Train conductor sacked for referring to ‘alcohol-free caliphate’ on Facebook
by Archbishop Cranmer:
Jeremy Sleath had worked for West Midlands Trains for 17 years. He was a Senior Conductor who had served his employer faithfully and admirably. He was sacked in September 2020, at the end of the national Covid-19 lockdown, for writing on his personal Facebook account: “Thank F*** our pubs open up today. We cannot let our way of life become like some sort of Muslim alcohol-free caliphate just to beat Covid19.”
There was a time when one might have sacked for using the F-word in public, but Jeremy Sleath has been sacked for using a simile. He enjoys his pub and likes his beer, you see, and found the interminable Covid lockdown to be like a “Muslim alcohol-free caliphate”.
You can quibble over the tautology if you wish: a caliphate is Islamic, so he didn’t need to say ‘Muslim’; and yes, he could have said, “We cannot let our way of life become like some sort of Methodist alcohol-free evangelical conference”, but he didn’t: he referred to an “alcohol-free caliphate”, and so he was sacked.
After 17 years of loyal service.
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