Free speech and satsumas

The government is being petitioned to get rid of Section Five of the 1986 Public Order Act, which effectively makes it a crime to be rude to anyone. David Davis is one of the MPs who is fighting for a repeal; so too, from other quarters, the Peter Tatchell Foundation, the National Secular Society and the Christian Institute. Some of you may disagree with this, but I find that Tatchell is usually on the side of the morally just.

It is very hard to find people who think the law IS a good thing. As you might expect, Zoe Williams comes close, in the Guardian this morning. However, the best she can come up with, as an example of why we might need such a law, is this fabulous quote from an unnamed woman who was insulted, she says, whilst she was exercising. As Zoe explains:

‘A woman doing tai chi in a park said: “Someone yelled: ‘Nurse, prick my boil’, and threw a satsuma at me.”’