Is it important to know that Cordelia Rowlatt, the sister of the BBC's new Chief Environment Correspondent Justin Rowlatt, is an active campaigner with Extinction Rebellion or that she faces trial in January for "a public offence" during climate protests in April? Or does this have no bearing on him or his work for the BBC?
Normally what one's relatives do is not relevant, but in public service, declarations of interest are required. The BBC has other standards - ones that apply to everyone else, but not them. Transparency is something demanded of others, but of themselves.
ReplyDeleteI've often said that left-liberal types with a desire to destroy our borders are frequently suffering from colonial guilt - they know their families have in the past been involved in slavery, colonial cruelty and exploitation of the poor in the British Empire - and that is why they have enjoyed wealth, a good education and an easy start in life. So I wasn't entirely surprised to discover that Justin's granfather was a man who proposed legislation to crush the Indian freedom movement by brutal, tyrannical means (see Wikipedia):
ReplyDeleteThis unpopular legislation [put forward by Sir Sidney Rowlatt and known as the Rowlatt Act] provided for stricter control of the press, arrests without warrant, indefinite detention without trial, and juryless in camera trials for proscribed political acts. The accused were denied the right to know the accusers and the evidence used in the trial. Indian nationalists called for protest against the Rowlatt Act, which led to an unprecedented response of unrest and protests. In the Punjab, this unrest led to the Amritsar Massacre."
So the Rowlatt family have blood on their hands.
BTW, if Tommy Robinson had a sister arrested for public order offences in relation to anti-Islam demonstrations, do you think the BBC would keep it quiet?