From the file marked ‘Schadenfreude’ we find that:

CHRISTIAN VOICE DIRECTOR FACES BANKRUPTCY

A Christian activist who tried to charge the BBC’s Director General and the producer of Jerry Springer the Opera with blasphemy is facing bankruptcy over a ‘grotesque’ costs order.

The High Court ruled last December that Stephen Green could not prosecute Mark Thompson, the Director General of the BBC, and Jonathan Thoday of Avalon over the BBC2 broadcast of Jerry Springer the Opera and its subsequent theatre tour. The Court ordered costs against him.

In a hearing a fortnight ago, Mark Thompson and Jonathan Thoday were awarded costs totalling £90,000 against Green, who is the National Director of the prayer and lobby group Christian Voice. The BBC’s solicitors were awarded £55,000 and Olswangs Solicitors, who acted for Thoday, got an order for £35,000.

What else can one say other than…

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MWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

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Sorry.

Actually, it is worth noting that Green, even in the act of throwing himself on the mercy of the BBC, is pretty much as graceless as ever:

‘It should be enough for Mark Thompson and Jonathan Thoday that they got away with blasphemy, insulting God and the Lord Jesus Christ, at least in this life. For these rich, powerful men to pursue me into the bankruptcy courts over money I don’t have would be vindictive.’

This from a man how tried to pursue an unnecessary and unwarranted prosecution under an archaic law that in an offence to freedom of expression and which will soon, thankfully, cease to trouble the courts.

Fuck him.

The money the BBC spent on defending this case is not Mark Thompson’s money but the BBC’s money and that makes it our money as its derived from the licence fee – and tiny as my own personal share of that money might be, I want it put back in the BBC’s coffers or, if that’s not possible, I want to see Green in a bankruptcy court.

So, here’s the petition and the Facebook group – oh, and Green has a petition of his own, which currently runs to over a thousand signatures, most of which are less an expression of support than an opportunity for pointed commentary taken, for example the second entry on the petition reads simply:

“Bankrupt Stephen Green – he is a homophobic arsehole who got what he deserved.”

Personally, I’ll stick with reminding Green of what it says in Luke 20:25…

“And he said unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar’s’