What happened to free speech in this country? It seems to be seriously under threat in Britain. Is Britain becoming an authoritarian Stasi-like East German police state under Starmer's Labour government? Increasingly we are seeing members of the public being investigated by the police for comments they have left on social media.
Helen Jones, a 54-year-old grandmother from Stockport says she was left feeling scared and intimidated to post on social media after she was visited at home by two plain clothes police officers after making a comment about a councillor involved with the 'Trigger Me Timbers' group. Helen, a school administrator, called on a councillor to resign after she had read some of the vile and disgusting messages that had been posted by the group. The police told her that they were acting on a complaint of harassment but wouldn't say who had made the complaint.
Although Helen was told by the officers from Greater Manchester Police (GMP) that she had committed no crime, she told a national newspaper: "It was actually quite scary. It made me think I best just keep quiet for the rest of my life, because you just can't say anything these days."
Being a journalist today in Britain is also becoming increasingly perilous. This is the latest in a string of incidents where the police have investigated people for their social media posts. The newspaper columnist Allison Pearson, of the Daily Telegraph and the feminist writer Julie Bindel, have both been investigated by the police for expressing comments and opinions on social media.
I know of some pro-Palestinian activists who have been arrested and charged with terrorist offences for tweets posted on Twitter, now called X. Others have been arrested and locked up for merely sharing a post on Facebook.
Duncan Smith, the former Conservative Prime Minister, described the police action as 'pathetic' and called them the "thoughtless thought police", adding: "It's a waste of police time. It's absurd that they went to speak to her. They should have dismissed it on the spot."
Toby Young, director of the Free Speech Union, said: "This is typical of the weird authoritarian atmosphere that has grown up in Britain since Sir Keir Starmer took control. Good luck persuading GMP to send two police officers to your house if you're burgled or your car is stolen."
We already have laws on defamation and now we seem to have the Orwellian thought police investigating thought crime and thought criminals.
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1 comment:
It is worrying how the state seem to be using the police to limit freedom of speech.
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