[...] It turns out I’m not the only one to invite Matthew Parris for a bike ride. Jack Thurston, presenter of The Bike Show podcast wrote to Parris via The Times: “Someone once said that journalists should write about what they know. In that spirit, may I invite you out on a gentle afternoon ride (town or country) so you can find out what all the fuss is about. I’ll even lend you my spare machine. How about that for turning the other cheek?” Andrea Casalotti of London bike shop Velorution isn’t in the mood to forgive. He writes: “Forget about inviting him to ride a bike; Parris should spend time in jail.” Casalotti cites the guilty verdict in the case of two Muslim youths chanting “Bomb Denmark” at a London demonstration. “How can anyone argue that what Umran Javed shouted was worse than what Parris has written? One claims it was a slogan, the other says it was humour. If anything, it is the latter who can have more nefarious consequences.” The Crown Prosecution Service’s Sue Hemming said she was mindful of the rights to free speech when considering cases such as this. “However, when we examined the content of Mr Javed’s speech it was explicit that there was direct encouragement to those present and those watching via the media to commit acts of murder against the Danish and Americans.” BBC.co.uk, January 5th 2007 [...]

[...] Others have already pointed out that this sort of “joke” aimed at people of disability, sexual orientation and race would be illegal, without further proof.  In fact it probably is illegal if it could be proved that this article incited someone to do just that. [...]