206 For All I Care

I must make it very clear at the start that I am a neutral yet interested observer of the matters that follow.  

Towards the end of May here in the UK, there was a lot of coverage in newspapers and on television about the failure of the appeal by Lucy Connolly against her sentence of imprisonment for two years and seven months.  Her crime was that on the day of the Southport riots, she had tweeted, “Set fire to all the f***ing hotels (full of asylum seekers) for all I care.  If that makes me racist so be it.”

Most people who objected and complained when her appeal was overruled did so for the reason that they believed that 31 months in prison is too severe a sentence for a tweet, no matter how obnoxious and vile it might have been, especially as Ms Connolly is the mother of a 12-year-old daughter and we are continually being told that prisons are full.  

They said that it was a ridiculous waste of a prison place for it to go to a woman whose crime had been to write something and others complained that it was an infringement against her right to free speech as it is not against the law to be a racist.

At the hearing, her barrister said that her offending tweet was “angry hyperbole”; an expression of misdirected anguish and rage, and could not be regarded as an incitement to serious violence.

Connolly told the appeal judges that, despite conversations with her legal team, she had not understood that by pleading guilty at her trial (which she did because the maximum sentence could otherwise have been seven years) she was accepting that she intended to incite violence.  She denied inciting violence.

I saw discussions on television programmes such as Politics Live and Newsnight about the outcome of the appeal and I read a thoughtful opinion piece on the matter by Daniel Finkelstein in The Times.  What aroused my interest in this case is that not once did I hear or read of anyone mentioning the significance of the four words “for all I care” that Ms Connolly included in her incriminating social media communication.

I have no legal training whatsoever but it is my belief that, no matter how awful the main body of her message was, the words “for all I care” remove any suggestion that she was calling for, or intending to incite, violence.

The phrase “for all I care” is an expression used to indicate indifference or a lack of concern about something.  When someone says, “for all I care,” they mean that they don’t mind or don’t care whatever happens with regard to the outcome of a particular situation.

If Australia were to win the final deciding test match in an Ashes series against England by an innings and 400 runs, I might say, “They can drop a nuclear bomb on Sydney for all I care.”  That would show the depth of my despair and disappointment.  However it might sound or read, I promise you that it would not be a call for mass murder.  It could be argued that Connolly wrote with the same feeling of despair at the killing of three children.

Those four words can also express a feeling of indifference: “You can come on a walk with us or stay at home for all I care.”

It could be said that is what Ms Connolly meant in her offending tweet.  She wasn’t calling for the hotels to be burnt down but even though she didn’t say so, she probably wouldn’t mind if they were.  In fact, it’s likely that she would be delighted if they were but adding, “for all I care,” cannot be considered incitement to do anything, no matter what dreadful thoughts were preceding it.

Yes, in case you are wondering, you can tell me I’m spouting nonsense - for all I care.