Whisper in the Corner

 

 

“The women’s suffrage movement is only the small edge of the wedge. If we allow women to vote it will mean the loss of social structure and the rise of every liberal cause under the sun. Women are well represented by their fathers, brothers and husbands.”  Winston Churchill

The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill which is being voted on in Parliament today proposes a maximum sentence of ten years for vandalising a statue. Sentence length will be determined by the statue’s “emotional symbolic value.”

The Bill goes on to propose a minimum four years sentence for serious sexual offences and to outlaw protests causing “serious unease” and/or “serious annoyance”.

“Unease” and “annoyance” are value loaded words and would elicit entirely opposite responses from Home Secretary, Priti Patel and Clapham resident, Patsy Stevenson, as would what people think of the Churchill statue’s “emotional symbolic value.”

Liberty claims the Bill “threatens protest” with human rights lawyer, Kenan Malik, warning that it the Bill is voted into law our right to protest will be reduced to “whispering in the corner.”

And Churchill’s statue gets better protection than Patsy Stevenson.