How Could They?

This report will fuel the 'why-oh-why' and the 'out-of-touch' fans in the dimmer tabloids.

A Muslim extremist who burnt poppies on the anniversary of Armistice Day was today fined £50.

The penalty imposed on Emdadur Choudhury, a member of Muslims Against Crusades (MAC), was immediately condemned as an “insult to Britain’s war dead”.

The sentencer is not a proper magistrate like me, but rather the Chief Magistrate, Howard Riddle, a District Judge (Magistrates' Courts).

He sentenced the offence, not the offender, and came in at a tad below the fixed penalty for a Section 5, but unlike an FPN case there will have been costs and surcharge to pay.

It was a sensitive case, but I suspect that he may have been right in treating it on a par with any other gobby street yobbo. If someone is looking for martyrdom, there is a lot to be said for denying it to him. I have done the same myself in the past, and it still seems to have been a good idea.