Here's my @spectator column, 'Sally Rooney and an unexpected upside of the Palestine Action ban' spectator.com/article/sally-… The advice on which former Home Secretary Yvette Cooper based her proscription of Palestine Action has never been published. My assumption is that it outlined the organisation’s behaviour and its implications for national security. That’s all well and good. But it turns out that proscribing Palestine Action (PA) has had follow-on benefits which make Cooper’s decision seem even more laudable. We’ve all seen the protests, when PA supporters who couldn’t place Palestine on a map sit motionless on the ground with their PA placards. They call it civil disobedience, but which of us hasn’t thought what a simple, peaceful way it would be to clear these awful people not just off the streets but out of society itself. If only the police and the Crown Prosecution Service would just arrest them en masse; they could be dumped in prison and we could then forget about them. But news has emerged this week of one of the greatest side-benefits ever of a ministerial decision. The Guardian reports that: “Sally Rooney says she can no longer sell books in UK due to Palestine Action support: Irish writer of Normal People says she can no longer receive royalties from British sales and she cancelled UK trip due to fear of arrest.” If politicians were given performance bonuses then Yvette Cooper would surely be a millionaire for this wonderful gift she has handed to Britain by banning PA. Rooney said last year after the ban that she would hand over some of her royalties to the organisation, which then led her to cancel a trip to collect an award (the mind boggles) for fear of being arrested under the Terrorism Act. She issued this statement on Wednesday: “[F]ulfilment of contracts to publish my work in the UK could now constitute a serious criminal offence. After a process of consultation and deliberation, and with my full agreement, my publisher Faber has therefore determined that it can no longer supply my work within the UK.” It seems that Rooney has also given a statement to the high court as part of PA’s legal challenge to its proscription. In it, she says her books could be removed from UK shops and the publication of new books in the UK could be prevented. I am, however, confused. If she is trying to have the ban overturned, surely she should not be making arguments that make it seem an even more attractive idea? Rooney has gone the whole hog and pledged to support Palestine Action financially. Most of the usual suspects who queue up to sign whatever statement is doing the rounds about Palestine and the evils of the Zionists have said how much they deplore the proscription (although as for handing over their cash…no thank you!). The likes of Paul Weller, Yusuf/Cat Stevens, Paloma Faith, Tilda Swinton, Steve Coogan, Miriam Margolyes, Juliet Stevenson, Julia Sawalha, Frankie Boyle, Alexei Sayle, Mike Leigh, Michael Rosen and Ken Loach have all signed such round robin letters. As has – of course! – Greta Thunberg. Sally Rooney has shown the way by promising to leave the rest of us alone; she’s worried she’ll do time otherwise. (I really don’t want to risk her changing her mind by telling her that you don’t do time any more here unless you murder someone, and even then you’re let out before anyone’s really noticed you’ve been away.) So I’ve a modest proposal. Let’s treat signing a statement opposing the proscription of Palestine Action as full-on support for PA. With a headwind and some luck, most of the Slebs for Palestine will pack up and go, fearing arrest. And if they don’t, let’s turn their fears into reality. Imagine a world where we never have to hear or see from any of them again. Even I’d be grateful to Palestine Action.