Power to the wrinklies - and Rev Sue Parfitt

It's only been a matter of a few weeks since the leader of Hamas UK, 83-year-old Rev Sue Parfitt, clashed with counter-terrorism police outside Westminster. When the retired reverend was taken into custody, we thought that was the end of her reign of terror, but we were wrong. Oh so wrong. It appears that, at some point, the riotous reverend escaped custody and police didn't tell anyone because they didn't want to spread fear. That is, after all, the goal of terrorists.

In a nightmarish scene on the weekend, Rev Sue Parfitt reappeared at a Palestine Action protest outside Westminster. And she again committed the atrocity of hurting the feelings of war criminals by practising free speech in clear defiance of the law. She ruthlessly held up a sign bearing words that are illegal to repeat. This left heroic police officers with no choice but to engage in round two. Not wanting to take any chances, multiple officers escorted away the elderly woman who is so dangerous, she can barely walk. It took everything the officers had to bring her walking stick under control, but they somehow managed it. Thank goodness for their riot training. 

Okay, maybe I’m being ageist here. Maybe Sue Parfitt has got more about her than I realised. Would I be committing a crime if I high-fived her? Because I really want to. I think it’s really impressive that someone of Sue’s age has such get up and go. 

There has been a huge increase in the number of counter-terrorism arrests this year with police capturing 1,339 terror suspects so far. To put that in perspective, police only make around 200-300 counter-terrorism arrests in an average year. No one knows why the number of arrests increased so dramatically after Yvette Cooper made it illegal to be frail and elderly and have a conscience. Personally, I blame social media for radicalising our wrinklies. If it wasn't for social media, wrinklies would only be getting their information from GB News and the like and would therefore have no idea about the reality. While we fretted about social media exposing our children to the truth, we slept on the threat of wrinklies being radicalised. And now, here we are, in a situation where retired reverends are making signs, and disabled people are racing along in wheelchairs powered by enriched uranium. 

The organisers of the demonstration, Defend Our Juries, have insisted it was "the picture of peaceful protest", but police are claiming that 17 of the arrests were for assaulting a police officer. Given the average age of those arrested was about 92, I’m finding that hard to believe.

You probably didn’t notice, but the UK has a new Home Secretary and this presented the perfect opportunity to say maybe we’ve got the balance of this law wrong. Maybe a proscription that causes us to make record numbers of arrests of the most harmless members of society is a bit nuts. Maybe we should quietly amend the legislation and hope everyone forgets how ridiculous we were. But no, Shabana Mahmoud is doubling down. The silver-haired brigade are, in fact, terrorists, don’t you know. “Supporting Palestine and supporting a proscribed terrorist group are not the same thing", she has tweeted. But supporting Israel and supporting a genocidal regime are very much the same thing, and no arrests are being made for that…

Some police are gloating that the frail pensioners they arrested could be looking at six months imprisonment, although in many cases they should probably be returned to their care homes. I mean, do we really need to be protected from people who can’t stand unaided? In fairness to the police, some officers have privately admitted that they feel ashamed by the arrests and even their managers don’t support the legislation, but they’re obligated to uphold the law. Now that’s all well and good, but they do realise this is fascism, right? And when fascism arrives, "just following orders" is not an acceptable defence.

Police have even been arresting people for wearing Plasticine Action t-shirts because even taking the piss out of draconian legislation is terrorism. Thankfully, Plasticine Action’s leader, who is known only to authorities as “Morph” is still on the run. I’m no detective, but I’d bet my life he’s hiding in Sue Parfitt’s garden shed.

Perhaps the weirdest aspect of all this is how actual proscribed terror groups are allowed to hold marches. The Ulster Volunteer Force, for example, held a march in Belfast on 12th July this year without a single arrest being made. It seems police know the difference between protest and terrorism and they apply the law selectively. It's starting to look like they are being so heavy-handed to protect Israel. What other explanation could there possibly be?