This is less of a post and more of an observation - and very hasty, as I should really be getting ready to go out.  But, back to the matter in hand.  I've just replied to a comment on a previous blog and my commentator mentions a stray cat.  He refers to the cat as 'she' and 'her', but, sorry to say, I refer to the cat as 'him' in my reply.  Now this isn't a comment on correct gender labelling - there will be more of those at a later date.  No, my point is that I fretted over the fact that, in public, I had made a mistake, which might upset someone (people can be very protective of their pets' identity).  This then led me to muse on the accuracy and veracity of other public posts.

Yesterday, I was listening to a debate which featured Yasmin Alibhai-Brown and she was very angry that someone had suggested on Twitter that she should be stoned to death.  Apparently, this should be regarded as a joke - how we laughed!  The writer hadn't meant to cause offence and had - eventually - apologised, probably because he wants the matter dead and buried, if you'll forgive the analogy.  Ms Alibhai-Brown's take - and mine - is that an intelligent man should realise that anything he tweets is then forever in the public domain and that Twitter is viral.  Apparently Ms Alibhai-Brown's daughter found out about this tweet via friends of friends and was terribly upset.  And that's not even taking into account the political connotations.

Now I'm not a huge fan of Yasmin's, for reasons I don't have time to explain here, but her point is absolutely correct.  Never say in public - to a potential audience of millions - anything which might cause distress to another or incite violence or hatred.  We've all gone through the agonies of saying something unwise about another to a friend or colleague and then dreaded that it will somehow get back to that person.  How many times is that multiplied on Twitter?

So, my point is not that he was wrong in his views (although I think that he is) but that he should have had more sense than to tweet such an extraordinary comment and not realised the implications.  My view is that he was only too aware and is now sorry that it has escalated to a police matter. In this instance, sorry just isn't going to be enough.