Cowardice robs ‘Birdshit’ Green of an opportunity to parade his bigotry

POSTURING ninny Stephen “Birdshit” Green – Britain’s top public nuisance and scourge of the arts – was robbed of an opportunity yesterday to strut his stuff outside Waterstone’s in Cardiff, thanks to the lily-livered management of the bookstore.

Green was all set to demonstrate outrage over the scheduled signing of a poetry book by Patrick Jones, author of Darkness is Where the Stars Are, but made a grave tactical error: he alerted the bookshop to his planned picket ahead of the event.

Patrick Jones, with his 'blasphemous' book of poetry

Fearing some sort of kerfuffle at their store, the management took fright and immediately capitulated to Green’s bullying tactics by cancelling the signing. That left a very angry Jones out in the cold; but he pressed on with the signing on the pavement outside.

Filled with delusions of grandeur, the deranged Green boasted:

Just the knowledge that we were on our way put the fear of God into the opposition.

According to a BBC report, Christian Voice said the book was “obscene and blasphemous” and called on the chain to remove copies from stores.

The company said it was not a censor but felt it was “prudent” to cancel the event because of its duty to customers.

Prudent? Alerting the police to the fact that a god-addled bunch of fuckwits was about to disrupt you store is prudent. Laying in a large supply of eggs, rotten fruit and a baseball bat or two is prudent. But caving in to religious intimidation is a bloody disgrace!

Darkness is Where the Stars Are is a collection of poems from the Welsh publishers, Cinnamon Press.

Jones, the brother of Nicky Wire of the Manic Street Preachers, said:

I’m really proud of this book and I’m really sickened. There shouldn’t be censorship of this sort – [the book] doesn’t set out to be offensive.

He said he had not singled out Christianity in his poems, but was questioning beliefs in society.

Green trumpeted that the decision was a triumph “for the Lord, not for us.”

Will Garland, 28, from Newport, one of the people who went to the out-of-store book signing, said he had been a fan of Mr Jones for a long time.

I don’t know what they’re protesting about. Give the guy a chance.

And Siân Preece, a writer from Cardiff said Waterstone’s had failed to support freedom of expression.

You hear of countries like Turkey or China oppressing writers and you feel sorry for them. And then you’re surprised to find it happening here.

A spokesman for Waterstone’s confirmed that the event had been cancelled, but:

The book remains available through Waterstone’s and we are very happy for that to be the case. We don’t act as a censor, we stock books in the tens of thousands and would only remove them from sale on the advice of the publisher.

So enraged was Andy Armitage, over at the PTT blog, that he called for a boycott of Waterstone’s over its treatment of the poet, and blasted off an email to the store’s Managing Director, Gerry Johnson, demanding to know he was playing at.

This is the reply he received:

Waterstone’s does not act as a censor and will not, and should not, dictate what customers may read. We will only remove a title from sale on the advice of the publisher. This is the case for Patrick Jones book, and it remains available from Waterstone’s. Any comments or complaints regarding the content of the book should be directed to the author or the distributor of the book, the Welsh Books Council.

Regarding the cancellation of the event arranged for this book, Waterstone’s simply took steps to prevent a disorderly event in the interests of our customers and staff.

You can let your own views be known to Waterstone’s. Gerry Johnson can be phoned on 020 8742 3800 or emailed at gerry.johnson@waterstones.com. His boss is Simon Fox of HMV. Get him on 020 7432 2000.

Meanwhile, the National Secular Society has stepped into the fray, saying

The police must act against a Christian group using intimidation and bullying against bookshops and artists to attempt censorship of what it considers ‘blasphemous’ art’.

Terry Sanderson, President of the National Secular Society, said:

Stephen Green is becoming a real threat to artistic freedom. It seems a mere phone call from him threatening some kind of demonstration can cause a bookshop to capitulate to his demands and cancel an artistic event. His increasingly bullying behaviour needs to be challenged by the police. We simply cannot allow this man to dictate what can and cannot be said by artists. It is really up to the authorities to protect artists and their promoters from such intimidation.

Sanderson said that Stephen Green had also tried to prosecute the Director General of the BBC for broadcasting Jerry Springer, the Opera, and had published the addresses of several BBC executives at the height of the controversy, causing distress and fear to some of the families.

Freedom of expression is too precious to be sacrificed to the whim of a zealot. The authorities must step in and protect artists who are acting within the law from the religious bullying practised by Mr Green.