The media need to stop deeming everything a hate crime

There was a news report on BBC South East last week expressing outrage that two people had not been arrested and charged for posting allegedly ‘homophobic’ comments on Twitter about the gay fans of the football club Brighton and Hove Albion. The reporter was incensed that charges had not been brought and the miscreants duly banged up. She harangued some poor copper who patiently explained that, under the circumstances, there might have been better ways of dealing with this incident than referral to the courts.

I ought to point out that the miscreants were aged 15 and 16 years old; the police simply had a word with the parents. But the dumb mutt of a reporter wouldn’t have it and next interviewed some representative of an anti-homophobia lobbying group who insisted that the police inaction sent out the wrong messages, etc.

I dunno what the kids said — no doubt it was something crude and not accurate of all gay people, or all players, supporters and staff of Brighton. But courts? When will we regain a sense of perspective on this sort of stuff? When will the media – especially the BBC — stop demanding that everyone in the country be charged with some sort of hate crime?