Shamed by Shamima

Shamima Begum is British. She should have come home years ago

If I were judged by my behaviour as a 15-year-old, they'd have locked me up and thrown away the key. One of the great blessings of the world I grew up in is that teenage indiscretions were quickly consigned to history and forgotten. Not any more. It's why responsible parents must surely discourage their children from posting on social media, at least under their own name: any hint of unpleasantness will follow them round for their whole life.

In the case of Shamima Begum, it was more than an imprudent post. She was persuaded to trudge off to Syria with two mates to become an Isis bride. She must since have had about the worst six years you could possibly imagine, including bearing and bearing the deaths of three children. And the death of her first "husband". And, more recently, life in one of the most grisly prison camps the world has to offer. But, rather than show any compassion, we've stolen her citizenship from her, a treatment I didn't even know was possible until then.

It all seems rather reminiscent of Iran's cruel exploitation of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. She is being made an example of. Does anyone in Britain really think she would be a threat? It seems likely she is telling the truth when she says she's had enough of jihadism, and if anyone was genuinely worried, she could be put on probation in Britain. But the threat she poses in not the point: this is the Tory government showing how tough it is. And, I fear, bigoted: if she were Jemima Biggins, she'd have been back in a trice. Or, if not, the country would have been up in arms.