KNEECAP

The prosecution of Kneecap by Scotland Yard, the London Metropolitan Police, brings to mind a similar prosecution almost sixty years ago of members of the Rolling Stones for drug offences, specifically possession by Keith Richards of marijuana. The Rolling Stones were at the time a very anti-establishment group and were regular targets of the Tory tabloid press. Brought before the courts, evidence presented at trial was that, while no marijuana had actually been found in Richards’ possession, a “sweet incense smell” was detected by police. Jagger and Richards were convicted, with Jagger being sentenced to three months imprisonment and Richards being sentenced to one year. The severity of the sentences prompted the editor of The Times, William Rees-Mogg, to write an op-ed quoting Alexander Pope and asking Who Breaks a Butterfly on a Wheel?, criticising the prosecutions as unfounded and unnecessary. The sentences were overturned on appeal. The policeman who prosecuted them was later charged with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice following an allegation that he had committed perjury. He was convicted and sentenced to four years’ in jail.

Kneecap’s music themes relating to Irish Republicanism and opposition to British rule in Northern Ireland have provoked controversy. They antagonised unionists in Northern Ireland with their parody rap called Get Your Brits Out. Their 2019 tour, entitled Farewell to the Union, angered the then Conservative government. The band had had been successful in applying for an arts grant, but were prevented from receiving the funding after an intervention by the Department for Business and Trade, with a spokesperson for the Business Secretary, Kemi Badenoch, saying that they should not hand taxpayers’ money “to people that oppose the United Kingdom itself”. When the new Labour government conceded the band’s court action, Badenoch, by then leader of the Conservative Party, described the decision as “unbelievable.” That could be said to be a harbinger of things to come.

Memories of the Rolling Stone’s prosecution for cannabis back in 1967 reverberate. What both bands have in common is the fact that the British Establishment are annoyed with them. Happily, Kneecap have a good lawyer on their team in the person of Gareth Pierce, who defended the Guildford 4 and the Birmingham 6. Fortunately, Michael Mansfield is also still around, though hopefully he won’t be needed.

As it turns out, Kneecap are free to play Glastonbury, but one wonders if Avon and Somerset Constabulary will be rushing to prosecute the band if they display another revolutionary flag that first came to prominence during another insurrection, this one against British oppression in Dublin in 1916, the green white and orange of the Irish tricolour!