So what is the difference between Katie Price and 'Tommy Robinson'?
Among the overnight news we learn that celebrity Katie Price was arrested on arrival at Heathrow yesterday, 8 Aug, and remanded. She will appear at the Royal Courts of Justice today.
Why would this interest Searchlight, you may reasonably ask. She’s not a fascist, is she?
Indeed not. The former ’glamour’ model who rose to fame as ’Jordan’ of The Sun’s Page 3, has certainly led a colourful life, and has been in numerous scrapes, but we’re not suggesting that there’s anything remotely nazi about her.
No. What interests us is this: Price was busted for failing to appear at a court hearing related to her bankruptcy. A warrant had been issued at the time by companies court judge Catherine Burton, who said “It is in my judgment necessary that the court issue a warrant for Ms Price’s arrest. She has no real excuse in failing to attend today’s hearing.”
Thus Price returns from a trip to Turkey and is promptly arrested before she can even leave Heathrow Airport. Fair or not? It’s really not for us to say.
But let’s compare and contrast this with the position of Stephen Lennon, better known as the rather more dubious type of ’celebrity’ Tommy Robinson, a man widely regarded as one of the key hate-merchants responsible for ramping up the anger that boiled over into the present riots.
Lennon, too, has failed to attend a court hearing. His was in the High Court, and was supposed to settle the issue of whether he was in contempt of that same court, with a potential penalty of two years in prison. So, a very serious issue.
But on the eve of the hearing, Lennon fled the country via the Eurostar train, and has since been spotted sunning himself in Cyprus and then Greece. The judge at that fruitless High Court hearing, Mr Justice Johnson, also issued an arrest warrant but – and this is a significant ’but’ – delayed the activation of the warrant until October, when Lennon is next due in court.
The upshot of this is that if Lennon today flies into Heathrow, despite the fact that he has committed the same offence as Price in failing to appear in court with no reason tendered, he will not be arrested at all, because there is no active warrant to do so. Whereas Price was nicked more or less as her feet touched the ground.
Clearly Mr Justice Johnson cannot be expected to explain the decision of Judge Burton, nor Burton to justify Johnson. Each will have their own reasons for acting as they did. But viewed from the position of those of us outside the judiciary, it seems fair to ask whether different standards are being applied within our justice system – harsh ones for someone who owes the taxman a lot of money, and rather softer ones for a dangerous racist rabble-rouser.
Read more about 'Tommy Robinson' on the run here: https://t.co/tmqswPShzu
@uaf@AntiRacismDay
@RogueCoder250 The irony is this probably won't make it through to the demographic affected the most. In fact they'll continue to blame the Scottish gov, against all reason.
@Wilson34David@lleven2 It takes all of two seconds to tweet that. Plenty time for turkey and sherry... Yet here you are yourself crying about Charles' detractors. Cheer up David.
Another parking ticket for parking outside the Homeless Project Scotland building feeding 50,000 hot meals per month and feeding 112,000 people per year and the thanks is from @GlasgowCC ahhh a parking ticket