Yesterday at Luton Magistrates’ Court, Stephen Yaxley Lennon, who styles himself Tommy Robinson, attended a Case Management Hearing, preparatory to a full hearing next year regarding a potential Football Banning Order. The order, should it be granted, would bar Lennon from attending any England game. This is a civil case; there are no criminal sanctions involved. But there was, nonetheless, controversy.
As the Belfast Telegraph has reported (why no other news outlets, I wonder), “Former English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson has appeared in court in his legal battle to avoid being banned from England football matches … Robinson, 36, confirmed his personal details and his nationality as English as he appeared at Luton Magistrates’ Court”. He’s not British, see - he’s ENGLISH! ENGLISH!
There was more. “The court heard Robinson was caught on camera ‘swinging’ at a man who was knocked to the ground ahead of England’s 3-1 defeat to the Netherlands in the Portuguese city of Guimarães in the Nations League semi-final on Thursday, June 6. Bedfordshire Police are working with the UK Football Policing Unit in an attempt to hand him a football banning order”. So where was the controversy?
Guess who missed the main story?
Ah, but no Lennon court hearing would be complete without comedy barrack-room lawyer Ezra Levant. Yes, despite this being nothing more than a preliminary hearing, Levant had flown in from Canada for the occasion, and had been driven from Heathrow to Luton to make his grand entrance. For this, he is, with his customary brass neck, asking his supporters to pony up C$1,700 to reward him for his futile gesture.
So what did The Great Man learn during his brief British sojourn? “The first matter is that of Tommy Robinson's address. Tommy is justifiably opposed to having his residential address published in court, for reasons of security. The judge seems to accept hearing that information privately … The judge is asking the other journalists if they will abide and accept that confidentiality. The first journalist immediately accepted that, the second is objecting to it(!) She wants (the right) to publish Tommy's home address!”.
Shock! Horror! Levant was not only displeased - he was going to milk this one for all it was worth. "I'm blown away. But isn't the proof of what I've always said about the Media Party over here: that they're not observers; they're not neutral; they're highly partisan. A journalist just demanded to be able to publish Tommy's home address despite the multiple threats on his life”. Would anyone like to create a little more fog of misinformation?
The creep otherwise known as Brian of London most certainly would. “Name the activist who is pretending to be a reporter”. Not that this is a threat, you understand. But what Levant and his pals are not telling us is the sheer hypocrisy of what is going on.
Let’s go back to the BelTel, to get the right story. “But a judge today imposed reporting restrictions preventing the publication of Robinson’s address due to a ‘a real and immediate risk” to his safety’”. The judge placed reporting restrictions on the case. That’s the same kind of thing Lennon has just been to jail for flouting.
Reporting restrictions. Bad for others, OK for Stephen Lennon. I’ll just leave that one there.
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