That Faversham council had 71 year old ex Python cameraman arrested?

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Former Monty Python cameraman arrested over satirical posters

So what if the council was made fun of? All councils need to be made fun of as long as it's not libel or slander, just to remind them of who they work for.

So is there a law that says a satirical cartoon has to be published in a newspaper to be permitted?

I don't know. Unless a friendly Solicitor can advise us.

Well, they've done themselves no favours with such a ridiculous overreaction. When it comes to having the piss taken out of you in politics, if you can't stand the heat....

What on earth is 'collective harassment'?

They'd better arrest the production team of Newzoids, then. And Have I Got News For You. And Private Eye. And Steve Bell.

Exactly. If he was arrested (this isn't actually very certain from the link) then he may have a case himself.

From the article (which is almost entirely an interview with him) the reason for his arrest was harassment, and one poster urged people to post stuff to the councillors and it seems some people did.

The timelines aren't clear from the article, but it seems that just posters weren't the problem. But inciting people to use the postal system to harass was. Intending your action as a 'joke' or blaming the people on the receiving end for overreacting are typical actions of bullies.

(PS - for any Python experts reading this, were any camera crew part of their creative team?)

The article says he was arrested, the Police don't confirm that, he himself sounds confused on that point (he would be explicitly told if he had been de-arrested but doesn't seem to know if he was). I suspect he wasn't actually nicked, rather that enquiries were made and they asked to look around.

He appears to be massively overplaying the Python connection doesn't he?

Plenty of campaigns incite others to post mass communications to people who hold positions of power. It's called campaigning. To criminalise this isn't Pythonesque, it's Stalinist, and most likely a breach of the right to free speech.

It was my understanding that as councillors and MPs put themselves into public office, the CPS applies a different test anyway when assessing possible harassment. Holders of elected public office are 'expected' to endure a fair bit of protest.

Its ridiculous. You could probably make a case for political satire being a British constitutional tradition. An individual making a similar complaint would probably not even be entertained by the police, so this strikes me as an abuse of power on the part of the council. LineRunner is correct in what she is saying re a different test applying to those in public office. This is not harassment aimed at any one individual but is in the nature of general political comment. Faversham Council comes out of this really badly. They must be currently ruled by an utter bunch of idiots with grandiose ideas, and now the whole of the UK knows that.

It says 'sent to their addresses (plural) so I was wondering if that meant home addresses. Which I think does tip into harassment. If it's addresses at the council offices, that would be different, but the article is not clear.

Large city councils don't get into this sort of shit, because they have sensible legal advice and decent officers and bigger problems to worry about. They are also not as likely to be a small clique of busybodies. And because their local big city police have problems with scary gun-weilding drugs gangs and don't have time to get involved in parish council politics.

Small councils in small towns with rural plod stuck for work, on the other hand...

AuntieStella, councillors' home addresses are frequently - indeed usually - in the public domain, either on their entry on the council's website (along with their photos) and/or on their Register of Interests. I've seen home addresses and contact details on most of the political leaflets I've been getting lately.

They campaign at us; and the public is able to campaign back, as long as there are no threats.