People Are Being Thrown In U.K. Prisons Over What They’ve Said Online. Can Free Speech Be Saved?

“The recent arrest at London’s Heathrow airport of a noted Irish comedian, Graham Linehan, for the “crime” of three politically incorrect tweets vividly illustrates how far Britain has fallen. After being detained for several hours, Linehan was released on the condition he not post any more tweets until his case is adjudicated.

Starting with the Magna Carta in 1215, when nobles first curbed the unlimited powers of the monarch who has ever since been dubbed “Bad King John,” England, in fits and starts, began the trek toward individual rights that happily set it apart from other European powers. In the 1600s the British parliament firmly established its predominance over the king, while Europe saw the rise of absolute monarchies in the then-great continental powers of Spain and France.

The growth of property rights in England was summed up in the phrase, “A man’s home is his castle.”

The American colonies took this trend to its logical conclusion with the Declaration of Independence, whose 250th anniversary we celebrate next year. Thankfully, the U.S. Constitution contains the First Amendment, guaranteeing the right of free speech.

What a contrast this right is with what’s now happening in the Sceptred Isle. For years, the U.K. has, with increasing vigor, been curbing what one is allowed to say, all in the name of fighting racism, sexism, Islamophobia, transgenderism, climate-change denial and whatever else the woke extremists conjure up. In actions one expects from China and North Korea, British police zealously examine social media messages and individual utterances for any deviation from the reigning woke orthodoxy. Police are making more than 30 arrests a day over what they deem to be offensive online posts, retweets or cartoons. That’s 12,000 arrests a year.

A few months ago, police arrested a couple for messages shared in a WhatsApp chat group as six officers searched their home. Authorities arrested a grandmother for silently holding a sign outside an abortion clinic that said “Coercion is a crime, here to talk, if you want.”

Woe to those who are deemed guilty. The wife of a conservative politician was sentenced to 31 months in prison for what police said was an unacceptable post. In contrast, a child molester was sentenced to 21 months in the slammer.

Last year London’s Metropolitan Police chief threatened to seek extradition of Americans and other foreigners so that he could jail them if they were deemed to have violated the country’s rules for online content.

A glaring example of this “wokeness” was exposed earlier this year by Elon Musk when he put the spotlight on how British authorities have for years turned a blind eye to notorious rape gangs made up primarily of Pakistani Muslim men who prey on vulnerable young girls. Musk was pilloried by the woke crowd for making this an issue. If not for his prominence, he most certainly would have been prosecuted. Thanks to Musk’s pressure, however, the British prime minister finally reversed course and ordered a probe. An extensive investigation has already found the scandal to be uglier and more widespread than previously supposed.

The big question is whether Britain can pull itself out of this moral sewer. If it can, it would be a powerful example for similarly infected countries.”

DANGER LOOMS