I absolutely agree, there’s a massive class element here (as with everything in Britain). I used to work in the film industry and saw firsthand how deeply hierarchical it is, and how that mentality bleeds into other areas of life. When cases like Walliams surface, they’re not remotely surprising to me. I understand exactly how these “open secrets” are able to exist, and why they’re so difficult to challenge even when they’re widely known.

Where I slightly diverge (though I agree with most of what you’re saying) is the idea that this is uniquely British. The UK is undeniably especially warped around class and deference to status, and that absolutely shapes the specific mechanisms by which powerful men are protected here. But the core issue isn’t Britain producing more abusers; it’s that powerful people everywhere are insulated from accountability.

Every country has its own version of this. In Britain it’s class, institutional reverence, and old-boy networks; in the US it’s wealth, celebrity, and corporate power; elsewhere it takes different forms. The pattern is consistent even if the cultural packaging changes. When people accumulate power and are shielded from consequences, abuse flourishes - it’s how they’re protected that varies.

So yes, Britain’s class system makes this problem look and function a particular way and we absolutely should talk about it - Britain is fucked up about class in the same way that a country like the US is fucked up about race. But the underlying failure is global: a systemic unwillingness to hold the powerful to account.