Graham Linehan laughed as he walked into a farce not even a comedian would make up - "“In a country where paedophiles escape sentencing, where knife crime is out of control, where women are assaulted and harassed every time they gather to speak, the state had mobilised five armed officers to arrest a comedy writer for this tweet,” Linehan later wrote on his Substack, after being released from custody almost 12 hours later. “And no, I promise you, I am not making this up.”... The Metropolitan Police initially said Linehan had been arrested on suspicion of “inciting violence”, fuelling a backlash across the political spectrum and into the US. But as more details began to emerge throughout Tuesday, anger became infused with a sense of bewilderment as to what crime he was supposed to have committed. The force later clarified that he had, in fact, been arrested for the offence of intentionally stirring up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation under Part 3A of the Public Order Act 1986. The only problem was that Linehan did not appear to have made any comments about anyone’s sexual orientation and Law Commission guidance states that being transgender is not covered under so-called “stirring up offences”... A nurse came to check on him and found his blood pressure had skyrocketed and he was immediately taken to hospital. Linehan claimed the doctors said the high blood pressure was “stress-related”. “I feel it may also have been a contributing factor that I have now spent eight years being targeted by trans activists”, Linehan later reflected... Allies and critics alike joined forces to defend Linehan’s right to free speech, including JK Rowling... Graham Stringer, a veteran Labour MP, said it was a “shocking abuse of police powers and resources and a real threat to freedom of speech”. “It’s extraordinary,” he added. His colleague, Jonathan Hinder, a former police officer, said the case showed policing “needs a serious reset to get the priorities right”... “I was arrested at an airport like a terrorist, locked in a cell like a criminal, taken to hospital because the stress nearly killed me, and banned from speaking online.” He added: “To me, this proves one thing beyond doubt: the UK has become a country that is hostile to freedom of speech, hostile to women, and far too accommodating to the demands of violent, entitled, abusive men.”"
The arrest of gender-critical Graham Linehan is insane - "Armed police are usually reserved for suspects who may be dangerous, not for people who tweet controversial stuff... He has paid a heavy price for his views, which is why he now lives in the States. The comedy world dumped him. His marriage broke up. This once-fêted writer of Father Ted, The IT Crowd and Black Books became persona non grata within the industry. Few stood by him, as it is compulsory in the word of the arts and media to mouth the dogmas. “Trans women are women. Trans men are men, and non-binary is valid.” To veer from the catechism is to risk being ostracised, to have one’s livelihood take away, to become a pariah. This is what happened to him... Remember we live in a culture where it appears to be OK to carry signs that say “Decapitate Terfs” amongst other threats that explicitly call for violence against women... The trans lobby has operated by first of all having a “no-debate” policy, and is now cracking down on language. Everyone has to go along with delusion rather than reality. We are currently in the middle of the Sandie Peggie tribunal, where the lawyer of her trans adversary, Dr Upton, has asked and the tribunal has accepted that this biological male must never be referred to by his birth name Theo, but only as Beth. Peggie was subjected to a suspension and disciplinary investigation by her employers, NHS Fife, after she objected to sharing the hospital’s female changing room with Upton. Linehan alleges that when he was questioned by the police, they were using trans “activist language”, such as gender being “assigned at birth” and so on. Such language is contested. Language is one of the areas that gender-critical folk, or indeed anyone interested in reality, have pushed back on. Those involved in the so-called “gender wars” have been drawn into issues around free speech arguments because often we are refusing to use compelled speech. Rejecting daft phrases like “chest-feeding’ , “gender assigned at birth” or even “non-binary” means rejecting the concepts and faith that underpins them. This is our right to free expression and fundamentally, free thought. Linehan has that right."
"Decapitate TERFs" is not inciting violence, naturally. Just as two tier policing is a myth
Linehan’s arrest was meant to scare you into silence - "According to him, police used trans “activist” language when interviewing him. The Metropolitan Police initially claimed Linehan had been arrested “on suspicion of inciting violence”, before clarifying that he had actually been arrested for the offence of “intentionally stirring up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation”. It is hard to understand how Graham’s tweets could possibly meet this definition. Male trans activists are normally quick to reject suggestions that their desire to present as women is “autogynephilia”, a sexual preference. But the 2010 law under which he was arrested makes no mention of trans identities. Indeed, the Free Speech Union has already announced that it is helping Graham sue the Metropolitan Police for wrongful arrest and false imprisonment, saying they intend to challenge the police’s “Gestapo tactics”. Arrests like this have a sinister effect. Graham will not be charged, and may well win his legal action against the police. But how many other, less famous people will think twice before criticising trans ideologues, or some other group protected by the British state. If the threatened new Islamophobia definition is as bad as feared, might ordinary people who post or speak about Pakistani rape gangs find worry they’ll be arrested when return from a holiday? The uncertainty, and the fear, will stifle free speech. Excuses are already being made. Sir Mark Rowley, the Met Police Commissioner has blamed politicians, saying that his “officers are currently in an impossible position” because of successive governments’ refusal to “clarify” law and policy. This morning the Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, insisted that free speech has not been banned, and tried to shift the debate to one of policing priorities. This idea, that the police are just blindly enforcing the law, is nonsense. Again and again we see that the police are selective in who they target. Some beliefs, some sides of arguments are protected while others are targeted. The state has its favoured ideologies and communities, which it deploys its power to defend. Trans ideology is one such favoured belief. We’ve seen this “two-tier” approach for years now. In 2020, after months of being told that public gatherings would mean mass deaths, an exception was made for Black Lives Matter. Last summer, while white British rioters were arrested, prosecuted and remanded, we saw footage of a “police liaison officer” reassuring a crowd of ethnic minority counter-protestors outside a mosque that they wouldn’t be arrested and should “discard” any weapons at said mosque. In July, Essex Police escorted Stand Up To Racism protestors into a “flashpoint” with locals at the Bell Hotel in Epping. Just this weekend a woman was arrested after raising a Union flag at an Epping District Council building. The video of her arrest seems to show her laughing at how ridiculous the arrest is. In every case I’m sure the police can point to a law which they are applying. But step back, and the pattern is clear. Groups and people who the regime sees as its allies are protected, or have their law breaking excused. Those who challenge the state’s orthodoxies face its full might. I used to believe that the British state was basically fair, that the justice system tried to treat everyone equally. Perhaps that was once the case. But now we live in a nation which has officially said that “concern over mass migration is terrorist ideology”. The lines of debate, and discord are clear. People are choosing sides. The police have made their choice clear, as much of the state has. They intend to crush those who oppose them. In America there’s rising horror at how unfree Britain has become"
Graham Linehan’s arrest suggests even Met Police chiefs don’t know the law - "Harry Miller, a former police officer who set up the organisation Fair Cop, to remove politics from policing said: “It appears from Sir Mark Rowley’s statement that even he – the most senior officer in the country – does not understand the law. “Trans-identifying men do not possess a protected characteristic and have no right to be protected from offence by an armed wing of the state.” He went on: “Officers need to learn the law, understand the law, and apply the law, rather than going off on these reckless flights of fancy.”... Mr Linehan, who was bailed by police on condition he does not post on X, has announced his intention to sue the Met Police for wrongful arrest and a breach of his freedom of speech."
Suella Braverman MP on X - "There’s a pattern here. The Met Chief refused to intervene and arrest pro Palestinian marchers who were shouting antisemitic chants and harassing members of the public on a regular basis. He blamed the law. But he says he has no choice but to arrest someone over a gender-critical tweet. Even though I made clear in guidance that such language was entirely lawful - a view which has been upheld by the Supreme Court. The Met Chief has chosen a side in the culture wars. And it’s not the side of the patriotic majority. As I said last year, he has to go."
Thread by @babybeginner on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - "JK Rowling writes in defense of women and gets these messages sent to her. These are ok. Graham Lineham stands up for her and other women. And he has five officers come to the airport to arrest him. I’ll show you his posts below... I don’t know if any of my UK friends are allowed to speak up at all. They must be terrified. For all of them who cannot speak, we will. Shout it with me!!!! I STAND WITH GLINNER. The UK protects the men who harm women and arrests the men who protect us."
Sending death threats to JK Rowling is brave and stunning. Making a joke about trans people is inciting violence
British Comedian Arrested For Criticizing Transgenderism Wears Signs Criticizing Transgenderism To Court - "The man who pushed for Linehan's arrest is a 6-foot-tall former cop who likes to harass people for not believing he is a woman. Alex Horwood changed his name to "Lynsay Watson" and served with the Leicestershire Police until 2023, when he was fired for gross misconduct. He reportedly tried to destroy an officer's reputation by labelling the man "a woman-beater and a Nazi" during a year-and-a-half-long social media campaign."
Graham Linehan accuser ‘is disgraced transgender police officer’ - "Watson was sacked by Leicestershire Police after being found guilty by a misconduct hearing of sending former police officer Harry Miller more than 1,200 messages over an 18-month period, branding him a “Nazi”, a “bigot” and a “wife-beater”... Helen Joyce, a writer and women’s rights campaigner, said she was also reported to the authorities and now has a police investigation for “harassment” on her record... "The police have swallowed trans ideology hook, line and sinker, with the result that extremist trans activists have been able to deploy officers like a private militia to harass and silence anyone who stands up to them.”... This use of judicial review was not an isolated approach. Watson also reported Stuart Campbell, a Scottish gender-critical campaigner, to Greater Manchester Police in 2023 over a series of social media posts. Mr Campbell, who admitted to an “abrasive” writing style, had offered thoughts on the murder of transgender teenager Brianna Ghey, writing in one Twitter post that: “Human beings can’t change sex. Being murdered doesn’t alter that.” Greater Manchester Police decided not to take further action, and Watson launched a judicial review to challenge the decision. The High Court dismissed this this year. Watson’s interactions with the authorities date back decades. News reports from 1998 state that the former British Transport Police officer, who had been sacked, lost a discrimination case brought against the force’s union. The case was brought against the British Transport Police Federation over the union’s alleged failure to support a legal fight against the force, including a failure to secure a preferred lawyer who specialised in transgender cases. Watson claimed that British Transport Police tried to prevent an ongoing course of hormone treatment and to stop Watson from arriving for work while presenting as a woman. It was reported that Watson was told she had to resume duty as a ‘‘uniform constable wearing the uniform appropriate to your male gender’’, and to ‘‘adopt the dress and appearance of your male gender’’. Watson later attempted to enrol as a nurse through the National Board for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting, but abandoned this career path after the nursing body recorded Watson’s gender as male."
Rachel Moiselle on X - "Given that Graham Linehan is Irish, I very much look forward to the Irish media and political establishment, who suddenly saw the merits in free speech when it came to Kneecap waving a Hezbollah flag, coming to Graham’s defence equally."
The people who say he was inciting violence and should be jailed are the who keep talking about punching "Nazis"
Freedom of speech is so left wingers can call for the genocide of Jews, not to make jokes about trans people
Voices: Cracking down on transphobic hate speech doesn’t make the UK a police state - "Again, individual cases are being weaponised to advance broader culture war narratives whilst actual transgender people, just trying to get on with their lives, deal with an atmosphere increasingly hostile to them, fuelled by attitudes that fester online and then spill into the real world... Health secretary Wes Streeting put it more bluntly: “We’d rather see our police on the streets than policing tweets.” He’s missing a really important point: tweets have real-world consequences... The authorities don’t always get the balance right. The arrest of Palestine Action supporters under terrorism legislation suggests a system happy to stretch the letter of the law when it needs to make media-friendly political points. But Linehan’s case is different. He’s spent years chipping away at a vulnerable community. When you repeatedly test the boundaries of acceptable speech, eventually you’re going to find them."
Of course, if you crack down on terrorism supporters that the left approves of, that's wrong, but trans people need to be "protected" from hearing anything TRAs disapprove of. There's nothing wrong with calling to "punch TERFs" of course
Somehow, trying to dismantle the Equality Act is "actual transgender people, just trying to get on with their live"
Graham Linehan’s arrest proves that trans ideology is a threat to us all - "So let’s get this straight. If a mugger snatches your phone, the police will do nothing. If burglars ransack your home, the police will do nothing. If your daughter is raped by a grooming gang, the police will do nothing. But if you write a social media post that offends someone who identifies as transgender, you’ll be abruptly set upon by five armed officers. Obviously, it shouldn’t need saying that the arrest of Graham Linehan, the award-winning comedy writer and co-creator of Father Ted, brings shame on the police and makes our country look like a tinpot dictatorship. Nonetheless, I believe that this disgraceful episode will at least have one upside. Because it demolishes, once and for all, one of trans activism’s most subtly pernicious arguments. Speak out against the notion that biological males should be allowed in women’s changing rooms and inevitably you’ll be deluged with abuse. Some disciples of trans ideology, however, will take a less aggressive approach and ask: “Why do you care, anyway? Trans people are a tiny minority, who account for less than one per cent of the population. So how do these issues affect you?” Well, now the whole nation can see the answer. These issues affect every last one of us – because they imperil our freedom of speech. Defy the gender fanatics and you too could find yourself surrounded by gun-toting policemen. Graham Linehan’s arrest, therefore, proves that trans ideology is a threat to us all. In fact, it always has been – because the silencing of free speech is integral to trans activism. Back in 2015, Stonewall – the powerful LGBTQIA+ lobby group – decided that, when it came to trans issues, its mantra would be “no debate”. And that refusal to brook any dissent has been chillingly effective. The main reason that trans activism has been able to hold such sway over our society is that, even today, five months after the Supreme Court helpfully confirmed that, under the law, women are actually female, many people remain too frightened to say what they really think about it. Even celebrated thinkers have struggled to pluck up the courage... Still, at least the scandalous spectacle of Mr Linehan’s arrest will awaken more people to the danger that this ideology poses. But not only that. It will also make them realise that many of our institutions remain utterly in thrall to the “no debate” agenda pushed by Stonewall and its allies. Because the police are far from alone. Look at the health service. In Scotland, a nurse named Sandie Peggie has taken NHS Fife to a tribunal after it suspended her for complaining about a male trans colleague using the female changing room. This week, lawyers representing NHS Fife argued that there’s “no evidence” that women, Ms Peggie aside, “have a problem” sharing female-only spaces with male trans people. Really? Has it not occurred to NHS Fife that, if women don’t complain, it might just be because they’re scared? Not least because complaining might get them punished by their employer? Other institutions still under the spell of trans ideology include the Civil Service (Whitehall staff recently threatened to go on strike if male trans colleagues are banned from using women’s loos). And then, of course, there’s our national broadcaster. In 2021, the BBC officially quit Stonewall’s “Diversity Champions Programme” – yet it continues to behave as if it were the lobby group’s own broadcasting arm. Look at its continued insistence on respecting the “preferred pronouns” of male criminals – including convicted killers and even a German neo-Nazi. The truth is unignorable. Regardless of the Supreme Court’s ruling, or indeed of the Cass Review into the risks of giving puberty-blocking drugs to confused children, many people in positions of power and influence are still marching to trans activism’s tune. This is the ideological equivalent of Japanese knotweed. And it will take a government far braver and more principled than this one to rip it out."