Taking Time Out...

Image by philm1310 (Pixabay)

I did have posts ready for today and tomorrow, and one almost ready for Tuesday, but I’ve decided to take some time out.

I’ve been following a couple of court cases here in the UK – nothing to do with me personally, but which do affect us – both of which had their verdicts delivered today. In a nutshell, they were both to do with the right to freedom of expression.

One, which involved a man, upheld that right, finding the police had unlawfully interfered with his right to freedom of expression.

The other, which involved a woman, found her guilty; the judge was entirely satisfied her intent and purpose were one and the same, to cause annoyance or anxiety with her tweets.

True, her tweets were uncivil, but nothing like the vitriol that flies around Twitter and other social media platforms on a regular basis. Certainly, nothing to warrant being arrested and taken to court.

On the one hand, I personally take that as curtailing her right to freedom of expression.

On the other, how many of us are subject to words that cause ‘annoyance or anxiety’? How did that become a criminal offence? And shouldn’t we, especially women, be bombarding the police and the courts with countless cases of said offence, which we’re subjected to not just in person but also online?

I’m glad that the right to freedom of expression has been upheld. Yet, within minutes of that decision, the woman has been denied her right to freedom of expression.

In light of that, it doesn’t feel right to post what I’d prepared; it feels too frivolous.

I’m going to stop dithering… the man is Harry Miller, and the woman is Kate Scottow. And I stand with both of them.