix series – The Investigation of Lucy Letby, released yesterday – features (among other elements) previously unseen footage of Letby being arrested in her bed and testimony from consultant paediatrician Dr John Gibbs.

Holly Evans takes a look at the latest shocking developments, here.  

I live with two guilts. Guilt that we let the babies down, and tiny tiny tiny guilt – did we get the wrong person? There's guilt you know just in case, miscarriage of justice. I don't think there was a miscarriage of justice, but you worry that no one actually saw her do it.

From sourdough to the far-right: How the tradwife trend is quietly radicalising women

Sarah once prided herself on being a good tradwife. Her purpose, she believed, was inside the home: cooking every meal from scratch and waking up at dawn to clean. "I wanted to be a submissive wife and let my husband lead," she recalls. But gradually, that content became a gateway to more extreme ideas, and Sarah fell down the alt-right pipeline. "It starts really harmless, like 'five easy healthy meals' all the way to 'as a woman it's my job to steward the home'," she explains. "I ended up going for it hook, line, and sinker."

By 18, Sarah was married and fully devoted to the tradwife lifestyle. She thought women were biologically built for cooking, cleaning, and child-rearing. Processed food became poison, and protecting her family from it was her duty as a good wife. She was convinced that science, medicine, and the government were systems designed to brainwash and control her. Climate change, she insisted, was a total hoax. In this riveting read, Roni Zahavi-Brunner uncovers a pipeline feeding young women recipes and pretty dresses... all the way into alt-right ideology.

I'm thrilled that trans women are allowed to swim in Hampstead ladies' pond

The essence of the north London bathing area is inclusivity, says Olivia Petter, in this brilliant piece about the decision to allow the Hampstead Heath ladies' pond to continue to be an inclusive space and admit trans women.

It follows a legal challenge from the gender-critical campaign group Sex Matters, which argued that allowing trans women into the ladies' pond – marked with a "Women Only" sign at its gates – amounted to discrimination. The judge, however, threw the case out (thank goodness).

Click here to read more…

I am really struggling with being online at the moment. I run a fanzine that has music and film reviews and loads of regular readers and commenters. It's small, but I'm really proud of it and put loads of hard work and love into it. But recently, I've been getting targeted by a group of men who say the most horrible things.

When I write a review or an opinion they don't agree with (if I give an album or a new film two stars, or something, but they think I'm wrong and it should have had five stars) then they absolutely rip into me: calling me things like "s**g" and "s**t" and even "w***e". They are really misogynistic: they say that as a woman I have no right to be sharing my views on film, anyway.; or they call me "stupid" and "ignorant" and "an airhead". They say I'm "ugly" and worse. They even make nasty comments about my mental health and my hair and joke that I should "just kill myself".

I can't tell if it's one person who hates me and who keeps creating new profiles to make them seem like more people in total, or if it's a group of idiots who find it funny to call strangers names on the internet. But I'm actually losing sleep over it. It's really getting to me. It makes me want to give up on my zine altogether. How do I make it stop?

I'm so sorry for not keeping up with our book club as regularly as I should – blame it on being busy (and on our collective enthusiasm for so many diverse and interesting things that we simply have to talk about).

This month, I'm suggesting we all read I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman, which has this blurb on the back:

Deep underground, thirty-nine women live imprisoned in a cage. Watched over by guards, these women have no memory of how they got there, no notion of time and only vague recollections of their lives before. As the burn of electric light merges day into night and numberless years pass, a young girl – the fortieth prisoner – sits alone and outcast in the corner. But soon she will show herself to be the key to the others' escape and survival in the strange world that awaits them above.

Andrew's disgrace

Last week, I asked you whether you would be watching Melania Trump's new movie, Melania, which was released last week (and for a truly scathing review, read this: "The First Lady is a preening, scowling void of pure nothingness in this ghastly bit of propaganda..."). Ouch!

Here's what you said:

Interestingly, 2 per cent of you said you would wait for the reviews, first. But judging by the one above, the viewing figures aren't going to go up by much...

In our latest poll, click here to vote and tell me: Were you shocked by the latest photos of Prince Andrew?

I received a message this week relating to the bizarre furore that emerged some months ago, after a mother shopping with her teenage daughter in M&S was apparently "outraged" when a friendly assistant – who appeared to be trans – approached the pair and asked if they needed any help (a non-story intentionally whipped up to stoke the ongoing "culture wars", in my opinion, as I wrote at the time). Linda emailed in to say this:

I agree with your exasperation on this issue. As long as the person measuring me is trained, like having a cervical smear, I couldn't care less what sex they are or how they identify. And I'm almost 70.

And one of my regular, favourite readers Mick O'Hare wrote in to reflect on the fear that ICE agents could come to Britain, too (after I wrote this piece):

I guess this is only obliquely linked to your fears (and mine) about ICE and the frankly mind boggling fact that there are councillors here who would openly, shamelessly – and without any embarrassment – support what ICE are doing, but it struck me that one of the absolute ironies of Alex Pretti's murder is that Trump, Miller, Noem, Bovino (the whole MAGA rabble) are the very same people who spend inordinate amounts of time telling us that it is the constitutional right of every American to bear arms. And yet, when somebody who opposes their world view carries out that constitutional right he is considered a 'terrorist', despite – on the day of his death – neither drawing his weapon, nor indicating beforehand any intent to use it (which most terrorists do). Also obliquely, I understand that no guns are allowed into Trump's rallies. Why? Does he think they might be dangerous in some way? Surely of all the places in all the world, the one spot the Second Amendment should apply is at a Trump/MAGA rally. Utter hypocrisy.

THIS WEEK...

I'm trying out

The Galentine's menu at the Park Corner Brasserie in Park Lane, London, on the edge of Mayfair overlooking Hyde Park. They're doing a lovely-sounding Valentine's Menu (with lobster and linguine, of course) – plus a complimentary glass of rosé – but I am going with a woman I love: my friend Kat. Because friendship can be romantic, too! The last time we went out to eat in Mayfair together, we ended up walking for hours through London and through the park, reflecting on time we both spent, long ago, living in Japan. There's even a perfect Japanese word for it: natsukashii. It means a warm, yet melancholy longing for a happy (or bittersweet) memory of the past. 

I'm drinking

…in the dark. No, really: I'm heading out with a friend to try the Seeing Isn't Believing cocktail menu at a West London venue (the Revery Bar) that involves blindfolds and sensory exploration – ooh, err!

It all sounds a bit 50 Shades to me (but in a good way):

"On arrival, the couple are handed a blindfold to place across their eyes before being asked to make choices based on the feel and smell of the objects placed in their hands, as well as the voice of the bartenders. The bartender will then suggest a drink based on the answers."

I'll let you know next week what the Pornstar Martini smelled like…

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