Is Nothing Sacred?

The success of Hamit Coskun’s appeal is a good result against the Public Order Act 1986. Who was the Prime Minister in 1986? A couple of years later, her supporters wanted to use that very Act to prosecute people who had set fire to copies of The Satanic Verses.

As for a blasphemy law, there was one in England and Wales until 2008, there was one in Scotland until 2024 (that’s right, last year), and there is one in Northern Ireland to this day. And as for the bandwagon-jumping Robert Jenrick, he was in the room to hear it, so how does he explain this ruling by Mr Justice Bennathan, who was appointed to the Bench, not only in the usual way, but from Doughty Street Chambers?

At least Jenrick has so far been otherwise engaged today, sparing us his view of the appointment of David Chaplin as Director of Communications at Ofcom. “Labour Government Appoints Labour Supporter” is not much of a headline. If the last lot did not fill these positions with its own people, and a lot of us would dispute that there was any such negligence, then that was the last lot’s own stupid fault.