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TWITTER USERS across the world have come up with a creative way of protesting the verdict at the so-called ‘Twitter joke trial’ – by reposting, in their thousands, the same message that landed its first user in hot water.
Paul Chambers (@pauljchambers) originally landed himself in hot water when he missed a flight to Belfast where he was going to meet a woman, later his girlfriend (@crazycolours) with whom he now lives, from Robin Hood airport in Nottingham.
Having grown frustrated at the absence of any later flights – with his flight the latest of the day to take the Nottingham-Belfast route, he angrily told his partner:
Crap! Robin Hood airport is closed. You’ve got a week and a bit to get your shit together otherwise I’m blowing the airport sky high!!
He was later arrested in connection with the tweet, and fined in court for the message which, it was ruled, contained menace.
Today, however, the rest of Twitter has sprung into action – the via the typically nerdy means of a reference to Stanley Kubrick’s 1960 film Spartacus – decided to protest the ruling, and underline the jovial nature of the message, by reposting it.
For a period earlier, as a result, #iamspartacus was the top-ranking trending topic in the world.
Comedian Stephen Fry has already offered to pay Chambers’ fine, though Chambers himself says he is still considering appealing the verdict to the High Court.
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I was under the impression that it is not being downgraded to a fine. If your over 80mg you still have to go to court and charged criminally. Currently if your under 80mg you walk whereas the new law wont let those bearly under off the hook so likely i.e the fine and penalty points. As far as I am aware the fine only applies to first time offence as well, if your caught over 50 a 2nd time you go to court. So in effect the laws are being made stricter ? Correct me if I have this wrong.
is being over the limit classified as being drunk. or is it only a name or level of intoxication when your driving, being labelled drunk carries a negative aspect to having a social drink. I’m all for reduced alcohol blood limits when it comes to driving. just wondering on the naming terms
The problem with this is of course, that it is impossible to ‘know’ if a person is over the limit. The figure could be a lot more. Very few people are actually aware of the quantity of alcohol that would set them over the legal limit. It is more often less that they expect.
No wonder drink related accidents are so high. If in an accident the driver has zero alcohol only the passenger in the back seat is over the limit that accident is classed as being “drink related” if a pedestrian over limit is tipped by a car through his or her own fault it is drink related.
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