James O'Brien signs off feisty caller with a ‘love to the family’
13 September 2022, 13:10
James O'Brien tells caller he is speaking 'gibberish'.
James O'Brien has an explosive encounter with a listener who called for a ‘ban on paper’ to stop people protesting against the monarchy.
After a man was threatened with arrest - for holding a blank piece of paper and asking police what would happen if he wrote ‘not my king’ on it in Parliament Square - James asked for opinions from his listeners.
Nick in Brentford called in and he started by saying: “That guy must have goaded the police officer… how else did he know what he was going to write?”
James enlightened the caller telling him what happened in Parliament Square: “He said [to a police officer]… other people have been arrested for writing ‘not my king’ on a piece of paper, what would happen to me if I did so here?”
The caller insisted: “He would be arrested and rightly so”
James came back saying: “Arrested for what?” The caller replied: “For possibly causing distress.”
Later on in the conversation the caller said: “We’ve got a police force and we are not allowing them to police.
“You’re whipping up the trouble,” the caller shouts at James.
James: "No you are, you want to arrest people for possession of paper."
The caller continued to shout: “If I was the police I would arrest you for causing trouble”.
Man said he was warned he risked arrest if he wrote ‘not my King’ on placard
Ignoring the hypothetical arrest James inquired: “If ‘not my king’ is an arrestable offence…what should you be allowed to write on the paper?”
“Long live the king,” he responded, James went on to point out that that also could cause offence.
In response the caller said: “To my mind, it is the Queen’s death, nobody should be holding up paper saying anything.”
“So you’re going to ban paper?” James questioned the caller and in defence the caller replied: “Oh don’t be stupid, come on you’re above this.”
James argued: “Above what? You are talking absolute gibberish. You just called for a ban on paper!”
After the explosive encounter James O’Brien signed off the call saying: “Love to the family Nick.”
To which the caller responded: “Yeah and you.”
