the times | Wednesday December 22 2021 V2 37
Leading articles
independent Macpherson inquiry, which defines
as a hate incident “any non-crime incident which
is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to
be motivated by a hostility or prejudice”.
Local forces have recorded many supposed
non-crime hate incidents since the guidance was
introduced: some campaigners claim these
number 120,000. Whatever the true total, they are
a diversion of police time and resources. Crucially,
the court found not that Humberside police was
excessively zealous in applying the rules but that
the guidance itself was at fault. The judges noted
that there was nothing in it to exclude irrational
complaints, including ones where there was no
evidence of hostility. They thereby encapsulated
the issue precisely. The guidance creates a catch-
all category where the degree of “hate” or
“hostility” is determined by the alleged victim’s
perception of how they feel. To involve the police
in such disputes is corrosive to a free society.
After the verdict Mr Miller pithily stated a truth
that opinion-formers would do well to study:
“Being offensive is not, cannot and should not be
an offence.” There is no inherent merit in stating
things that offend people, and it is a good thing
that society in the 21st century is more sensitive to
issues of prejudice than it was a generation ago.But knowledge advances by the ability to
contradict mistaken ideas, however hard and even
offensive some may find this process.
A culture in which offensiveness carries sanc-
tions is corrosive and dangerous. If interest groups
search for words they can designate as offensive,
they will inevitably find them. If their complaints
are then rewarded, others will redouble their
efforts to unearth similar incidents. And so the
ability to engage in forceful debate and criticism
will be ever more tightly circumscribed. The only
legitimate way to counter ideas such as Mr Miller’s
critique of transgender activism is to challenge
them, and to see if they withstand that interroga-
tion. It is not to punish or proscribe them.
Words can wound, but there is an essential dis-
tinction between protecting people’s physical
safety, which could be threatened by speech, and
trying to heal their mental anguish. The proper
response of the police and public authorities to
anyone offended by Mr Miller’s opinions, or any
other standpoint on sensitive issues, is to ignore
such complaints. Once society punishes people for
having the wrong opinions, there is no limit to the
incursions on freedom that this seemingly benign
principle will allow. The Court of Appeal has
thankfully sounded the alarm.Republican-leaning West Virginia. In the 2020
presidential election, Donald Trump won 69 per
cent of the vote, compared with 30 per cent for
Mr Biden. A poll last month showed that 74 per
cent of West Virginia voters opposed the bill.
Mr Manchin, the only Democrat to hold statewide
office, has an approval rating of 60 per cent.
He says he opposes the bill on economic
grounds, fearing it could fuel inflation. The sena-
tor had already succeeded in nearly halving the
size of the original package of measures that Mr
Biden had been seeking. There’s no doubt that
with US inflation already running at close to 6 per
cent and coming on the heels of two other giant
spending bills, the $1.9 trillion American Rescue
Plan and the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, there
was a risk that another boost to public spending
would increase the risk of over-heating.
That said, the spending was to be spread over
several years, so the immediate impact on the
deficit would have been limited. A bigger problem
is that much of the planned spending was focused
on pilot programmes that would have required
further legislation to extend them. It created vastnew entitlements that once introduced would be
hard to withdraw. No doubt generous incentives
for reducing carbon emissions added to the bill’s
unpopularity in West Virginia, a state that used to
be America’s second biggest coal producer and
where 11,000 jobs still depend on the industry.
The Senate Democratic leadership is threaten-
ing to push ahead with a vote on the bill to embar-
rass Mr Manchin. It is just as likely to embarrass
other Democratic senators in Republican-leaning
states. Meanwhile efforts will be made to try to ne-
gotiate a further slimmed down version of the bill
that might pass. That would require persuading
other Democratic members of Congress to agree
to the dropping of cherished social spending pro-
grammes, paving the way for further conflict
between the left and centre of the party.
All this leaves Mr Biden facing the prospect of
going into next year’s midterm elections, in which
the Democrats risk losing control of Congress,
having failed to deliver on his election promises,
with his party feuding and having squandered his
reputation as a bipartisan deal maker. That can
only benefit the Republicans, and Mr Trump.is an admirable 98 per cent. Only in England do
these public figures lag behind the broader public,
rather than setting an example.
There are real, tangible costs to this. Six Premier
League games last weekend were cancelled
because of sick players. With officials rightly
insisting matches must go ahead if clubs can field
at least 14 of their 25-man squad, rampant sickness
will also have an effect on how well clubs can
perform. As of yesterday more than half of
Premier League clubs had reported positive cases.
Chelsea alone had reported seven.
Footballers, young and fit, may feel they havelittle to fear from Covid-19. They may be wrong,
but even if they are not, they have even less to fear
from vaccines. Some, such as Tottenham Hot-
spur’s Son Heung-min, have made a point of publi-
cising being double-jabbed to encourage fans.
Only unvaccinated players themselves will
know for sure whether their decisions are down to
laziness or an arrogant belief they can better trust
incoherent conspiracy theories than the nation’s
leading doctors. Either way, their managers
should make their responsibilities plain. Players
have it in their power to save not only fixtures but
lives, too. They are letting the side down.Defending Dissent
For the police to record non-criminal ‘hate incidents’
is a waste of their time and a threat to free speech
It is compassionate to sympathise with someone
who is upset but this should never be a matter for
the police. This principle was affirmed on Monday
in a wise judgment by the Court of Appeal. The
court upheld a legal challenge by Harry Miller, a
former police officer, against a national policy for
police forces to record opinions critical of trans-
gender activism as non-crime “hate incidents”.
The ruling causes a problem for the College of
Policing, the professional body for all who work in
the police service in England and Wales, whose
guidance the court criticised for having a “chilling
effect” on Mr Miller’s free speech. And so it should.
There is a tendency in modern Britain to curb the
right to free expression in order to make people
feel more comfortable. That is a pernicious
development. In bringing his challenge, Mr Miller
bravely struck a blow in defence of liberty.
Mr Miller’s purported “hate incidents” consist-
ed of posting several comments on social media
about transgender issues. He bluntly expressed
his conviction that sex is biologically immutable.
His comments were reported to Humberside
police for being allegedly transphobic, and he
was visited at his home by the force. In this, the
police were following the college’s guidance,
introduced in 2014 after recommendations by theBiden’s Bill
The US president is facing defeat on his landmark welfare reform
Any hopes that Joe Biden may have had that his
decidedly mixed first year as US president might
end on a positive note were dashed on Sunday
night. Senator Joe Manchin’s appearance on Fox
News to announce that he would vote against the
Build Back Better Act makes it unlikely that Mr
Biden’s flagship $1.75 trillion domestic reform bill,
designed to deliver many of his most eye-catching
welfare and social spending commitments, will
pass in its present form. With the Senate split 50-
50 between Republicans and Democrats, he
needed the support of every Democrat plus the
vice-president’s casting vote. The refusal of the
senator from West Virginia to back the bill is a
significant blow for Mr Biden.
At one level Mr Manchin’s opposition is surpris-
ing given that the bill was in some respects tailor-
made for West Virginia, one of the poorest states
in the country. Its measures include universal
pre-kindergarten schooling, expanded healthcare
subsidies and money to tackle the opioid
epidemic, a particular problem in the state. On the
other hand, Mr Manchin’s opposition is less sur-
prising when one considers the politics of heavilyOwn Goal
Footballers who shun vaccination are letting down their fans and themselves
Almost one in four players in the Premier League
are not yet fully vaccinated against Covid-19.
According to official figures, 23 per cent have not
yet had two jabs and 16 per cent have not even had
one. On boosters, one fears to ask.
In lower leagues, the numbers are even worse.
As of last month, 31 per cent of players in English
Football League clubs were unvaccinated and a
quarter of all players had no intention to become
so. This is a national disgrace. They are outliers. In
Germany’s Bundesliga, Spain’s Primera Division
and France’s Ligue 1, more than nine out of ten
players are vaccinated. In Italy’s Serie A, the figureUK: University and College Union report
into the sexual violence in higher education.
US: Estimate of third-quarter GDP figures
to be published.
When it comes to
yew trees, the poet
John Keats gave
good advice: make
not your rosary of
yew-berries.
Although this red,
squashy fruit might look as tempting as the
juicy fruit gums that cinemas once sold in
boxes, they are in fact toxic to humans and
to many of our grazing animals. Blackbirds
and thrushes on the other hand can eat
them with impunity. Even badgers have been
known to wolf them down. The oldest British
tree is the Fortingall Yew of Perthshire. Some
experts think it has stood there for 5,000 to
9,000 years. Phoenix-like, seemingly dead
yew trees can often rise back to life.
jonathan tulloch
In 1849 Fyodor Dostoevsky, author of Crime
and Punishment (1866), received a reprieve
from death by firing squad. He was sent to a
Siberian labour camp until 1854.
Ralph Fiennes, pictured,
actor, The English Patient
(1996), Schindler’s List
(1993), No Time to Die
(2021), 59; Ed Anderson,
chairman, National
Savings and Investments,
Airport Operators
Association (2018-19), lord-lieutenant of
West Yorkshire, 71; Dame Mary Archer,
scientist, chairwoman, Science Museum
Group, 77; James Burke, science historian,
TV producer and the BBC’s main reporter
on the 1969 moon landings, 85; Sir Roger
Carr, chairman, BAE Systems, English
National Ballet, and vice-chairman, BBC
Trust (2015-17), 75; Rt Rev Stephen Conway,
bishop of Ely, 64; Noel Edmonds, TV
presenter, Multi-Coloured Swap Shop (1976–
1982), Deal or No Deal (2005-16), and DJ, 73;
Leigh Halfpenny, rugby union player, Wales
and British and Irish Lions, 33; Rebecca
Harris, Conservative MP for Castle Point,
lord commissioner (HM Treasury, whip), 54;
Sir Gary Hickinbottom, lord justice of
appeal (2017-Jan 2021), the second solicitor
to be appointed to the Court of Appeal, 66;
Lord (Irvine) Laidlaw, businessman,
chairman, Laidlaw Foundation, 79; Tony
Laithwaite, wine retailer, founder of
Bordeaux Direct (now Laithwaite’s Wine)
and chairman, Direct Wines, 76; Liliane
Lijn, artist, the cone-shaped Koan series
(since 1965), 82; Harriet Mathews (Lady
Frost), deputy political director, Foreign,
Commonwealth and Development Office,
UK ambassador to Somalia (2015-16), 48;
Mike Molloy, writer, editor, Daily Mirror
(1975-85), 81; Chris Old, cricketer, England
(1972-81), 73; Vanessa Paradis, actress, Café
de Flore (2011), and singer, Joe le Taxi (1987),
49; Dick Parry, rock saxophonist, 79;
Andrea Quinn, conductor and music
director of the Royal Ballet (1998-2001), 57;
Prof M Stanley Whittingham, co-recipient,
Nobel prize for chemistry (2019; for the
development of lithium-ion batteries), 80;
Prof Sir Robin Williams, physicist,
semiconductor physics and nanotechnology
research, vice-chancellor, University of
Wales (1994-2003), 80.
“Leadership is the art of accomplishing more
than the science of management says is
possible.” Colin Powell, US secretary of state,
The Powell Principles (2003).
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