THE TELEGRAPH – BLOG: As historical analysis goes, I’m not sure it’s quite up there with Carr or Elton. According to Pauline Howe, the “perverted sexual practises” of “sodomites” were responsible for “the downfall of every empire”. I always thought the British Empire fell because of the exhaustion caused by the First World War, or specifically the fall of Singapore in World War 2, or perhaps the rise of Third World nationalism and American pressure. Maybe I was wrong and it was all down to Greek “practises”.
Still, whether or not one agrees with Mrs Howe’s radical revisionist history, or her objecting to the Norwich Gay Pride march (a phrase that personally fills me with crushing ennui, rather than any moral objection), Norfolk Constabulary’s decision to treat is as a “hate incident” is deeply sinister.
This is by no means the first incident of its kind – several people, all Christians (generally Evangelicals) have been questioned by the police over objecting to homosexuality. It is a part of a wider trend of illiberalism across Europe that has taken place in the past decade, starting with Holocaust denial laws and in Britain reaching its nadir (so far) with the Racial and Religious Hatred Act of 2006, one of the most illiberal laws concerning religion since the days when men with buckles on their hats ruled the law.
This soft totalitarianism does not come with gulags or death camps, but rather the petty harassment of individuals by the authorities. Its victim include countryside campaigner Robin Page, arrested for saying he wanted the same rights as a “black vegetarian Muslim asylum-seeking one-legged lesbian lorry driver”. Or Codie Stott, a 14-year-old schoolgirl who was arrested because she did not want to sit at a table with three girls who were speaking Urdu. Or the taxpayers of Wales, who forked out the £3,800 that police spent investigating “anti-Welsh” remarks by Anne Robinson.
Mike Judge of the Christian Institute, the group helping Mrs Howe, says: “Whether people agree or disagree with Mrs Howe’s views, everyone who cares about freedom should be alarmed at the police action.” Read on and comment here >>> Ed West | Monday, October 26, 2009
