The Oldie

The MPs’ guide to whips and prostitutes

Flagellation has never really been a big thing with me.

In fact, it's never been ‘a thing’ at all. I did go to a boys’ boarding school back in the early 1960s, but my kindly parents chose it specifically because the headmaster did not believe in beatings.

In the 2010s, when Fifty Shades of Grey appeared and became the fastestselling paperback of all time, I heard it was about BDSM (bondage/discipline, dominance/submission) and thought I had better read it.

I did. It's not very well written and, as

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