Matthew Steeples suggests the reaction to Jolyon Maugham’s somewhat ill-thought tweet about killing a fox (whilst wearing a kimono) to be ludicrous at a time when thousands freeze on our streets
On Boxing Day, Jolyon Maugham tweeted about killing a fox trapped in his hen house with a baseball bat in his garden in central London.
Whilst this barrister should, perhaps, have realised that sharing such information wouldn’t go down well with the Twitterati and that he expressed what occured in a slightly ill-thought out fashion, it is clear that that this leading remain supporter was simply protecting his chickens from a creature that many consider “vermin” (ludicrously councils do not agree with this description).
Maugham – whom it seems was bizarrely wearing his wife’s green kimono during the incident – plainly later realised that if you live out your life on Twitter, you’ll likely be crucified by it too. Other users and the media subsequently thus reacted in outrage and given no doubt many shared Maugham in having post-Christmas Day hangovers, the shitstorm that followed was beyond overblown.
Later, after reporting himself (and being reported also by many others) to the RSPCA – an ineffectual organisation that I found disgracefully willing to do nothing when there was a dog in distress in my neighbourhood last year – Maugham then apologised. By then, however, it was too late and #JolyonTheFoxKiller was trending. The snarling hordes of this sub-world of social media had descended and still now, they are baying for this 48-year-old’s blood.
I’d suggest, instead, that the angry mob get worked up about the RSPCA’s refusal to turn up to deal with truly far worse cases of animal neglect and more importantly still a government that has done little-to-nothing to help the thousands freezing to death on our streets this Christmas. Show your true fury about something that really matters, but, please, Jolyon, next time: make sure you at least get dressed in something other than your wife’s bedroom gear.
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