Poor Stephen Green

Poor old Stephen Green! There he is, this upright Christian, director of Christian Voice, fighting the good fight with all his might against the right of people to televise and show such entertainments as Jerry Springer: The Opera, and what does he get? Grief, that's what he gets. The poor dear.

You can read here how upset he is about having to cough up for his own legal actions (it's a press release he's probably written himself). Now he says he's facing bankruptcy because of it. He – or his press release – goes on:

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.

The costs order is better than it could have been; the BBC originally demanded almost £78,000 after instructing David Pannick QC, probably the most expensive barrister they could find, while Thoday wanted over £58,000.

The money is due to be paid today, but Stephen Green doesn't have it.

He has written to both Mark Thompson and Jonathan Thoday inviting them to waive their costs in the interests of goodwill and justice.

Green, you'll remember, interpreted a splat of bird shit on his shirt as a sign from God that he shouldn't take part in an interview. Somehow, you're just not surprised that loonies like that can be stupid enough to try to prosecute perfectly legitimate theatre and television. Not only did he help to ensure an end to Britain's blasphemy laws by his actions, but he's lost a fortune in the process.

If you want to see the bird-shit incident, click on the video below.