Once again the fascist bully boys of the Kent Police are stamping out on new media thought crime. This force has “form” when it comes to Orwellian oppression of thought crime but in Margate this week they have surpassed themselves.
In the sleepy seaside town there is a plan to build a new Tesco. As ever in such matters, opinion is divided. The plebs want cheap turkey twizzlers and jobs and so are in favour. The middle classes fear that the small stores where they pay over the odds for their sundried Tuscan tomatoes may be shut down and so are against. Such was the debate in my parents’ home town of Shipston last year where my deluded lefty father and step-mother were naturally wanting to screw the poor along with their fellow Guardian readers who, for once, stood firm alongside Nimby Tory Toffs. Sadly this unholy alliance prevailed and so the shops where they buy their quail has been saved while the folks on the Council Estates are deprived of both consumer choice and jobs. Chianti’s all round.
Over in Margate battle lines are similar and both sides have set up Facebook pages to sway opinion. Leading the antis is a Ms Louise Oldfield, the owner of a local B&B. Local Tory councillor Mick Tomlinson had the temerity so suggest on the “pro” Facebook page that Oldfield was exaggerating the size of the proposed store. A fellow Tory councillor “liked” that comment and a third commented favourably on it on his own blog.
Natch, Ms Oldfield referred the matter to the Police since this was clearly “harassment” and pursued this matter aggressively until all three councillors were interviewed by the Kent Old Bill under caution.
So in Kent today, and in North Korea one suspects, liking a comment on Facebook can earn you a Police interview under caution if you come up against a fascist like Ms Oldfield ( oh please go on and report me to you ghastly creature) who will persuade an all too willing Thought Police to clamp down on free speech.
How truly appalling. Such is life in Airstrip One today.