Bray gets off ...

[monkers]

Bray, from Port Talbot, south Wales, who represented himself, denied the charge and told a previous hearing that playing music was part of his “fundamental right to protest” and that it was played “sporadically”, rather than all day.

Handing down his judgment, deputy district judge Anthony Woodcock said of Bray: “He admitted that he is ‘anti-Tory’, which is his words. He believes his is an important message to disseminate.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news...cleared-flouting-ban-music-outside-parliament

 

[Beebo]

As much as I dislike Brexit, and agree with the right to protest, I think Bray is a dick and his continued activities are pointless and no doubt very annoying.

Get a life mate.

 

[monkers]

As much as I dislike Brexit, and agree with the right to protest, I think Bray is a dick and his continued activities are pointless and no doubt very annoying.

Get a life mate.

If he annoyed the right people, that's OK by me. My point is that, at last, a judge has ruled in favour in the spirit of the individual not just having the right to protest, but also having the right to continue to speak truth to power.

I'm reminded by that prisoner, the central character in Shawshank Redemption, who is the librarian and just continues to send one letter every week asking for books for a prison library until he wears them down, and boxes of books arrive.

Bray never managed to grind them down in a meaningful way but it was fun to at least see that he got under the skin of 30p Lee and there was nothing he could do about it.

 

[Pross]

I wondered what sort of site this might be linking to based on the title "Bray Gets Off".

 

[monkers]

I wondered what sort of site this might be linking to based on the title "Bray Gets Off".

So sorry I disappointed you. That's a minute you won't get back.

 

[KingstonGraham]

If he annoyed the right people, that's OK by me. My point is that, at last, a judge has ruled in favour in the spirit of the individual not just having the right to protest, but also having the right to continue to speak truth to power.

I'm reminded by that prisoner, the central character in Shawshank Redemption, who is the librarian and just continues to send one letter every week asking for books for a prison library until he wears them down, and boxes of books arrive.

Bray never managed to grind them down in a meaningful way but it was fun to at least see that he got under the skin of 30p Lee and there was nothing he could do about it.

In a Venn diagram where "people he annoyed" was "everyone who went to Parliament Square who wasn't both deaf and blind", then there would be some overlap with "the right people" but they wouldn't be the majority.

 

[monkers]

In a Venn diagram where "people he annoyed" was "everyone who went to Parliament Square who wasn't both deaf and blind", then there would be some overlap with "the right people" but they wouldn't be the majority.

But I didn't say that if he annoyed the wrong people that was OK by me, which I think is the point you are trying make.

 

[KingstonGraham]

I'll be honest, I don't think he really did annoy the people he needed to annoy. They probably quite liked having a weirdo in a stupid hat as the face of their opposition.

 

[monkers]

I'll be honest, I don't think he really did annoy the people he needed to annoy. They probably quite liked having a weirdo in a stupid hat as the face of their opposition.

Fair enough, but note my first word ''if''.

 

[KingstonGraham]

It's an interesting judgment - https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/R-v-Steven-Bray-judgment.pdf

Based on ECHR rights - the police were entirely acting within UK law to take away his amplification equipment, and he was in the wrong about the map. But the judge decided that he had a valid defence under human rights law to play the Muppet Show tune in such a way as it could be heard inside Parliament.