David Gilmour says he has “forgiven” Keir Starmer for jailing son Charlie for attack on war memorial

nme.com:

David Gilmour has looked back at the time his son, Charlie, was jailed for an attack on a war memorial, and said that he has “forgiven” Keir Starmer for the arrest.It comes after Charlie was arrested and subsequently jailed for 16 months after admitting to violent disorder during a 2010 student protest against loan fees.During the demonstration, the then-21-year-old was seen hanging from a Union flag on the Cenotaph, as well as leaping onto the bonnet of a Jaguar that formed part of a royal convoy and hurling a rubbish bin at the vehicle.At the court hearing, the jury heard that the student had drunk and taken drugs after being rejected by his biological father – writer Heathcote Williams – and had taken LSD and valium in the hours leading up to the violence.He was released from his 16-month sentence after serving four months, and his appeal judges heard that he had “successfully reformed and rehabilitated himself”, as well as had addressed the “underlying drug and alcohol problems”.Since then, Charlie – who is the biological son of Gilmour’s wife Polly Samson – has gone on to become an esteemed writer, and has had his work featured in outlets including The Evening Standard, Vogue, The Guardian, The Sunday Times and more.In 2020, he made his literary debut with the memoir Featherhood.

It was described by Vogue Italia as “a story about fathers and an exploration of masculinity’s limited emotional palette.”“It is also a splendid account of what it means to care for another being, human or otherwise, where different worlds collide and intersect in a whirlwind of uncanny coincidences,” it continued.