There's something very, very wrong with the decision today to sentence Charlie Gilmour (that's Dave Gilmour of Pink Floyd's son, for context) to 16 months imprisonment. It's an intriguing story, I think, because of the obvious undertones of all the things that aren't actually related to the crime, which came to the fore as a result of a media backlash and have remained there. For those who aren't aware, Gilmour was snapped numerous times doing idiotic things during the tuition fees protests (which, subtly, areas of the press have taken to calling the 'tuition fee riots' as if that were the true organised nature of the event).
For example, Charlie Gilmour swung on a Union Flag attached to the Cenotaph, then claimed he didn't know (despite being a History student) what the structure represented. This makes him at best ignorant, at worst an absolute moron, but he didn't face trial for that. Despite this, though, the judge still saw fit to pass comment on his actions in that regard. In and of itself, I don't think that's an awful thing to have happen, although I would argue that Charlie Gilmour has probably realised by now that he was a fucking idiot on that day.
What Gilmour was on trial for, though, was the attack of the royal convoy for Charles and Camilla that spawned all those sensational pictures of them both looking veritably terrified as angry rioters threw things at their car. Charlie Gilmour was found to have launched a litter bin at one of the cars in the convoy, sat on a protection officer's car, and smashed a window. Can I just repeat for you the length of the sentence he was handed? 16 months. SIXTEEN MONTHS.
That alone is pretty fucking atrocious. 16 months - of which he'll serve half - for smashing a window and jumping on a car bonnet? But it's worse - far worse - when you realise why it is that the price is so high. Judge Nicholas Page said that "it would be wrong to ignore who the occupants" of the car were.
Hang on a minute.
Judge Nicholas Page thinks that if Charlie Gilmour smashes your window, and jumps on your car's bonnet, and throws a trash can at your car, it is not as bad or important as if he does it to that of a royal.
There are so many things wrong with this that it's difficult to know where to begin. We could start with the fact that, given Charles and Camilla's obviously extensive protection arrangements, it's probably not as dangerous physically or emotionally to them as it would be to somebody else. But I think this is missing the point entirely, actually, and the point is this: somewhere, someone, at some point, has decided that the royal family is more important than you, and more important than me. I'm not about to argue that it's the inverse; that would be foolish and counter-productive.
Because I searched through articles galore to make sure I wasn't mis-reading the quote from Judge Nicholas Page, because for quite some time I thought that, surely, what he actually said must have been that it would "be right to ignore who the occupants" were. Alas, I find myself dumbfounded. In the rooms where people make decisions which affect people's lives in the long-term, we have men who think it's okay to, with very little disguise at all, assert that it is more of an issue if someone attacks the royal family than if they attack what I can only assume they refer to as the plebs.
Charlie Gilmour is an idiot but he's got a hell of a long way to go before he's as much of a muppet as Judge Nicholas Page.
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