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London
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\n Armed police officers are a rare sight in Britain<\/a>, but the Irish comedian Graham Linehan was met by five of them when he landed at London\u2019s Heathrow Airport from Arizona on Monday, before being arrested, searched and questioned.\n <\/p>\n \n The reason? Three posts he wrote on X in April, Linehan claimed on his Substack.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIf a trans-identified male is in a female-only space, he is committing a violent, abusive act,\u201d Linehan wrote in one of them, in reference to trans women. \u201cMake a scene, call the cops and if all else fails, punch him in the balls.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Without naming Linehan \u2013 the co-creator of the sitcom \u201cFather Ted\u201d who is a gender critical activist \u2013 London\u2019s Metropolitan Police confirmed it had arrested a man in his 50s \u201con suspicion of inciting violence.\u201d Linehan denied that his posts were \u201ca call to violence\u201d against trans women and has been released on bail.\n <\/p>\n \n For Nigel Farage<\/a>, the populist leader of the hard-right Reform UK party, Linehan\u2019s arrest was \u201crather timely.\u201d He had been invited to give evidence before the US House of Representative\u2019s Judiciary Committee in Washington on Wednesday, for a hearing on \u201cEuropean threats to free speech.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Farage, who said he arrived from \u201cthe land of Magna Carta,\u201d now had what he felt was a smoking gun \u2013 more proof that the UK is sliding into what he called a \u201creally awful authoritarian situation.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cAt what point did we become North Korea?\u201d Farage asked US lawmakers. \u201cWell, I think the Irish comedy writer found that out two days ago at Heathrow Airport.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n While the insurgent Farage needs little excuse to chip away at the flailing Labour government of Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Linehan\u2019s arrest is the latest in a series of incidents that have fueled a furious debate about Britain\u2019s laws on free speech \u2013 one that has put it in the crosshairs of the Trump administration.\n <\/p>\n \n Speaking at the Munich Security Conference in February, US Vice President JD Vance rattled off multiple cases in Britain that he said proved free speech was \u201cin retreat\u201d there. Last month, the US State Department published a report<\/a> claiming that human rights in Britain have \u201cworsened\u201d over the past year, citing \u201cserious restrictions\u201d on free speech.\n <\/p>\n \n Although Britain has no codified constitution, and hence no equivalent of the First Amendment to enshrine freedom of speech, the country has had free speech \u201cfor a very, very long time,\u201d as Starmer has stressed during his meetings with the US president.\n <\/p>\n \n But its laws around free speech comprise a cluster of acts \u2013 some decades old \u2013 which critics say are struggling to keep pace with digital technology.\n <\/p>\n \n In a high-profile case last year, Lucy Connolly, a mother and former nanny, was sentenced to 31 months in prison for a post she sent on X while Britain was convulsed by anti-immigration riots.\n <\/p>\n \n The riots were sparked by the murder of three schoolgirls by Axel Rudakubana, the British son of Rwandan migrants. Misinformation<\/a> about the identity of the attacker prompted mass demonstrations outside the hotels Britain uses to house asylum seekers<\/a>, some of which turned violent.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cMass deportations now, set fire to all the f\u2013\u2013king hotels full of the bastards for all I care,\u201d Connolly wrote in June 2024. \u201cIf that makes me racist so be it.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Connolly was convicted under the Public Order Act of 1986, which criminalizes distributing threatening and abusive material intending to \u201cstir up racial hatred.\u201d She was released last month after serving 40% of her prison term.\n <\/p>\n \n While many on the British right decry that citizens can be imprisoned for social media posts, lawyers have stressed that such speech would have been illegal before the advent of social media.\n <\/p>\n \n Whether shouted from Speakers\u2019 Corner in Hyde Park or written on X, inciting violence can be criminal in the United Kingdom. \u201cIt is possible to cross the line into criminality by words alone,\u201d Max Hill, formerly director of public prosecutions for England and Wales, told the BBC Wednesday. \u201cTweeting that you should set fire to all the hotels containing migrants \u2026 is crossing that line very clearly.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Although Connolly pleaded guilty to the charge against her, she has since claimed<\/a> she was a \u201cpolitical prisoner,\u201d becoming a cause c\u00e9l\u00e8bre for the online right.\n <\/p>\n \n Farage said he hoped to bring her with him to Congress on Wednesday. \u201cSadly, the restrictions that have been put on her banned her from making the trip, which is a very, very great shame,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n \n Although much of the fury has been fanned by the right, Starmer\u2019s government has also come under fire from the left, with pro-Palestinian activists also claiming their speech is being unfairly policed.\n <\/p>\n \n After activists with the Palestine Action group broke into Britain\u2019s largest airbase in June and damaged two military aircraft, the British government designated the group a terrorist organization. Under the Terrorism Act 2000, terrorism includes action involving \u201cserious damage to property\u201d in support of a political objective.\n <\/p>\n \n Because supporting terror organizations is also proscribed, protesters aligned with Palestine Action have since been targeted. Police arrested 466 people<\/a> in a single day during a protest in London in August.\n <\/p>\n![\"Britain's](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/2025-09-03t154909z-738548041-rc2fkgalgwv4-rtrmadp-3-usa-trump-farage.JPG\")
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