We must not hold youthful midemeanours against people, says ANN WIDDECOMBE
Shila Iqbal, an actress in Emmerdale has been fired because six years ago, while a teenage student, she used the "N-word" in a tweet. Meanwhile, there is a storm of controversy over the new president of the National Union of Students who once wrote that she wanted to "oppress" white people and witness an Islamic takeover.
The quotes go back to 2012 when she was 16 and, when asked which book everyone should read, replied: "the Koran, because then there would be an Islamic takeover".
Note she did not advocate an Islamic takeover by force, but naively assumed that the Koran was so obviously true that just reading it would mean people would become Muslims.
I might well have said, at the same age, "the New Testament, because then everyone would be a Christian".
Seven years later she says she no longer holds such views.
indeed I hope not, but most of us mature between 16 and 23 and she is probably no exception.
For just how long are we going to hold against people the indiscretions of their youth?
Where does it stop – 30? 40? Never?
it is an outrage that someone in her mid-twenties can lose her job for something she tweeted six years ago, but it is also a terrible warning to today's younger generation who tweet at the drop of a hat.
What you say today can ruin you years hence, even if by then you wouldn't dream of saying it.
The Princess Royal proclaimed at 19 that going to university was a much over-estimated occupation.
The quote was much used against her when at the age of 31 she became Chancellor of London University, a post she still holds with much distinction.
ironically, in these days of every polytechnic being rated a university and every diploma a degree and when so many students emerge with a load of debt but little else, many might agree with the young royal's earlier pronouncement.
Surely we should all be allowed to grow up and lay aside childish things?