Savage and bitter tweet lynch mob

ONE might think that lynch mobs consist of ignorant, uneducated human beings to whom restraint and empathy are foreign concepts; that the witch-hunters of old have come back in the form of modern louts whose deprived backgrounds and inadequate schooling make them brutish and bullying.

Not a bit of it. One of the mob outside Dominic Cummings’ family home, Oliver Leith, who proudly tweeted a picture of himself making a vulgar sign at the beleaguered adviser is, heaven spare us, a composer-in-residence at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in association with the Royal Opera House.

The Royal Opera House? I once had the immense privilege of appearing there and was awed by the air of refinement of those seemingly ethereal beings who floated about in the highest echelons of musical accomplishment, effortlessly producing virtuoso performances in several different languages. A vulgar sign? To them that would have been a raised eyebrow.

Of course most mob violence or intimidation these days is not carried out in the streets but across the Twittersphere.

ALOM Shaha teaches physics at Camden School for Girls and in his spare time posts foul-mouthed tweets about the daughter of Michael Gove, accusing her parents of being fascists. OK, he teaches physics not history or politics but surely a teacher should know the definition of a fascist? If being a Conservative Brexiteer is being a fascist, how does he relate to the girls in his charge who might legitimately hold such views? Their parents should be asking.

In these instances those on the receiving end were well able to deal with the nastiness but almost daily somebody is bullied on social media, has his or her livelihood threatened by twitterstorms and the cancel culture, is upset by reading undeserved abuse of loved ones, is defamed and humiliated or ostracised at work and all too often the instigators are clever, well-educated and outwardly civilised. Handsome is as handsome does. They are no better than savages and should be regarded as such.