Graham Linehan arrested for tweets

Graham Linehan was arrested by 5 armed police officers as he arrived at Heathrow yesterday. His crime? Tweeting that a man cosplaying as a woman in a woman’s toilet is committing a violent act and must be resisted, and if all else failed ‘kicked in the b0ll0cks’.

Graham Linehan believes he knows which particularly unhinged gender activist reported his tweets to the police. That activist might be advised to reflect on whether he’s advanced his cause at all, given the backlash today. Even Owen Jones has been forced to defend Linehan’s right to say stuff Jones himself vehemently disagrees with. The only person who seems to have made a bold defence of the police is the new leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, who made a spectacle of himself on Newsnight last night by claiming it was reasonable and proportionate to send 5 coppers to intercept Linehan, keep him in custody for 18 hours and then ban him from Twitter as a bail condition.

Now even the Met Police commissioner, no less, has weighed in, demanding that the law and guidance that goes with it is changed because officers, he claims, are being forced to act in situations where he seems to think they shouldn’t have to.

This is what happens when you try to legislate what people can and can’t say, by centring the hurty feelings of people who claim that ‘words are violence.’

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1mx09l5297o

The head of the Metropolitan Police has called on the government to "change or clarify" the law following the arrest of comedian Graham Linehan over posts he made online.
The 57-year-old was arrested under the Public Order Act on Monday on suspicion of inciting violence in relation to posts about trans people on X.
On Wednesday, Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley defended the officers involved, but said he recognised "concern caused by such incidents given differing perspectives on the balance between free speech and the risks of inciting violence in the real world".

I started off posting this in the gender ideology thread but the issue is far broader than the subject Linehan chose to tweet about. We have sleep-walked into a position where police are going in mob-handed against popular comedians for making obviously satirical, if somewhat angry, social media comments. We are in danger of becoming the laughing stock of the ‘free’ world.

[Sirius]

I see we have had yet another person arrested for posting on X.

Writing on Substack, the 57-year-old said that after flying into the UK from Arizona, he was detained by five armed officers and put in a cell before being questioned over posts published on X in April.

Why did it need five armed officers and also why hand cough him. This is something we all need to get used too. Soon they will arrest you and send you for re-education and then never to be seen again. This Government will be as bad a North Korea soon.

https://news.sky.com/story/father-te...-on-x-13423717

You all best get used to this because it can only get worse now.

[papa smurf]

Originally Posted by Sirius

I see we have had yet another person arrested for posting on X.



Why did it need five armed officers and also why hand cough him. This is something we all need to get used too. Soon they will arrest you and send you for re-education and then never to be seen again. This Government will be as bad a North Korea soon.

https://news.sky.com/story/father-te...-on-x-13423717

You all best get used to this because it can only get worse now.

i'm sure the supreme leader had good reason to arrest him

Originally Posted by Sirius

I see we have had yet another person arrested for posting on X.



Why did it need five armed officers and also why hand cough him. This is something we all need to get used too. Soon they will arrest you and send you for re-education and then never to be seen again. This Government will be as bad a North Korea soon.

https://news.sky.com/story/father-te...-on-x-13423717

You all best get used to this because it can only get worse now.

Posts moved into dedicated free speech thread

[Carth]

Comedy died years ago, and has been replaced with . . well I'm not sure, but it's certainly not funny.

All thanks to people who get upset (often on behalf of others) about the odd word or two, and want everyone to hold hands and dance under the shiny rainbows.

[Pierre]

Farage currently in US, laying boot into it all.

[Carth]

Needs more of us to be laying the boot in

[Pierre]

He's actually made a very good point, and is escalating this.

His point is that Linehan made these comments/tweets whilst in the US, he is not a British citizen, he is Irish and is then arrested when entering the UK.

So this could potentially happen to anyone in the world that makes a comment on Twitter, and then visits Britain and is then arrested under British law.

and now the Met Commissioner has weighed in.

This is all ging to blow up in Yvette Coopers face I think.

[Itshim]

Originally Posted by Pierre

He's actually made a very good point, and is escalating this.

His point is that Linehan made these comments/tweets whilst in the US, he is not a British citizen, he is Irish and is then arrested when entering the UK.

So this could potentially happen to anyone in the world that makes a comment on Twitter, and then visits Britain and is then arrested under British law.

and now the Met Commissioner has weighed in.

This is all ging to blow up in Yvette Coopers face I think.

This law was dreamed up by the people we elected , no wonder this country is in such a mess . Should never have given the plebs the vote

[Sephiroth]

Farage is right about free speech in this country.

I think the law should change. Too many people are being arrested because of social media posts, and whilst I don't like a lot of them, it's not a cause for the police to turn up and arrest you. Not to mention it's a waste of police time as well.

Direct incitement or targeted abuse should be illegal. Some of these laws (and some of the laws on protest) need to be rewritten or revoked.

[thenry]

Everythings a terrorist organisation. It's kind of telling either like where you live or don't and move.

[1701-e]

https://x.com/atrupar/status/1963280...oSFJNKfFA&s=19. Farage put in his place (which isn't Clacton)

[Pierre]

Originally Posted by 1701-e

https://x.com/atrupar/status/1963280...oSFJNKfFA&s=19. Farage put in his place (which isn't Clacton)

No he wasn’t, I watched the whole thing, not just a clip. He handled himself expertly.

[Taf]

Did Starmer direct judges to come down hard on dissenters? I suppose we'll never know. But the disparity in sentencing between Connolly and Jones shows that some judges are very fickle in how they deal with direct or perceived threats against people, both online and in public.