It’s easy to cheer the judge who used the C-word. But we shouldn’t | Simon Jenkins

Her reaction may be understandable, but it was wrong – and sending a troubled man to prison is likely to make his problems worse

So a woman judge is abused as “a bit of a cunt” who should “go fuck yourself” by a racist thug whom she has just jailed. She hits back that he too is “a bit of a cunt” and he too should fuck off. To adapt Oscar Wilde on the death of Little Nell, it would take a heart of stone not to cheer.

Judge Patricia Lynch QC has duly become a hero to the retributive classes. Give...