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Attacks on free speech are continuing apace in the English-speaking world.

Nowhere is this dangerous trend more prevalent than in the United Kingdom, the birthplace of free speech.

There, attacks on freedom of speech have taken almost a comedic twist, with a popular comedian and writer, Graham Linehan, revealing he was apprehended by five armed police officers after stepping off a flight in the UK.

This is the man behind legendary TV comedies like Father Ted, Black Books and The IT Crowd.

Linehan was arrested, locked in a cell, and interrogated by police this week, immediately after landing at London Heathrow.

His crime?

Making jokes about activists.

Warped Reality

Linehan claims the officers asked him to explain three social media posts he made in April, where he jokingly mocked transgender activists and their attempts to invade women’s spaces.

We won’t repeat the off-colour tweets here – he is a comedian after all.

But off-colour or not, Linehan should be free to say what he wishes, both in his role as a comedian and as a free citizen.

That’s what free speech means: The right of people to say things that others may find upsetting or offensive.

But this affair is not just troubling because Linehan’s jokes should be protected by free speech – he was targeted because his statements offended a particular radical ideology.

But not only is the belief that men cannot become women shared by the vast majority of Britons, it is a statement that is recognised by the UK Supreme Court and protected under the Equality Act.

Yet none of this seemed to matter to the authorities, who increasingly appear to be acting at the behest of transgender activists.

Unfortunately, police in the UK are behaving less like impartial upholders of the law and more like enforcers of a narrow ideological agenda.

Moreover, as in Linehan’s case, more and more people are facing professional punishment for their freedom of speech or freedom of religion.

The growing tide of anti-free speech sentiment is creeping through our institutions, even here in Australia.

We see it with Dr Jillian Spencer, who was stood down for voicing her beliefs, and we see it with Jasmine Sussex, who faces a vilification case for taking a stand.

As for Linehan, he has now been released on bail, on the condition that he does not use the social media platform X.

Those who sought to silence him seem to have succeeded.

But here, as in the UK, the fight to save freedom of speech is far from over.

In fact, it’s only just begun.

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Republished with thanks to the Human Rights Law Alliance. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.