Words Have Consequences

Conservative councillor Gareth Compton has learned this week that anything you say on a public forum like Twitter can have drastic consequences. Reacting to some anti-Cameron comments on Radio 5 Live by Yasmin Alibhai Brown he tweeted this...

A Radio 5 listener reported him to the Police and he was subsequently arrested, then released yesterday on bail. The Daily Mail reports Yasmin Alibhai-Brown's reaction...

Mrs Alibhai-Brown said the ­barrister’s behaviour was ‘crazy’ in the light of the recent conviction for attempted murder of Muslim ­student Roshonara Choudhary for stabbing MP Stephen Timms.

The journalist, who has written for the Daily Mail, said she regarded the comments as incitement to murder and added that the reference to stoning inferred that they were racially motivated. She pledged to support any prosecution and said the matter had upset her teenage
daughter.

She said: ‘I don’t use Twitter but my daughter does . . . she had seen the message, but she kept it from me so as not to alarm me. It has really scared us. You just don’t do things like this. It’s incitement.’

I would argue that all parties have severely overreacted here, and all been very unwise. Mr Compton's tweet was ill considered and stupid. The wording suggests that it was not meant to be taken seriously, but knowing how easily words can be misinterpreted on the internet, it was an idiotic thing for an elected politician to write. We all have to realise that what we say or write can have consequences.

But the reaction of the Police has been over the top too. Did this really warrant an arrest, when it must have been clear from talking to Mr Compton that the tweet was not meant seriously? Wouldn't a quiet word ending up with 'make sure you don't do it again' been sufficient?

And it is also arguable that Yasmin Alibhai-Brown's reaction has been (some would say typically) over the top too. However, in this case I think we need to understand the reason for her reaction. As readers know, I know her quite well. On countless occasions over the last eight years she has told me of the abuse she suffers on the internet and she finds it incredibly upsetting. She regularly receives what appear to be serious threats to kill or maim her or her family.

Guido's view seems to be that this is the sort of thing you just have to accept if you put your head above the parapet of public life. I agree with him to the extent that we all have to put up with unwarranted abuse, but when it comes to threatening lives I think we all need to draw a line. I've gone to the police on only one occasion, not because I felt my life was being threatened, but because of a persistent case of what I felt to be stalking, which culminated in series of 40 phone calls in one evening and a use of the phrase "I know where you live" or something similar. We all reach a point where we think 'enough is enough' and I don't blame Yasmin for reacting in the way she did, even if the rest of us can see that the culprit didn't actually mean what he was saying. Those of us who have been there can empathise in a way that no one who hasn't been on the receiving end of sustained threats can.

This case is similar to that of Paul Chambers who lost his appeal yesterday. He had been convicted of “menace” after tweeting about blowing up an airport - “Crap! Robin Hood airport is closed. You’ve got a week and a bit to get your shit together otherwise I’m blowing the airport sky high!” Again, the legal reaction could be said to be completely OTT, but it again provides a real lesson to us all.

Words have consequences.

UPDATE: Tom Harris is less than impressed by Yasmin's arguments.

Yasmin: The Right Has Crushed the Left

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown reckons the left is dead as a political force and thinks she will be "pushing up the daisies" before it reasserts itself again.

The sun now rises on the right and those of us on the other side are left despondent as we anticipate a prolonged winter of discontent. We, who believe in fairness, equality, human rights and universal justice, are of no consequence. The fever of failure consumes our hopes and there is no relief as we witness the collapse of the British Left and the ideals that defined post-war advancement in this country, turning an obstinately class-riven, imperial nation into a model of progressive politics.

Local election results show the country lurching right, in some parts even embracing the BNP. Instead of condemning the scum, Britons are instructed to "understand" why these voters are "driven" to vote for neo-Nazis. We are simultaneously warned to show no such understanding of young Muslims who are seduced by hate-filled Imams. White resentment of "foreigners" is no more respectable than Muslim hatred of Westerners. Yet in our unequal world it is.

So Yasmin wants us to understand less and condemn more - only when it comes to the BNP of course. Do you spot an inconsistency there? She is also very wrong in her analysis of the local election results. The local election results do not show a lurch to the right, they show a lurch to the Conservatives away from Labour. That does not constitute a lurch to the right. But Yasmin surpasses herself in this next extract...

Almost more depressing is the sight of black and Asian Britons following the wind blowing the Tories to victory. Boris has recruited Afro Caribbean "leaders" who believe in physical chastisement and smart young Asians who deny the existence of racism and want an end to political correctness. The more old-fashioned Uncle Toms and their female equivalents are now expediently making themselves known to the Tories and right-wing think tanks.

The use of the phrase 'Uncle Tom' is astonishing. We all know what it means, and that's what she is calling the likes of Shaun Bailey, Kulveer Ranger, Shailesh Vara, Ray Lewis and many more. What a terrible thing to say. But it gets worse.

For reasons I have yet to fathom, two weeks ago, I was invited to address a meeting at the House of Lords organised by the Conservative Muslim Forum. The room was full and the discussion on Muslim women lively. Many there were previously New Labour acolytes; others were young and ambitious and now devoted to the charismatic Cameron. To see such enthusiasm for a party whose members have always opposed our presence on these shores was a wake-up slap. All over now. The right has crushed the left.

I could hardly believe what I was reading. Which party was it that welcomed Ugandan Asians into this country in the early 1970s? Yes, of course, there was a small element of the Conservative Party which opposed any immigration at all - just as there was in the Labour Party (witness the London dockers' marches in support of Enoch Powell).

You can read the full article HERE. I know Yasmin provokes a lot of you, but please keep your language temperate if you are going to comment.

Lefties at War

We've justed started a new show on 18 Doughty Street called CROSSTALK. Each week Yasmin Alibhai-Brown and I grill one person - me from the right, she from the left. The clip above is from the programme we will be showing tomorrow (Thursday) evening at 8pm. We had Nick Cohen on, who has written a book attacking the left for failing to stand up for freedom. As you'll see in this clip, I didn't need to say much! Yasmin's firey attacks on Nick were repelled with equal vigour. Believe me, it's worth tuning in for tomorrow.

The Sunday AM Blogging Feature

This is the nine minute feature on blogging which was shown on Andrew Marr's SUNDAY AM programme. There's a four minute film explaining blogging from News24's Technology Correspondent Spencer Kelly, followed by a lively five minute discussion between me and Yasmin Alibhai-Brown.