When Speaking One's Mind Leads to a Prison Term

"If a trans-identified male is in  female-only space, he is committing a violent, abusive act."

"Make a scene, call the cops and if all else fails, punch  him in the balls." 

Irish writer Graham Linehan 'Father Ted sitcom creator'

Irish comedy writer Graham Linehan,  Reuters

 

"The Graham Linehan case is yet another example of the war on freedom in the U.K. Free speech is under assault, and I am urging the U.S.A. to be vigilant."

"[Britain is in a] really awful authoritarian situation. At what point did we become North Korea?" 

"Well I think the Irish comedy writer found that out two days ago at Heathrow Airport. This is a genuinely worrying, concerning and shocking situation."

Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK 

 

"It is routine for officers policing airports to carry firearms. These were not drawn or used at any point during the arrest."

"[The law needs changing; officers would now pursue social media posts only] where there is a clear risk of harm or disorder. Where there is ambiguity in terms of intent and harm, policing has been left between a rock and a hard place by successive governments who have given officers no choice but to record such incidents as crimes when they're reported."

"I don't believe we should be policing toxic culture war debates."

Metropolitan Police Chief Mark Rowley 

Protesters gather outside the Old Bailey, London, on August 22, where six people appeared over charges relating to a Palestine Action protest at Israeli-linked firm Elbit Systems.

Ben Whitley/PA/AP

 

In the United Kingdom, where posting social media statements can haunt people to the extent that they may be arrested and charged and imprisoned -- from housewives to teenagers incautious enough to post how they feel about controversial social issues in a Britain whose laws have been interpreted to the point where police are tasked with monitoring social media to isolate and 'catch' people believing they have a moral and ethical right as citizens of a free country to remark on issues they find fault with -- soon discover how wrong they've been.

 

Emmy award-winning comedy writer Graham Lineham revealed that he had been arrested by five armed police officers at Heathrow Airport on Monday over his social media posts. The Metropolitan Police issued their own statement that a man had been arrested on arriving on a flight from the United States, on suspicion of inciting violence through posts on the X platform.

 

Prime Minister Starmer handled this hot potato by relieving himself of any responsibility, speaking to Parliament several days later, that "we have a long history of free speech in this country ... we must ensure the police focus on the most serious issues". 

 

The arrest, pointed out Mr. Linehan, related to three of his messages on X. JK Rowling, the Harry Potter creator, spoke of the arrest as "utterly deplorable", a "totalitarian" response to an innocent series of posts. The issue gave X owner Elon Musk yet another opportunity to criticize the "police state" that Britain has become. Mr. Musk's frequent and incendiarily contemptful posts highlighting the British/Pakistani rape culture that has entrapped young British girls which the British government has failed to adequately and appropriately react to, has highlighted the plight of a Western country steeped in identity politics.

 

The government is clearly confused over which issues bedevilling its society require attention and which can be set aside. Its banning of the campaign group Palestine Action as a terrorist group following activists breaking into a U.K. airbase and damaging planes and the subsequent arrests of hundreds who agitate for the group and harass and threaten British Jews is in another category altogether, although government officials and police by extension have failed to make that distinction.

 

Issues relating to swarms of migrants entering the United Kingdom, crossing in small boats through the English Channel from France, leaving the government to put them up in hotels has created other distinct problems for both the populace and government agencies when the occasional migrant resident of those crammed hotels commits a criminal act -- usually of a sexually abusive nature, and often targeting underage girls, leading to massive protests against their presence. 

 

Last year a woman was sentenced to 31 months in prison for having written "set fire to all the ... hotels [housing asylum seekers] ... for all I care." She was accused and found guilty of inciting to violence, an interpretation of a passive expression of disgust and irritation that travelled far from its intention.

 

During a White House meeting with Starmer in February, U.S. Vice-President JD Vance raised the issue. 

For Nigel Farage, Linehan's arrest was "rather timely" in regard to his invitation to give evidence this week before the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee at a hearing on "European threats to free speech".

 

As for Mr. Linehan,  who has denied the charge that his posts represented "a call to violence" targeting trans women, he has been released on bail. But he is in no way in the clear, having appeared at London's Westminster Magistrates Court a day later, in an entirely different case, facing charges of harassment and criminal damage against a trans woman. The 57-year-old comic published a series of "abusive and vindictive" posts about Sophia Brooks, 18, the Court heard.

 

His posts included speaking of the complainant - whom he referred to as Tarquin - as a "deeply disturbed sociopath" and a "domestic terrorist". Linehan had posted that the activist was "behind countless episodes of harassment of women and gay men both online and off", and that "he is a deeply disturbed sociopath and I believe he had some involvement in an homophobic attack".

 

TV comedy producer Graham Linehan is shown on May 12 in London, wearing a T-shirt celebrating a recent U.K. Supreme Court ruling. (Lucy North/PA/The Associated Press)