A teacher was sacked after saying Lucy Connolly’s prison sentence was an example of “two-tier policing”.

[MrsGuyOfGisbo]

Terrifying!
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/08/03/teacher-sacked-preston-college-two-tier-lucy-connolly/?fbclid=IwQ0xDSwMARFBleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHkzVENZ7Uuj5t683HKQF_DzYMCjcNAyXrug8djqeWVi30-Us_ALPBq3XIanb_aem_Wo-H97tP5dRGbhHDYGRSSA&ICID=continue_without_subscribing_reg_first

you've totally contradicted yourself there:

She didnt even tell anyone to burn anything down. She actually said burn them.down for all I care

She plead guilty, so even she knows she did it. Not sure why you’re so conflicted.

3 little girls were murdered and it was horrendous, however it had as much to do with asylum hotels as it did with your home.

No lies were told about his identity? He is a scumbag, who deserves to rot in prison. But that has nothing to do with his ethnicity, his religion or his parents place of birth.

she said “if I get arrested I’ll play the mental health card”, does that sound like someone who has no control over their emotions and responses? The pyshic

And how on earth did she manage not to incite hatred after any of the other tragic events in the intervening 12 years between her sons death and the Southport tragedy? Plenty of white british men have killed and raped children in between and she’s kept public composure. But felt the need to latch on to this one, an incident which in no way reflected the death of her own child. Strange.

@goldenquestion
You have very firm ideas about what are not "valid opinions". Any view outside of the very narrow "the law says X the sentencing guidelines say Y, she pleaded guilty, so is guilty, so it's all fair" seem invalid to you. But the law (and ethics in general) don't work like that, there can always be subjectivity, different points of view, biases, bad laws, poor guidelines, competing interpretations of guidelines, bad legal advice or political interference. There are dozens of ways where any one of us could think a particular legal decision was unjust.

Everyone has their own instinctive sense of fairness and proportionality, and in this particular case, many people feel the punishment exceeds the crime, and no amount of quoting sentencing guidelines will make those people feel that justice was done.

I agree with the OP that it's terrifying to think of such racist teachers working in our schools. Thankfully he has been sacked, and hopefully the same will happen to others like him.

So a teacher who posted hateful things online and supported a woman who was imprisoned for pleading guilty of posting hateful things on line was fired?

My heart bleeds.

People who use the phrase 'two tier' these days are basically outing themselves as hateful, small minded idiots. I'm more terrified that people are willing to be openly hateful and think they shouldn't get in trouble for it.

That's my favourite bit. Nobody IRL has ever accused me of either of those things.😆😆😆

@Littledrummergirl

This is fine as long as we all agree what is hateful all of the time.

I've been called a nazi/fascist/bigot countless times for not believing males can be women, & the kind of people who think I'm hateful have managed to get numerous women cancelled or fired over the last decade. As a result I now believe we need a far more robust view of what constitutes "hate" before we start firing people. And where there is a sliver of doubt, it is better to err on the side of free speech - because you never know when someone in a position of power over you might decide your thoughts are hateful.

I have said this several times now. It is REALLY hard to fire teachers for anything other than gross misconduct. Even with the teachers’ standards which we have to abide by. He would not have been fired for this one comment. This is similar to other headlines where the journalist/editor picks up on one element of the case, one piece of evidence as part of the whole which led to it.
There are processes that have to be gone through and evidenced. It is also irrelevant who makes the complaint.

It’s not that hard. And it was gross misconduct.

The one tweet mentioned in the headline with his opinion on sentencing was not gross misconduct. The OP has not given the full story. It is hard to fire teachers for anything other than gross misconduct and the burden of proof is high.

Yes. The latest witch hunt.

Completely and utterly ignore @JamesMacGill

all over mumsnet spouting dozens and dozens and dozens of similar posts that skirt the edges of racism.

best to just completely ignore

Shan’t 🤣

This one too

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Nah, we don't.

No, the OP.

But many here seem to think that firing over this comment would be justified, and that's the attitude I'm questioning. I think in general, society's attitude towards free speech has worsened over the last decade and I think that's a problem.

Most people have actually read the article rather than the headline and know he wasn’t fired because of that one opinion and that it’s click bait/rage bait nonsense designed to whip up hatred against marginalised people even more.

@MissyB1 ,exactly, plus we don’t know what otherradical views he has espoused over 20 years, on Fb or directly to students his remarks being the last straw, perhaps finally giving PrestonCollege the excuse or reason they have been waiting for.

I don’t really care whether this individual was sacked or not, and having searched online I can’t see evidence of 2 tiers here because there are a fair few teachers who have been sacked for espousing religious terrorism etc

I will for a change agree with you. Whichever way you look at it. This case is not two tier.

Then would you agree his post on Connolly taken on its own wouldn't merit disciplinary action?

this is a modern version of Godwin’s Law and as banal

we choked with laughter at that scene, the littlesquare of condensed dirt,
the ‘Nazi salute’ and Mrs Doyle falling off the roof