“Tis the times’ plague, when madmen lead the blind” – Paul Laverty speaks out as ‘terror’ case dropped

Award-winning Scottish screenwriter Paul Laverty has spoken out after the Procurator Fiscal – Scotland’s public prosecutor – contacted him at the last moment to inform him that Laverty’s prosecution under the Terrorism Act 2000, part of Keir Starmer’s ‘lawfare’ war on anti-genocide and pro-Palestine speech and protest, was cancelled.

But it might be brought back.

Paul Laverty: speaking out

Paul Laverty, 68, who has a consistent record of siding with the oppressed, said:

In the last hour I have just received a hand delivered note from the Procurator Fiscal’s office cancelling my court appearance for tomorrow morning, where I intended to plead not guilty to a charge under section 13 of the Terrorism Act 2000 for wearing a t shirt with the words “Genocide in Palestine. Time to Take Action.” I am told that the charge is still pending and a final decision will taken later.

Yesterday, the 16th Sept, yet another detailed report from the UN Commission concludes that Israel is committing Genocide. It states “There is nowhere that the people of Gaza can escape slaughter.” Nowhere! It proves what Israeli Finance Minister Smotrich has said as he taunts the world with “This has no precedent and nobody is stopping us.”

This evening, at the very same time as the biggest incursion yet into Gaza kills more by the minute, the British establishment in the shape of the Crown and the UK government prostitute themselves, grovelling before the Chief Enabler of Genocide, Donald Trump. They bow before his crass vulgarity, greed and impunity. Tonight, they will have a glittering banquet in Windsor Castle, with a fly by of the RAF, the same RAF that now flies over Gaza and provides intelligence to the IDF.
Trump, and no doubt the company executives who accompany him, including Microsoft, will gorge themselves as the racist thugs with the contract to provide the misnamed humanitarian aid in Gaza, execute a percentage of the starving each day as they scramble for flour. Microsoft have just signed billion dollar plus deal with the IDF to support them in their tech capacity to subjugate the Palestinians.

What a spectacle of collusion and moral collapse. Corporate power, greed and collusion with Death are manifested in the soaring worth of the Tel Aviv Stockmarket. Please take a look at the detailed report by the UN which has published its findings in a report called “From the Economy of Occupation, to the economy of Genocide.”

It is hard to find the words in the face of this nauseating barbarism. Perhaps we have to look to the Bard once again, William Shakespeare, in his play King Lear.

“Tis the times’ plague, when madmen lead the blind.”

Paul Laverty, Edinburgh 17th of Sept ’25.

Featured image via the Canary