June 12, 2005

No porking

From the BBC: A Bristol pub owner has been given a two-year Anti-Social Behaviour Order for putting up a sign in the car park of his pub saying "Porking Yard".

Local magistrates ordered landlord Leroy Trought to change the wording to "Parking Yard" after the local mosque complained that the sign was offensive to Muslims. Trought faces a prison term if he breaks the order.

Mr Trought undoubtedly feels hard done by (he's changed the name of his food stall to "The ASBO Snack Bar"), but he should count himself lucky that the Religious Hatred Bill is not yet law. Otherwise, he might have been convicted of "incitement to religious hatred" and jailed for up to seven years.

Looks like free speech is getting expensive.