In one, a paedophile who groomed young girls over the Internet and waited until they were over 13 to strike — thereby avoiding a life sentence — actually had his sentence increased on appeal. And the longer the better.

In the other, Big Brother finally gets what its producers have been waiting for since Day 1 — live sex between two of the housemates. Two teen housemates, this being Teen Big Brother.

Masquerading as a child to lure other children into sexual activity is rightly regarded as a crime. Masquerading as a responsible adult, and spending considerably more time, money and effort to get young people into a highly charged situation where there are very short odds indeed that some of them will Do It, is apparently acceptable.

Teen sex happens. Their bodies are ready for it, their minds and hearts generally aren't. (Yes, there are cultures in the world where teen marriage is the norm — look at Romeo & Juliet. I'm talking about today's western world, where sex is an adult-sized emotional load that should not be laid on people who are still emotionally children.) Teens who are or have been in sexual relationships, whether one-off, occasional or on-going, need a particular kind of affirmation. They need to be helped to find love and security that is first of all emotional. The more they try to get it physically, the more they'll find it doesn't work and the harder they will find it later on in life to have a successful, lasting adult relationship.

And what they so utterly do not need is to have their sexual activity put on display to an eagerly waiting world, like goldfish in a bowl. It may or may not have been the first time for either of them. Whichever it was, what do they now have to give to a future lifelong partner that is special, and unique, and hasn't already been put studied, analysed and gossiped about by the great viewing public?

A spokesman for Teen Big Brother says it was handled "tastefully". Which means, image-enhanced close-ups of a wriggling duvet. The most tasteful way to handle it would have been to show whatever was on one of the other channels at the time.

The Big Brother producers set the show up as "an experiment" and act as if that makes it acceptable. An experiment to do what, exactly? Anything that isn't covered by first year psychology students? Or an experiment to see how long before the sex happens? (Which is also covered by a lot of first year students on a more extra-curricular basis.)

The best that any adult can do with teenagers is to like them, respect them and treat them responsibly. Give it a few years and some truly rewarding adult friendships can develop as well. Sharing your own maturity and experience with a new generation is an immensely rewarding and satisfying pursuit.

Not one with which the producers of Big Brother are familiar, however. Forget the guff about these particular teenagers being 18. Legally it makes them adults and responsible for their own actions. Morally, the participants were as vulnerable as any other teens. The producers knew this and acted on it. Playing on another's weaknesses and vulnerabilities is abuse, pure and simple. The age doesn't matter. The Big Brother producers abused these young people, with malice aforethought. And it's just possible that ratings were near the front of their minds as well.