“You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you do not mention, when questioned, something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence”. Have we been there? Of course not! If we had, just like in the movies, we would probably come out with the standard “No comment”. That will be the safer option, will it not? We think it is the safest, easiest, smartest (smuggest), wisest, best response – “no comment!”
Of course, “No comment” clearly implies (but does not prove) a number of things. It implies guilt on our part; it implies we are hiding something and usually that means that we have done something wrong (though perhaps we are simply trying to protect someone else). After all, if we are innocent, why would we not say? And even if we are innocent but for the fun of it choose not to say anything, we might be considered to be perverting the course of justice. “No comment” also implies that we might get angry and therefore regret what we might say in the heat of the moment. It implies the thinking that “the least said the better”; we must not give any information that is not requested. It implies we are lazy; can we just get this over quickly, please? Do we have anything to say about that?
It is not just the police that ask probing questions; nowadays members of the press will try to grill people, be they politicians, celebrities or sports stars, with statements that might appear accusatory. At the end of a sports match, the reporter may ask “Did you think that was a penalty?”, hoping that the manager or player will respond in such a manner that may get them into trouble for having claimed it was. It is safer for them to say “No comment”, which the pundits will then turn into proof that the manager seriously questions the referee (although, all the while, it may simply be that the manager has the common sense to know that whether he thinks it was a penalty or not has no relevance or impact to the game – it is, in fact, a ridiculous question!)
In golf, it is always said that “there is no comment column on the scorecard”; in other words, the score is all that matters. Matt Fitzpatrick recently won the RBC Heritage golf tournament, when he had a birdie on one hole after his tee shot was heading for the woods but hit the edge of the golf cart track and took a huge bounce back into play, landing on the green, though even there his ball was heading for the water until a sprinkler unit slowed its progress down and stopped it just in time. He then sank a long putt of thirty feet for a birdie (while another player may have hit a perfect drive to within three feet of the hole and tapped the ball in for the same score). He did admit it was lucky – but, really, what else could he say? However, the fact was that on the scorecard, it was simply two shots, a birdie, counting the same as any other perfectly executed birdie on that round (of which there were seven others, for the record!). No comment! No description of the way it happened.
We like to use the fact that there is no “comment” column on our golf card to underline that the result is all that matters. It does not matter if it was a fluke or we cheated, we like to believe that the result speaks for itself. We will imagine that we played the perfect hole when the score is low. However, in truth, especially in school sport, it is vitally important that there is a “comment” column alongside the results. School sport is primarily about learning, so we must welcome comments to help us. Constructive comment is necessary. However, certain other features need to be understood.
For there to be a comment, there first has to be content; we need to review what has happened as well as both why and how. Equally, there has to be a context; we need to be able to analyse and determine reasons why we won or lost, why the ball went offline before it hit a rock (the wind may have played a part). Furthermore, there has to be a contest for a comment to be required. All of those must be behind the comment that we will come up with.
But remember, when things go well, we will always have time for comment (though much of such comments will not be all that considered or objective); it is hard to keep people quiet in such circumstances. So, finally, a lot has been said here as evidence which we hope has been helpful for the defence of our claim that comment is necessary if children are to learn. No comment? No chance! Let them comment to give them a chance.
- In Full: Nineteenth post-cabinet press briefing: July 05, 2022
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