Well it’s now been a whole week since The Traitors finished and a feeling has been rumbling around my guts for a while. Note that it is a feeling in my guts, not a thought in my brain. For this is an emotional response to something that can no longer be ignored despite the protests of our leaders and law makers.

It is abundantly clear from The Traitors and all of the other research that people aren’t very good at telling if someone is lying and (this next bit is crucial) if people are involved at an emotional level in a narrative, especially one which is fuelled by abhorrence, they are even less likely to be able to tell if someone is lying. (Just read that last sentence again and consider it for a second).

There was even some research from America I read about which found flipping a coin produced a more accurate assessment of truthfulness than a person guessing.

And yet we have a system for deciding on someone’s guilt which, in some cases, relies on guess work and can conflict someone with no independent supporting forensic, physical, digital or documentary evidence at all.

At this point, I can imagine that I’ve lost some readers – you agreed with me until that last paragraph and then some of you instinctively wanted to argue against me. The problem for you, me and everyone in Scotland is that what I said is true.

I don’t want to share much about my case in such a public forum because I don’t want to be identified. However, please believe that nobody is safe from mistakes, misinterpretations, poor perceptions, lies, maliciousness, revenge or delusions.

I think the worst thing (other than being away from my daughter) is the absolute refusal for so many people to accept that wrongful convictions are possible. They seem to have fallen hook, line and sinker for the idea that “the truth will come out in court” and their total blind faith in the reliability of the Scottish legal system renders them impotent in terms of their decision making ability.

Maybe they are scared of the implication of a broken legal system but they need to realise they are correct to be scared. However, instead of burying their head in the sand, they need to put on their buy boy pants, stand tall and take a stand. They need to use the power of the pen to write to our leaders and they need to join with others and form a movement for change.

It is unacceptable and we need our leaders to know that it has reached scandalous proportions. Nobody is safe, not your husband, daughter, neighbour and not you.

NaN.