Irish comedy writer Graham Linehan was greeted by five armed police officers at Heathrow Airport and arrested for tweets that were considered ‘anti-trans’.
Under the Kier Starter regime, free speech in the UK is fast becoming a thing of the past. The authorities regularly monitor their citizens’ social media accounts, and if they find something considered untoward, they’ll send the boys in blue around to give them a “correctional talk” or, in extreme cases, throw them in prison for a year or two.
If you think Donald Trump is a dictator, then that’s nothing compared with what’s going on over the other side of the pond.
Mr Starmer’s bureaucratic and authoritarian vision for Britain is the stuff dystopian nightmares are made of. And that’s before you even mention the state of the shambolic, hypocritical, and money-grabbing Labour party he lords over.
The story at hand is a case in point.
Graham Linehan is an Irish writer best known as the creator of the TV Show Father Ted.
His career came off the tracks after he was pretty much cancelled for his gender-critical views.
The Daily Mail reports that Linehan was travelling on an American Airlines flight from Arizona to London and alleges that he was treated like a “terrorist” not long after the plane touched down.
Writing on his Substack blog, Linehan wrote, “’The moment I stepped off the plane at Heathrow, five armed police officers were waiting. Not one, not two—five. They escorted me to a private area and told me I was under arrest for three tweets.
‘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 writing tweets
‘I promise you, I am not making this up
Linehan was informed by the arresting officers that he was “under arrest for three tweets.”
The first tweet in question came from April 20 when Linhan wrote, “If a trans-identified male is in a female-only space, he is committing a violent, abusive act. Make a scene, call the cops, and if all else fails, punch him in the balls.”
Another tweet was a picture of a trans rally with the caption, “A photo you can smell.”
The third was another tweet directed at the trans community, which read, “I hate them. Misogynists and homophobes. F*** em.”
It’s strong stuff, but did it warrant the sending of five armed policemen?
A spokesman for the Met Police explained, “On Monday, 1 September at 13:00hrs officers arrested a man at Heathrow Airport after he arrived on an inbound American Airlines flight.
“The man in his 50s was arrested on suspicion of inciting violence. This is in relation to posts on X.
“The arrest was made by officers from the MPS Aviation Unit. It is routine for officers policing airports to carry firearms. These were not drawn or used at any point during the arrest.
“After being taken to police custody, officers became concerned for his health and he was taken to the hospital. His condition is neither life-threatening nor life-changing.
“He has now been bailed pending further investigation.”
Slamming the nature of Linehan’s arrest, Tory MP Neil O’Brien wrote on X, “Britain is now a total laughing stock – a country where we arrest the authors of light comedies and interrogate them about their tweets. It would be laughable if it wasn’t so serious.”
Reflection on the entire episode, Linehan 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 who have turned the police into their personal goon squad.”
