Pirate's Cove

Remember this guy from back in January? It’s so nice for the UK Guardian to give this gent, Paul Chambers, a chance to vent his whine

My tweet was silly, but the police reaction was absurd: For one joke on Twitter I’ve had my civil liberties trampled on, and have now got a criminal record

Uh huh. Silly. I bet he wouldn’t think it silly if someone threatened to blow up his house with his family in it.

The vast majority of us like to consider ourselves decent people. We pay our taxes, hold doors open for others, stay out of trouble, that kind of thing. I certainly thought of myself this way, a 26-year-old man trying to forge a career and get on with life. So when I was arrested on 13 January at work by four police officers, it came as a bit of a shock.

The vast majority of us do not threaten to blow up an airport, Paul.

The reason for the arrest was a tweet I had posted on the social network Twitter, which was deemed to constitute a bomb threat against Robin Hood airport in Doncaster: “Crap! Robin Hood airport is closed. You’ve got a week and a bit to get your shit together otherwise I’m blowing the airport sky high!” You may say, and I certainly realise now, it was ill-advised. But it was clearly frustration, caused by heavy snowfall grounding flights and potentially scuppering my own flight a week later. Like having a bad day at work and stating that you could murder your boss, I didn’t even think about whether it would be taken seriously.

Riiiiiiiight. Because being upset is a good reason to make a material threat, Paul.

Anyhow, the rest of the plaintive “oh woes me!” story by Paul is about how he was mortified to be treated like a criminal, he was convicted, has to pay lots of money, now has a criminal record, and is terrified!

Whatever happens now, I remain terrified. Terrified of speaking my mind, terrified that my life has potentially been ruined. Most of the authorities could see it for what it was, and yet I find myself with a conviction because the Crown Prosecution Service decided it was in the public interest to prosecute. It would appear we live in such a hyper-sensitive world that we cannot engage in hyperbole, however misguided, without having civil liberties trampled on by, at best, heavy-handed police.

Or, you can just refrain from jokes about blowing up airports, which was pretty much verboten for over 50 years.

And, oh, those big ole’ meany police

I would have fully accepted the police coming to my house to question me; it would have taken all of five minutes to realise what had happened. I would have learned my lesson and no taxpayer money would have been wasted on a frivolous prosecution. I have had some very dark days, and my family has been put through the wringer, because I made one silly joke.

So, it’s not his fault for all that happened, it is the fault of everyone else. Liberal World at its finest. As I wrote in my previous post on this “Surely, Chambers was just kidding, and thought it would be amusing to make that Tweet. The people who work security at the airport didn’t know that. They aren’t mind readers. They HAVE to take threats seriously.”

The only person who brought this on himself was Chambers. No one made him drop that Tweet. Man up, Paul, except responsibility, understand that you f*cked up, and we can all move on.