Twitter user Paul Chambers was recently convicted and fined for posting an angry joke on Twitter :"Crap! Robin Hood airport is closed. You've got a week to get your shit together, otherwise I'm blowing the airport sky high!!"
Even before his court appeal failed, the Twitter community was already deep in debate about the saga, tweeting under the hashtag, #twitterjoketrial. Shortly afterwards, one Twitter user under the name christt decided to retweet the exact same phrase that got Paul Chambers into trouble, and encouraged others to do the same in protest against the charge.
This 'Spartacus' style show if solidarity spread so quickly that the phrase was a key national trend within hours. Even social media addict Stephen Fry tweeted that he would pay Chambers' fine after the hearing.If the government does decide to convict and fine every Twitter user that repeated the phrase, at least it'll be an easy way to solve the deficit. We could have all have a glass of bubbly on the NHS. Just saying...
