After serving 40 per cent of her 31-month sentence, Lucy Connolly walked free from prison on Thursday morning.
Remember Lucy? She was found guilty of sending hate crime tweets in the immediate aftermath of the Southport attacks last year, in which three little girls were murdered and others stabbed and injured at a Taylor Swift dance class.
A wave of violence and civil unrest swept across the country following this horrific incident, fuelled by the erroneous belief that an asylum seeker was the culprit. It was ugly, it was shaming, it was this country at its very worst.
That is one reason why I can’t entirely join in the righteous chorus that sees Lucy as a wholly innocent martyr, wronged because she happens to be the white wife of a Conservative councillor, held up as an example of two-tier sentencing, in which those of Right-wing views are punished more severely than those on the Left.
That argument does have merit, but it does not excuse her words, reprinted here: ‘Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f****** hotels full of the bastards for all I care . . . if that makes me racist so be it.’
Well Lucy, it very much does make you a racist – and in the eyes of the law, a racist issuing a clear incitement to race-based violence, at that. The judge had little choice but to send Mrs Connolly to prison and did not accept her pleas or psychiatric reports that losing a young child herself many years ago had motivated her response.
She may have understood the grief of the bereaved Southport parents all too well, but instead of sending a message of comfort and support, she sent an incitement to hatred.
Yet was this woman really such a danger to the public that she had to spend a year behind bars? A wife, a mother to a 12-year-old child, a woman of previously unblemished record? I’ve seen worse things sprayed on walls and heard more incendiary words chanted at football matches and sung at pop concerts.
If Lucy Connolly was sent to prison, why weren’t the members of Bob Vylan, the rap group who chanted ‘death, death to the IDF’ at Glastonbury on June 28? If that doesn’t glorify violence and hatred, what does? writes Jan Moir
Connolly used her new-found freedom to walk her dogs near her home in Northampton
Consider that, for example, three men who pleaded guilty to violent disorder in Hull following the attacks were given similar sentences to Lucy Connolly – two and a half years each.
Their crimes included rioting in the streets, throwing missiles at the police and seriously injuring at least one officer. Is ‘thinking’ bad thoughts really the same as ‘doing’ bad things? Is tweeting (and then deleting) really as criminal as throwing a lighted rubbish bin at police officers?
And if Lucy Connolly was sent to prison, why weren’t the members of Bob Vylan, the rap group who chanted ‘death, death to the IDF’ at Glastonbury on June 28? If that doesn’t glorify violence and hatred, what does? Connolly’s tweet was seen by 300,000 people, whereas this performance was broadcast live by the BBC to an audience of millions.
Yes, a criminal investigation has been launched into Bob Vylan’s performance, but no charges have yet been made. In comparison, Mrs Connolly was arrested eight days after sending her tweet, charged four days later and found herself in court within five weeks. To use an ancient legal term that I have just made up, pedes eius terram non tetigerunt. Her feet didn’t touch the ground.
For it seems clear that in the court of fashionable public opinion Lucy Connolly was also found guilty of the secret crime of wrongthink – in this case failing to support the belief that all asylum seekers and illegal migrants who enter the UK are angelic innocents who need and deserve love and support along with free healthcare and education for life, all funded by British taxpayers.
People are getting fed up of the asylum situation – and you can’t blame them. The brutish ripples of discontent across society are getting deeper and nastier, while this Government seems incapable of doing anything to resolve matters.
Not everyone went to the lengths Lucy Connolly did, and her tweet was an example of how some believe they can dredge up the most horrible thoughts from the darkest corners of their minds and put it out there on social media without repercussion or responsibility – but does her punishment fit the crime?
Look at former Labour councillor Ricky Jones, who called for far-Right activists’ throats to be cut at an anti-racism rally in Walthamstow, north-east London, last year.
Last week, at Snaresbrook Crown Court, he was found not guilty by a jury of encouraging violent disorder. He said his remarks were never intended ‘to be taken literally by anyone’.
How can that possibly be a defence? It certainly didn’t work for Lucy Connolly, who after pleading guilty, was promptly banged up for behaviour which many would see as much less provocative. Perhaps it is not what you do that matters, but who you support that counts.
Listen. I’ve been the victim of tweet-based violence myself, from a man who took to Twitter to welcome my death and encouraged others to push me ‘under a train’.
Why isn’t he in jail for this noxious thoughtcrime? Simply because he is not a dim childminder from Northampton, he is Health Secretary Wes Streeting. So a different set of rules apply.
I have the same instinct, Sharon
Sharon Stone and I have much in common, oh yes, we do. She doesn’t much like the idea of an anti-woke reboot of Basic Instinct and neither do I.
‘Go ahead, but good f****** luck,’ she said to the producers of the proposed Basic Instinct 3, while declining to reprise her role as pervy novelist Catherine Tramell. Stone added that she was at the stage in her career where she had ‘retired at least once and already died a couple of times’. Same here.
Sharon Stone doesn’t much like the idea of an anti-woke reboot of Basic Instinct and neither do I
Anyway, how could a new Basic Instinct be more outrageous? The original film had a serial killer who was a lesbian – that would never be permitted today. Neither would Michael Douglas be allowed to run around without underpants and promise Catherine a future in which they would ‘f*** like minks’ together, forgive me.
The Mink Marketing Board has already raised their objections, saying it stigmatises their members as sex-obsessed aquatic hooligans. Obviously weasels have a bad name, but everyone knows it is otters who are the real rotters.
Stone said this week: ‘I’m like, “What are you gonna do? Kill me again? Go ahead.”‘ I feel her pain, I really do.
Time for Granny to go on strike? (or a cruise)
Spanish grandparents are revolting. They are fed-up of looking after their grandchildren, providing free childcare round the clock to ungrateful little nietas and nietos. ‘We are Not Your Slaves,’ was the headline in a Spanish newspaper this week.
Quite right, too. I have friends and relatives who are grandparents and their entire lives seem to be a cheerless carousel of kiddy pick-ups and drop-offs, while wiping pureed mango from little Alfie’s chin. Grandma and Grandpa should be on Caribbean cruises! Learning how to tango and paint watercolours while steaming through their children’s inheritance. They should be enjoying the last evening of life before the final sunset; not going through the stress of child rearing the second time around.
Although not everyone is so dutiful. Recent research shows that heavy drinking, attending political protests and STDs are all on the increase among the over 60s in the UK. Now, that’s a bit more like it.
Irish rail has released new etiquette guidelines for people using their trains to try to make journeys ‘as enjoyable as possible’ for everyone on board.
I feel sorry for the staff who must try to impose these rules, including bans on listening to music and watching videos without earphones, vaping and – worst of all – putting feet or bags on empty seats.
Train staff will have the power to issue penalties of €100, but will the public comply? And will it ever be adopted and implemented here? People are just so difficult these days. Nobody can tell anybody what to do, even if they are in the wrong.
On a GWR train recently I watched a kindly and scrupulously polite guard try to remove a passenger who was in the first-class carriage without a ticket. ‘I’m feeling threatened!’ the man kept screaming. ‘You’re increasing my anxiety levels.’
We were all feeling anxious by the time he was booted off at Swindon. But is it right for the burden of this bad behaviour to be absorbed by train staff? And really – no feet on seats? How I pray for that day.
Your starter for ten: why is a smart woman ‘obnoxious’?
Carenza Danko’s confident performance on University Challenge sparked criticism from some corners of the internet
There have been shrill complaints about the ‘obnoxious’ behaviour of contestant Carenza Danko on University Challenge. As captain of the Cardiff University team, Carenza was wonderful! She was bold, assertive, decisive and not afraid of responsibility. Someone had to take charge of the hopeless hairies who were her teammates – and biochemistry student Carenza rose to the challenge magnificently.
What kind of people were complaining about her? Perhaps the kind of men who only like women when they are serving cold beer in a bikini and laughing at all their jokes. Serving up her smarts in a woolly jumper, Carenza was a class act. She is also a leading light in the university’s amdram club and I bet it’s not the last we hear of her.
Miss KFC’s recipe for a good life
Hundreds turned out in Taunton for the funeral of Pauline Richards, who had worked at the local branch of KFC for 47 years.
The great-grandmother was the global fast-food company’s longest-serving worker and was known locally as Miss KFC. Her hearse even made a final stop at the outlet at the bottom of East Street en route to her funeral.
Pauline Richards’ funeral procession passed by the KFC in Taunton where she had worked for 47 years
Pauline may have kicked the Bargain Bucket, but how lovely to see how much affection and respect the local community had for her. She was just an ordinary woman doing an ordinary job, but was much loved for her kindness and good service. ‘Mum always taught us to give people your care and time,’ said her children. There are business moguls and billionaires who will never enjoy such a rich and special send off. RIP Pauline.
