God save the Queen

Via aaronovitch watch I see that the two cartoonists in Spain have been convicted for insulting the royal family:

"Under Spanish law, introduced in 1995, anybody who insults the royal family can face up to two years in prison.

The public prosecutor argued that the cartoon was "clearly degrading and objectively defaming" and was "obviously an attack" against "the honour" of the prince because of "the deliberate and unjustified use of his image, in evident and conscious contempt of the Crown, causing notable hurt to its institutional prestige"."

The ridiculous nature of this sort of special protection from offence ties in rather nicely with my post on the blasphemy law. It also provides Bruschettaboy an opportunity to have a go at the 'Decents' which is always welcome.