The problem with “hatred laws” is that if you start handing out prosecutions like sweets, there is a genuine possibility that you might end up giving the Bad Guys a propaganda coup. Case in point.

I had a horrible feeling this case was going to go badly months ago. Prosecuting someone for saying that a Muslim from somewhere in Northern England might end up setting off bombs in the UK, at a time when Muslims from Northern England have done precisely that, is not a very good idea. Proving the difference between incitement and fair comment is a legal minefield; such laws only really work as a deterrant, not as a tool for prosecuting bigots. And all too often they deter the wrong people.

Ultimately, the only solution to bigotry is to face it head-on, not try hiding behind laws which have unintended consequences.

Of course, it is good to see that the BNP are just a litigious and subsequently come a cropper too. It’s time to put an end to this socialist conformist attack on freedom of speech.