Starmer’s Britain Is No Longer a Free Country – It’s an Orwellian Dystopia

THE TELEGRAPH: The Allison Pearson witch-hunt lays bare this country’s despicable slide into authoritarianism

We must urgently speak out, or risk having to forever hold our peace. Free speech, the foundation of our liberties and democracy, is under threat like never before – yet much of the public remains blissfully unaware of the enormity of what is being taken from us.

The shocking treatment meted out to my colleague Allison Pearson, a brilliant columnist much beloved of Telegraph readers, must serve as the final wake-up call. She recounts how two police officers came knocking at her door at 9.40am on Remembrance Sunday to inform her that she was being investigated over a post on X, formerly Twitter, published a year ago.

Still in her dressing gown, she was stunned. The officers refused to tell Pearson which of her many posts their visit related to. They wouldn’t remind her what she had written. They weren’t allowed to tell her who complained; so much for open justice. The officers weren’t to blame: they were following Kafkaesque procedures dictated by an out-of-control technocratic machine. » | Allister Heath | Wednesday, November 13, 2024

It was because I feared that we were losing our freedom of speech that I wrote this back in August, and temporarily stopped blogging. — Mark

Authoritarian Labour's Attack on Free Speech in Pubs Strikes at the HEART of British Culture

Oct 18, 2024 | NCF (New Culture Forum) Founder & Director Peter Whittle addresses Labour's latest attack on British pubs.

Ann Widdecombe | On Censorship and Freedom of Speech | Oxford Union

Jul 10, 2019

It is to be hoped that our Führer, Herr Starmer, is listening! – © Mark Alexander

Nigel Farage: This Poses the 'Biggest Threat' to Free Speech We've Seen in UK History

Aug 11, 2024 | Reform U.K. Party Leader Nigel Farage reacts to riots following the murder of three children and the U.K. government's threat to arrest and prosecute social media users who post riot-related content.

Salman Rushdie and Freedom of Speech | ARTE.tv Culture

In 2022, Salman Rushdie narrowly survived an assassination attempt by an Islamic extremist. This year's winner of the German Publishers' Peace Prize at the Frankfurt Book Fair, we interview the acclaimed writer in New York. Also in the programme: Russian journalist Elena Kostyutchenko, Slovenian authors Pia Prezelj and Suzana Tratnik, and a focus on the graphic novel “Woman, Life, Freedom" by Marjane Satrapi.

Salman Rushdie and Freedom of Speech | ARTE.tv Culture

The Escalating Frequency of Quran Burnings in Sweden and Denmark Sparks Outrage in the Muslim World

Sep 4, 2023 | The burning of the Quran in Denmark and Sweden has raised security concerns both domestically and internationally for the traditionally secular Nordic nations. Denmark has recently suggested a ban on burning all sacred texts. Could this move by Copenhagen be a solution that balances the preservation of freedom of speech while also addressing security and diplomatic challenges?

That Denmark is re-introducing a form of blasphemy law to deal with these Quran burnings is as insane as it is outrageous. This will put Denmark, once a bastion of enlightened liberal values, on a fast track to the ‘New Dark Age’ I wrote of so many years ago!

It is not difficult to understand WHY the Danish government may conclude that this is the right political decision; but it is NOT. The re-introduction of ANY form of blasphemy law is WRONG. And it is wrong in so many ways and for so many reasons.

The blasphemy law in Denmark has only relatively recently been repealed. I am pretty sure that it was never, if ever, used by the Danish Christian community. But here, we are dealing with a very different community! The Muslim community will take every opportunity to use this law against any perceived transgressor. Be sure of one thing, Denmark: The Danish courts will used by Muslims to help firmly establish Islam’s hoped-for supremacy in the country.

By re-introducing a rejigged blasphemy law into the nation’s statute books, Denmark is embarking on a new journey on a very slippery and dangerous road.

This is the beginning of the end of true freedom for the Danes. – © Mark Alexander

Finnish Politician Could Face Jail Time after Sharing Bible Verse

Aug 10, 2023 | A Finnish politician on trial for sharing her biblical views on sexuality is heading back to court later this month as her four-year legal battle stretches on. Dr. Päivi Räsänen, the embattled member of Finland’s parliament, told CBN's Faithwire [that] a hearing in a prosecutor's appeal after she was cleared of hate speech charges last year is scheduled for Aug. 31. She said she's prepared to defend herself in any and all necessary courts of law.

"It was four years ago in June 2019 when I posted a Twitter post and also to Facebook, and it was about the Pride event that was going on, and the main church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church, decided to support it officially," Räsänen said. "And it was a shock to me, and as a member of that church ... I asked the leadership of my church ... how is it possible that you are supporting something, as a matter of pride, what the Bible calls shame and sin."

Her simple social media post, which included Scripture from the Book of Romans, soon landed her in legal hot water, as a citizen made a criminal complaint. Then other past comments from Räsänen came under scrutiny. Another complaint was reportedly filed over a radio program she was on and another over an old pamphlet she wrote about same-sex relationships. Police interrogated Räsänen over her views and Finnish prosecutors decided to up the ante and file charges.

"I was first interrogated by the police altogether 13 hours," Räsänen said. "And I have to say that the situation was really absurd, because just some years ago I was a minister of interior in charge of police." Räsänen was accused of "inciting against sexual minorities," a charge which could carry two years in jail, or a fine. Listen to her story…


It seems clear to me that we, on this side of the Pond, need to have a written constitution so that we know exactly what can and cannot be said, or written.

I have raised this point before in a newspaper comment in the Telegraph. Here in the UK, there have been so many changes in the make-up of the country and in the nation's value systems, and in a very short time, that it has become very difficult to know exactly what may, or may not, be said or stated without falling foul of the law.

Americans, by contrast, do not have this problem, because they have a written constitution guaranteeing freedom of speech in the First Amendment of the US Constitution. We Brits, however, have no such clear determination or understanding of freedom of speech or expression. In the UK, it is a fudge. Yes, we have freedom of speech and freedom of expression, but with restrictions. (See here). Where there are restrictions, there is no total freedom. So the whole thing is left open to another’s interpretation of what is right and/or fair.

This might have been acceptable and workable in a bygone age, whilst the nation was made up of the indigenous peoples of the UK, who were largely Christian in belief and lifestyle. But today, this is clearly not the case. Today, we have a hotchpotch of beliefs and non-belief, and a hotchpotch of sexual orientations, too. All must somehow live together in total harmony. But for this total harmony to be facilitated, people need to know exactly where they stand and they need to know exactly what can and what cannot be said, or written. A written constitution is the answer. – © Mark Alexander

It’s Not the Police’s Job to Shut Down Political Debate. They Should Stick to Solving Crime

THE OBSERVER – OPINION: The appeals court has rightly upheld Harry Miller’s freedom to express his views

Aman gets a call from a police officer. He is told that, while he has done nothing criminal, his social media posts have offended someone, so the police have recorded them as a non-crime hate incident that may show up on criminal record checks. The officer warns that if he continues to “escalate” matters, the police may take criminal action against him, a message later reinforced by his superiors.

It may sound like something out of a police state. But this happened in Britain in 2019, in a case that led the high court judge who later ruled the actions of Humberside police force unlawful to warn them, “in this country we have never had a Cheka, a Gestapo or a Stasi”. Despite there being no evidence that Harry Miller, the man in question, might ever stray into unlawful speech, the police took action that reasonably led him to believe that he was being warned not to exercise his right to freedom of expression on pain of potential criminal prosecution; they also opined to the press that Miller’s tweets were “transphobic”.

And just before Christmas, in a landmark judgment that has attracted surprisingly little commentary from human rights lawyers given its profound implications, the court of appeal went further in ruling that the College of Policing’s guidance that the police should record all non-crime hate incidents, as perceived by those taking offence at them, is an unlawful incursion on citizens’ freedom of expression. » | Sonia Sodha | Sunday, January 2, 2022

Labour to Vote against Tory ‘Hate Speech’ Bill

THE OBSERVER: Plans to protect free speech leave universities in England and Wales ‘at risk of being sued’ by anti-vaxxers and Holocaust deniers

Government plans to “safeguard” free speech in universities would allow Holocaust deniers, anti-vaccination groups and conspiracy theorists to take legal action against higher education organisations that denied them a platform to air their views, Labour said last night.

Announcing that its MPs would vote against the higher education (freedom of speech) bill, which has its second reading in the Commons this week, Labour claimed that it was a hugely divisive and harmful “hate speech bill”.

Universities UK and the National Union of Students have also expressed grave concerns about the bill, suggesting it is wildly disproportionate, and could leave institutions and student unions wide open to costly legal actions from people making vexatious or frivolous claims that they have been denied public platforms. » | Toby Helm, Political editor | Sunday, July 11, 2021

Ian McEwan on the Burka and Freedom of Speech – BBC Newsnight

Author of the Children Act Ian McEwan gives his take on religious freedom v freedom of speech.

The Debate - US Racial Tension: How Far Should Freedom of Speech Be Allowed to Go?

Bad News in the Battle for Freedom of Speech

Ezra Levant of TheRebel.media reports more bad news in the battle for freedom of speech as the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear his appeal of the defamation judgment against him.

Robert Spencer on the Jihad Against the Freedom of Speech

On November 12, 2016, Jihad Watch director Robert Spencer spoke at the David Horowitz Freedom Center's Restoration Weekend at The Breakers in West Palm Beach, Florida, on the ongoing Islamic efforts to compel the U.S. and the West to curtail the freedom of speech.

Freedom of Speech Conference – Sweden | Hamed Abdel Samad

The conference DANGEROUS WORDS 250 was held in Stockholm October 1st, 2016, to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Swedish Freedom of the Press Act.

Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff | Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)

German Court Bans Most of Erdogan-mocking Poem

Meet the Salman Rushdie of Sweden and Other European Freedom Fighters

Ezra Levant of TheRebel.media interviews Swedish artists Dan Park and Lars Vilks, and Danish publisher Lars Hedegaard, all of whom have been attacked by both Muslims and their own governments for criticizing Islam.

Freedom of Speech in Islam? There is NONE! No Freedom of Speech or Expression in Islam

Mark Levin Responds to Bill O’Reilly on Garland Terrorist Attack

Mark Levin has heard enough when it comes to the constant drumbeat of pundits and guests making the terrorist attack against Pamela Geller’s private Drawing Muhammad event about provocation. Last night Levin defended Geller, responding to comments made by Bill O’Reilly and others, saying this isn’t about provocation or emotions or even about freedom of speech, but rather it’s about Sharia Law.

Washington DC Officials Block Muhammad Subway Cartoon

Ms Geller is an outspoken critic of Islam

BBC AMERICA: Transport officials in Washington DC have blocked plans by an American free speech pressure group to have a controversial cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad displayed on the subway.

The American Freedom Defense Initiative wanted to display the cartoon, which won first prize at an event in Texas.

Two gunmen were shot dead by police outside the event earlier this month.

Washington transport authorities on Thursday banned political, religious and advocacy adverts on the subway.

The transport authority in the US capital voted unanimously to suspend advertisements it describes as "issue-oriented".

AFDI founder Pamela Geller strongly criticised the decision to ban the advert, describing it as an attack on free[dom] of speech.

Ms Geller commented on her website that "rewarding terror with submission is defeat, absolute and complete defeat. "These cowards may claim that they are making people safer, but I submit to you the opposite. They are making it far more dangerous for Americans everywhere."

The advert calls for Americans to support free speech and features a bearded, turban-wearing Muhammad waving a sword and shouting: "You can't draw me!"

In reply, a cartoon bubble portrays an artist grasping a pencil and saying: "That's why I draw you." » | Friday, May 29, 2015

JIHAD WATCH: Assassin’s veto: Washington Transit Authority shuts down free speech, suspends all issue-related ads » | Robert Spencer | Thursday, May 28, 2015