Lucy Connolly, Bob Vylan and the False Claims of a 'Two Tier Justice System'
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I would wager that most of the people currently hammering on their keyboards about the punishment that should be meted out to, in no particular order, the BBC, Bob Vylan and the organisers of Glastonbury, probably didn't actually catch the set by the London based punk/rap duo, in which, during the course of their performance they led the crowd in a chant of 'death, death to the IDF'.
Nevertheless, Culture Secretary, Lisa Nandy, was so outraged that she was prompted to the despatch box to declare that the comments were 'appalling and unacceptable,' and stating that the BBC had questions to answer over its decision to broadcast.
Head of Ofcom, Baroness Smith, seemed to agree with Nandy, and accused the group of 'definitely inciting racial hatred.' Meanwhile, Chris Philp, the Conservative Shadow Home Secretary, decided to wade in by linking the performance of the duo to the case of Lucy Connolly, the wife of Conservative Counsellor who was jailed for 31 months after pleading guilty to the offence of inciting racial hatred.
He also added his inevitable attack on the integrity of the BBC and the Prime Minister, saying about Bob Vylan, that 'he (sic), should be arrested and prosecuted immediately, ' and a failure to do so, would be a clear example of the 'two tier justice system under Kier Starmer.'
Not surprisingly, as a result of these expressions of outrage and opprobrium, Avon and Somerset Police have been inundated with people claiming that they were offended by Bob Vylan, and wished to make a complaint, leading to the appointment of a Detective Constable to investigate the matter with a view to possible criminal charges.
So, let's dissect some of these points - first, what crime, if any, have Bob Vylan potentially committed?
The Axel Rudakubana Southport Murder 'Cover Up' Conspiracy Theories Debunked
Despite what you may have read in parts of the media, this case showed our criminal justice system is as objective and robust as ever, argues lawyer Gareth Roberts
Gareth Roberts
The Allegations
As far as I can see, there can only be three potential avenues open for a prosecution and none of them would be particularly attractive to any would be prosecutor - first, is the possible offence of making a threat to kill contrary to S.16 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 - for someone to be guilty of this, they must have made a threat to kill, and I suppose, shouting 'death' to someone, might tick this box. However, they will need to have made the threat with the intention of that person believing that the threat would be carried out. The idea that over in Israel the IDF would have genuinely believed that a not particularly significant punk band and an audience of (I'm told) about 200 new age hippies were going to kill them, is a little fa
Packed with exclusive investigations, analysis, and features
SUBSCRIBE TODAY
I would wager that most of the people currently hammering on their keyboards about the punishment that should be meted out to, in no particular order, the BBC, Bob Vylan and the organisers of Glastonbury, probably didn't actually catch the set by the London based punk/rap duo, in which, during the course of their performance they led the crowd in a chant of 'death, death to the IDF'.
Nevertheless, Culture Secretary, Lisa Nandy, was so outraged that she was prompted to the despatch box to declare that the comments were 'appalling and unacceptable,' and stating that the BBC had questions to answer over its decision to broadcast.
Head of Ofcom, Baroness Smith, seemed to agree with Nandy, and accused the group of 'definitely inciting racial hatred.' Meanwhile, Chris Philp, the Conservative Shadow Home Secretary, decided to wade in by linking the performance of the duo to the case of Lucy Connolly, the wife of Conservative Counsellor who was jailed for 31 months after pleading guilty to the offence of inciting racial hatred.
He also added his inevitable attack on the integrity of the BBC and the Prime Minister, saying about Bob Vylan, that 'he (sic), should be arrested and prosecuted immediately, ' and a failure to do so, would be a clear example of the 'two tier justice system under Kier Starmer.'
Not surprisingly, as a result of these expressions of outrage and opprobrium, Avon and Somerset Police have been inundated with people claiming that they were offended by Bob Vylan, and wished to make a complaint, leading to the appointment of a Detective Constable to investigate the matter with a view to possible criminal charges.
So, let's dissect some of these points - first, what crime, if any, have Bob Vylan potentially committed?
The Axel Rudakubana Southport Murder 'Cover Up' Conspiracy Theories Debunked
Despite what you may have read in parts of the media, this case showed our criminal justice system is as objective and robust as ever, argues lawyer Gareth Roberts
Gareth Roberts
The Allegations
As far as I can see, there can only be three potential avenues open for a prosecution and none of them would be particularly attractive to any would be prosecutor - first, is the possible offence of making a threat to kill contrary to S.16 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 - for someone to be guilty of this, they must have made a threat to kill, and I suppose, shouting 'death' to someone, might tick this box. However, they will need to have made the threat with the intention of that person believing that the threat would be carried out. The idea that over in Israel the IDF would have genuinely believed that a not particularly significant punk band and an audience of (I'm told) about 200 new age hippies were going to kill them, is a little fa
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