Writing in
today's issue of the
right wing newspaper the
Daily Telegraph,
left wing playwright David Hare draws attention to the case of 59-year-old
Lindis Percy, a grandmother who was convicted of
disorderly behaviour and fined £200. Her crime? To go to
RAF Feltwell - actually a
US deep-and-near-space tracking station - hold up an
American flag with the additional
legend '
Stop Star Wars', drop the same, and stand on it.
American gate guards testified that they had been
offended and brought
close to tears by the sight of, er, a middle-aged lady standing on a bit of cloth.
'It was hard ... to take this new offence of Making Grown Americans Weep seriously.' - David Hare
Under section 10 of the
Human Rights Act, every citizen has the right to
freedom of speech, expression and assembly. Clearly upsetting Americans is not covered here.
David Hare reports, in passing, that the US
Supreme Court recently ruled that the
Old Glory can in fact be defaced freely in the USA. I'd be grateful if someone can furnish details of this ruling. In any case, it doesn't protect British citizens.