Ollie Robinson’s ritual humiliation

One of the more egregious innovations of Chairman Mao’s cultural revolution was something called the ‘struggle sessions’. This involved the ritual public humiliation of anybody the local bigwigs had turned against — often in sports stadiums. The elderly Yangtze swimmer would have smiled approvingly at what has happened to Ollie Robinson, the England fast bowler who was forced to read out an apology on the eve of his first Test match for some daft and obnoxious remarks he made eight years ago on Twitter.

He has now been banned, and something with the sinister title of the ‘integrity unit’ is poised to investigate further. But investigate what exactly? Had Robinson done a couple of years inside for, say, robbery all those years ago, you wouldn’t be allowed to mention it under the terms of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act. That’s a real crime with real victims. But a bit of rubbish, however grubby, on social media? It seems wholly out of proportion for Robinson’s Test career to be placed in jeopardy.