Dominique Strauss-Kahn should have listened to my father

Dominique Strauss-Kahn

Dominique Strauss-Kahn is said to have reached a settlement with Naffisatou Diallo, the New York housemaid who claimed that he had forced her to perform oral sex and tried to rape her whilst she was cleaning his room at the New York Sofitel where he was staying on 14 May 2011. He was charged with various sexual offences and was subsequently forced to resign in disgrace from his position as head of the IMF. The affair also wrecked his political career and he and his wife, Anne Sinclair, finally separated.

The deal was announced yesterday and details of it, including the amount that Strass-Kahn would have to pay, were said to have been made subject to a confidentiality agreement. However, Le Figaro reports this morning that Le Monde will allege in an article to be published tomorrow that the agreed amount is $6 million (€4.6 million.)

Le Monde will also allege that Strauss-Kahn will be forced to take out a $3 million loan to pay half of the sum, with the rest being lent to him by Anne Sinclair. The settlement will put an end to all ongoing legal proceedings in the case.

This sad and sordid affair may thus be drawing to a close and as it does so I am reminded of a conversation I had with my father when I was 12 years old. I explained to him that although I had a 'serious girlfriend' at the time I had also met another girl who I liked very much, and I asked the following question;

"Do you think it's okay for me to have two girlfriends at once?" His reply came instantly, and I have never forgotten it.

"Listen son, it's already difficult enough to have a relationship with just one woman, so you have got to be stark staring bonkers to want two."

He was right of course, as Dominique Strauss-Kahn has now found out to his enormous cost.