Southern Girl

A Royal Holloway student could be charged with a hate crime over an incident at Fresher’s Fair, where he told a pro-Palestine student that her keffiyeh looked like a “tea towel”. Brodie Mitchell is facing possible hate crime charges after making the joke in response to being called a “wannabe Jew” by Huda El-Jamal, president of the Friends of Palestine Society, who also questioned why he wasn’t wearing a Jewish yarmulke or kippah. Mr Mitchell was suspended from the university the next day as it launched a nine-week investigation into “alleged conduct that could be considered hate speech”. While Brodie was suspended, barred from campus and forced out of his accommodation, Ms El-Jamal was allowed to carry on with her studies on campus and did not face any disciplinary action. General Secretary of the Free Speech Union, Lord Young of Acton — which is supporting Brodie — has called the case “a deeply shocking story”. “An argument between two students has been blown out of all proportion by Royal Holloway. Brodie should never have been banned from campus and placed under investigation, let alone reported to the police.” “What makes Royal Holloway’s actions particularly reprehensible is that Brodie was put through the wringer, while the student who insulted him got off scot-free.” Reform UK’s @RobertJenrick has told The Telegraph: “There is no law against blasphemy in our country, and the dress codes of terror groups like Hamas are not immune from mockery. “The public is rightly angry that the police never seem to have the time to help with crimes like burglaries or thefts, but waste time on nonsense like this. The CPS must immediately drop this case, and the chief constable needs to explain why he thought a months-long probe was a good use of his officers’ time.” Thanks to the support of the Free Speech Union, Brodie is back on campus but under restrictions. If he violates the university’s code of conduct — even a minor offence — he risks expulsion. Brodie will argue in the High Court in June that the action taken by Royal Holloway has meant he missed seven weeks of teaching, which could see him finish his degree later than expected. Royal Holloway is now preparing to spend nearly a quarter of a million pounds defending its actions. An excessive amount of money — though less than the initially estimated costs of £734,000 — which is clearly designed to scare a young student of theirs out of litigation. All of this comes as the Government has recently published its official definition of “anti-Muslim hostility”, which is already being used to silence legitimate criticism of Islam. We fear that this is just the first of many cases we will see as universities across the country are encouraged by the Government to embed the definition and guidance into their speech codes. Surrey Police have confirmed that they have sent a file to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for a charging decision — meaning Brodie could face prosecution for saying El-Jamal’s headscarf looked like a “tea towel”. This is the reality of free speech on English university campuses. Read more in The Telegraph and watch Brodie on our most recent podcast episode👇

🔥BURN! Vice President JD Vance comments on UK government economically crushing British citizens, & don't want to hear from the public expressing discontent. Instead, bureaucrats are censoring voices because they can't handle the criticism. "There is just so much wrong with the political leadership..." @danwootton @insiderlauren @TRobinsonNewEra