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Shocking cases reveal Britain’s Orwellian free speech crackdown
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With President Donald Trump’s slated departure for a state visit to the United Kingdom later this month, another high-profile arrest has exposed Britain’s growing free speech crisis.
The arrest of Arizona-based Irish comedian Graham Linehan, for allegedly criticizing transgender activists on social media, coincided with a Wednesday warning from British politician Nigel Farage to Congress that England is collapsing into a «really awful authoritarian situation.»
The leader of the populist Reform U.K. party, Farage, told U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday at a hearing on «European threats to free speech» that the sitcom writer Linehan found out what life is like in the totalitarian North Korean state on Monday at Heathrow Airport in London.
UK LOOKS TO TREAT MISOGYNY AS EXTREMIST VIOLENCE, RAISING FREE SPEECH CRACKDOWN CONCERNS
«Father Ted» co-creator Graham Linehan speaks to the media outside Westminster Magistrates’ Court, London, where he has pleaded not guilty to harassing a transgender woman and damaging her phone. The Irish comedy writer, 56, denied the charges of harassing Sophia Brooks on social media and damaging her mobile in October. Picture date: Monday May 12, 2025. (Lucy North/PA Images via Getty Images)
The arrest of Linehan in a nation that is widely considered one of the birthplaces of robust free speech has unleashed fierce criticism of the left-wing Labour government.
Comedian and actor John Cleese, whose film «The Life of Brian» satirized a biblical man who wished to become a woman named Loretta and have babies, wrote to his more than 5.3 million followers about Linehan: «I see that it took five London policemen to arrest a comedian. Meanwhile, people in Chelsea have learned not to waste their time reporting burglaries. Is this an intelligent use of resources?»
President Donald Trump declared on Thursday, that «I will just say that in terms of, U.K., strange things are happening over there. They are cracking down and surprisingly so. And I’ve spoken to the prime minister and, let’s see what happens. But, it is a different a little bit different situation. I’m very surprised to see what’s happening.»
Keir Starmer, UK prime minister, left, and US President Donald Trump, during a bilateral meeting at the Trump Turnberry golf course in Turnberry, Scotland, on Monday, July 28, 2025. Trump said he would reduce the 50-day deadline he gave Russian leader Vladimir Putin to reach a truce with Ukraine, saying he was disappointed in his counterpart over the continuation of the war. (Tolga Akmen/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer said at a February White House meeting that, «We’ve had free speech for a very, very long time in the United Kingdom — and it will last for a very, very long time.»
Egregious examples of a crackdown on free speech in recent years abound, according to critics in the U.K. and U.S., under both Conservative and Labour governments.
In January, Hertfordshire Police arrested parents, Maxie Allen and Rosalind Levine, for messages shared in a parents’ WhatsApp chat group. Six officers searched their residence, and the couple were detained for eight hours over a spat with Cowley Hill Primary School. The school complained about Allen’s remarks about the hiring process for a senior teacher.
The Essex police launched an investigation into conservative Daily Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson for an allegedly racist X post that criticized the police in November 2024. She wrote, in the context of pro-Palestinian rallies, many of which embrace the terrorist organization Hamas: «How dare they. Invited to pose for a photo with lovely peaceful British Friends of Israel on Saturday police refused. Look at this lot smiling with the Jew haters.»
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Union Jack flags on Westminster Bridge opposite the Houses of Parliament on 6th November 2024 in London, United Kingdom. London is one of the worlds leading tourism destinations, with many famous tourist attractions, with Elizabeth Tower which contains Big Ben being one of the iconic views of the capital. (Mike Kemp/In Pictures via Getty Images)
In August, business owner Rob Davies, whose store had suffered from shoplifting, was advised by police to remove a handwritten note stating, «Due to scumbags shoplifting, please ask for assistance to open cabinets.» Davies refused and was not arrested.
The authorities jailed Lucy Connolly, wife of a Conservative party politician, because she posted an allegedly racist message on X after Axel Rudakubana murdered three children in Southport in Aug. 2024. «Mass deportation now. Set fire to all the f—— hotels full of the b——- for all I care. While you’re at it, take the treacherous government and politicians with them. I feel physically sick knowing what these families will now have to endure. If that makes me racist, so be it.» She deleted the post within four hours. The court imposed a 31-month prison sentence on Connolly.
Lucy Connolly, who was jailed for 31 months over a racist tweet that called for mass deportations, among other extreme remarks following the Southport attack, and who was recently released, takes part in a panel discussion during Britain’s Reform UK party conference in Birmingham, September 6, 2025. (Phil Noble/Reuters)
The vast crackdown on freedom of speech and thought in the United Kingdom is raising alarm bells on both sides of the Atlantic. Critics have alleged other forms of curbs on speech and thought in Britain.
Lois McLatchie Miller, a senior legal communications officer with the Britain-based Alliance Defending Freedom International, told Fox News Digital that the British authorities are using drastic measures to curtail the right to prayer. She said, «We support several individuals who have been praying silently near abortion centers.»
Adam Smith-Connor was required to pay $11,330 for praying in the buffer zone of abortion clinic in 2022. (Alliance Defending Freedom UK)
She cited the «most expensive prayer in history as one example» when Adam Smith-Connor, a British veteran of the Afghanistan war, in 2022 engaged in «three minutes of silent prayer,» that led to an order that he pay approximately $11,330.
«Adam was praying for his son, whom he lost to an abortion 22 years prior. He was also praying for the men and women facing difficult decisions about abortion that day,» according to the Alliance Defending Freedom International.
Vice President JD Vance warned that «Free speech, I fear, is in retreat» with respect to Smith-Connor’s case at the Munich Security Conference in February. McLatchie Miller said, «What JD Vance did was phenomenal.»
UK GOVERNMENT ACCUSED OF CRACKING DOWN ON FREE SPEECH: ‘THINK BEFORE YOU POST’
Livia Tossici-Bolt, a retired scientist, was arrested for standing outside an abortion clinic with a sign reading, «Here to talk if you want.» (ADF International)
McLatchie Miller cited additional alleged victims of Britain’s fast-moving crackdown on free speech, including the case of Catholic pro-life campaigner Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, who was «arrested for a thought crime,» close to an abortion clinic for silent prayer in 2022.
Livia Tossici-Bolt, a retired medical scientist, was arrested for standing outside an abortion facility with a sign stating: «Here to talk if you want.» The authorities arrested her for violating a «buffer zone» law that restricts protests at abortion clinics.
Scotland has been a kind of ground zero for restrictions on free speech rights for the pro-life community. The authorities arrested grandmother Rose Docherty for her silent protest outside an abortion facility in Glasgow. She held a sign that read: «Coercion is a crime, here to talk, if you want.»
Police officers in Liverpool, England (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
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Shawn Carney, president and CEO of the Texas-based 40 Days for Life, told Fox News Digital that his pro-life organization has U.K. citizen leaders who oversee networks in Britain. He termed the crackdown in the U.K. a «newfound bigotry for free speech. It has developed over the last few years.»
Asked why Britain is reportedly gutting free speech, he said, «My only guess is, the more pro-life the U.S. has gotten, the more they target their own citizens who are pro-life.» Carney added that the U.K.’s restrictions on free speech are also a reaction to President Trump’s pro-life policy. «The U.K. has been the laughingstock of free speech in the West,» said Carney.
united kingdom,donald trump,personal freedoms,woke
INTERNACIONAL
La muerte del capo narco Nemesio Oseguera, “El Mencho”: Washington dice que es “un gran acontecimiento” para México, Estados Unidos y América Latina
«Se me ha informado que fuerzas de seguridad mexicanas han matado a ‘El Mencho’, uno de los capos de la droga más sanguinarios», dijo en la red X, Christopher Landau, subsecretario de Estado de ese país. «Esto es un gran hito para México, Estados Unidos, América Latina y el mundo (…). Los buenos somos más que los malos. Felicidades a las fuerzas del orden público de la gran nación mexicana», añadió.
El ejército mexicano anunció este domingo que mató al poderoso capo del narcotráfico Nemesio Oseguera «El Mencho», líder del Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), tras un violento operativo que conmovió al estado de Jalisco.
La muerte del «Mencho» ocurre en medio de la presión del gobierno del presidente estadounidense, Donald Trump, para que México frene el envío de drogas, en particular del fentanilo, a su país.
Trump ha amagado en varias ocasiones con aranceles a las exportaciones mexicanas, al señalar que el gobierno de la presidenta Claudia Sheinbaum no ha hecho lo suficiente para combatir al narcotráfico.
«El Mencho», de 59 años, era uno de los capos más buscados por México y Estados Unidos, que ofrecía una recompensa de 15 millones de dólares. Era uno de los líderes narco más importantes en actividad tras el arresto de los fundadores del Cártel de Sinaloa, Joaquín Guzmán «El Chapo» e Ismael «Mayo» Zambada, actualmente en prisión en Estados Unidos.
El ejército dijo en un comunicado que el «Mencho» resultó herido en un enfrentamiento con militares en la localidad de Tapalpa, en Jalisco (oeste), y murió «durante su traslado vía aérea a la Ciudad de México».
El ejército añadió que, para la ejecución de esta operación, «además de los trabajos de inteligencia militar central» (…) «se contó con información complementaria» por parte de autoridades estadounidenses.
En total, murieron siete delincuentes y tres militares resultaron heridos. Dos miembros del CJNG fueron detenidos y se incautó diverso armamento, como lanzacohetes capaces de derribar aeronaves y destruir vehículos blindados, según la misma fuente.
Sujetos armados bloquearon con autos y camiones incendiados distintas vías de Jalisco, en respuesta al operativo de fuerzas federales en la región. Por la tarde se veían restos de vehículos calcinados y otros aún en llamas en varias carreteras, en medio del sonido de las sirenas de las fuerzas de seguridad.
Las autoridades han señalado que 21 bloqueos carreteros siguen activos. El ejército añadió que elementos militares se concentran en los estados aledaños a Jalisco «para reforzar la seguridad».
El estado de Jalisco, que recibirá cuatro partidos del Mundial de Fútbol de 2026, ordenó la cancelación de eventos masivos este domingo y la suspensión de clases presenciales para el lunes.
En Guadalajara, capital de Jalisco, diversos negocios, desde farmacias hasta tiendas de conveniencia y gasolineras, cerraron sus puertas y las calles lucen semivacías, constató la AFP.
«Llegaron unos sujetos armados, vi la pistola y dijeron que nos saliéramos, nos salimos y tenían un carro con las puertas abiertas. Pensé que nos iban a secuestrar, corrí para enfrente a un puesto de tacos y me resguardé con ellos», dijo a AFP María Medina, quien trabaja en una tienda de conveniencia que fue incendiada por sujetos armados.
Los bloqueos por el operativo en el que murió Oseguera se extendieron también al balneario de Puerto Vallarta y al vecino estado de Michoacán, en donde su organización tiene presencia.
El cártel del «Mencho» fue formado en 2009 y se convirtió en una de las bandas del narcotráfico más violentas de México, según información del Departamento de Justicia estadounidense.
Estados Unidos ha nombrado a ese cártel como una organización terrorista y lo acusa del tráfico de cocaína, heroína, metanfetamina y fentanilo.
Oseguera es también un viejo conocido del actual secretario de Seguridad Pública federal, Omar García Harfuch. El 20 de junio de 2020 el «Mencho» ordenó un inédito asalto armado contra Harfuch en calles de Ciudad de México. El funcionario resultó herido y tres personas murieron, entre ellos dos escoltas.
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Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas ripped the court’s decision blocking President Donald Trump’s use of an emergency law to impose sweeping tariffs on trading partners, calling it a fundamental misread of both the governing statute and the Constitution’s separation of powers.
«As (Kavanaugh) explains, the Court’s decision … cannot be justified as a matter of statutory interpretation. Congress authorized the President to ‘regulate … importation,’» Thomas wrote in his dissent. «Throughout American history, the authority to ‘regulate importation’ has been understood to include the authority to impose duties on imports.»
The court invalidated Trump’s use of an emergency law to impose tariffs in a 6–3 decision Friday morning after weeks of Trump championing that the court should rule in his favor as part of his larger effort to boost the economy, jobs and bring down costs for Americans. Thomas and Justice Samuel Alito joined Justice Brett Kavanaugh in dissenting from the ruling, with Thomas also offering his own separate dissent.
The majority of the court ruled Friday that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not authorize the president, even after declaring a national emergency, to impose tariffs — and that Congress did not speak clearly enough to transfer its tariff-and-tax power to the executive branch.
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Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a blistering dissent Feb. 20, 2026, after the Supreme Court found President Donald Trump’s tariffs illegal. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
The International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) is a 1977 law that allows the president, after declaring a national emergency in response to foreign threats, to regulate or block certain economic transactions and property interests, such as by imposing sanctions.
«The president asserts the extraordinary power to unilaterally impose tariffs of unlimited amount, duration, and scope,» Supreme Court Justice John Roberts wrote for the court. «In light of the breadth, history, and constitutional context of that asserted authority, he must identify clear congressional authorization to exercise it.»
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In his dissent, Thomas argued that nondelegation doctrine is a narrow constraint, saying a line is crossed only when Congress delegates «core» power to make rules triggering deprivations of «life, liberty, or property» — not «from delegating other kinds of power,» such as tariffs.
The nondelegation doctrine forbids Congress from delegating core legislative power to the president.
The Supreme Court is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington, Dec. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
«As I suggested over a decade ago, the nondelegation doctrine does not apply to ‘a delegation of power to make rules governing private conduct in the area of foreign trade,’ including rules imposing duties on imports,» Thomas wrote. «Therefore, to the extent that the Court relies on ‘separation of powers principles’ to rule against the President is mistaken.»
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Thomas pointed to President Nixon’s 1971 import surcharge as a real-world test case that was later upheld in United States v. Yoshida Int’l under IEEPA’s predecessor statute, the Trading with the Enemy Act.
Nixon announced a 10% across-the-board import surcharge on foreign nations in 1971, with the U.S. Court of Customs and Patent Appeals upholding the policy under the same «regulate … importation» language in 1975.
President Donald Trump displays a signed executive order imposing tariffs on imported goods during a «Make America Wealthy Again» trade announcement event in the White House Rose Garden April 2, 2025. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
«The meaning of that phrase was beyond doubt by the time that Congress enacted this statute, shortly after President Nixon’s highly publicized duties on imports were upheld based on identical language,» Thomas wrote.
«The statute that the President relied on therefore authorized him to impose the duties on imports at issue in these cases,» Thomas wrote, adding that Kavanaugh «makes clear that the Court errs in concluding otherwise.»
Trump unveiled his tariff policies in April 2025, which have come with repeatedly updated deals with foreign nations, as a tool to bring parity to U.S. trade policy and encourage businesses to open up shop on U.S. soil as part of an American manufacturing renaissance to boost the job market and the economy.
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Trump, in recent months, has repeatedly promoted that the Supreme Court rule in his favor, warning just Thursday during a trip to a steel factory in Georgia that «without tariffs, this country would be in such trouble right now.»
The president held a press conference shortly after the decision on Friday, announcing a 10% global tariff, while underscoring that the «Supreme Court did not overrule tariffs,» but «merely overruled a particular use of IEEPA tariffs.»
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Iran could ‘activate’ Hezbollah if US targets regime, Trump’s inner circle to decide: expert
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Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has tightened control over Hezbollah in the Middle East amid looming prospects of potential U.S. strikes, according to reports.
According to the Jerusalem Post, the tactical shift comes as Hezbollah and Iran prepare for military confrontation in the region, with analysts warning that if Washington specifically strikes the regime, Hezbollah is ready to be «activated.»
«If the regime in Tehran feels threatened, the likelihood of unleashing Hezbollah against Israel and U.S. regional assets increases substantially,» Ross Harrison, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, told Fox News Digital.
«Hezbollah would not be activated right away, unless the attack immediately targets the leadership of the Islamic Republic. But as part of a graduated response, Hezbollah will likely be seen as an asset,» he said.
«If it faces an existential risk, then Iran may throw caution to the wind and try to deploy Hezbollah to the maximum,» Harrison, author of «Decoding Iran’s Foreign Policy» explained.
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«As part of a graduated response, Hezbollah will likely be seen as an asset,» Ross Harrison, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, told Fox News Digital. (Fadel Itani/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
President Donald Trump previously gave Iran a deadline of 10 to 15 days to respond to a deal, raising questions about what steps Washington could take if Tehran fails to comply.
A new round of talks is now scheduled for Thursday in Geneva and expected to focus on Iran’s nuclear program, including uranium enrichment levels and sanctions relief.
«The decision-making circle in the White House is very small regarding Iran, with the president keeping a close hand on it all,» Harrison explained.
He added that any decision to directly target the Iranian regime would likely rest within Trump’s inner circle of advisers.
«Normally there is input from the National Security Council and the wider intelligence community,» Harrison said. «Since the decision-making process in the White House is opaque, it is hard to know how much of this is getting through.»
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Another round of talks between the U.S. and Iran is slated for Thursday in Geneva. (Getty Images)
«If the U.S. is engaging with the Saudis and Emiratis, they are getting warnings about the possibility of this war spreading to the broader region, which would be deleterious to the U.S. and its allies,» he added.
Harrison also warned that there was «potential for attacks to spread across the region, to Israel through direct Iranian ballistic attacks and via Hezbollah, and to the Gulf Arab states through Iran directly and possibly via the Houthis from Yemen.»
Regional media reports also suggest Iran’s ties with Hezbollah are strengthening. Sources told Al Arabiya and Al Hadath that IRGC officers have been rebuilding Hezbollah’s military infrastructure and managing strategic war plans.
The coordination follows changes within Hezbollah’s leadership, Harrison explained.
«Since the killing by Israel of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah last year, ties and operational coordination have to some degree been reestablished,» he said.
«The IRGC has supported Hezbollah in Lebanon for decades,» he said, adding that efforts to reestablish ties appear to be occurring «particularly in light of the destruction of Iran’s nuclear sites last June.»
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«Since the killing by Israel of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah last year, ties and operational coordination have to some degree been reestablished,» Harrison said. (Marwan Naamani/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images)
«Iran is trying to resurrect lost assets, such as its missile program and its connections to Hezbollah,» Harrison said.
«Hezbollah has been seen for decades by Iran as a deterrence asset against an Israeli or American attack. Since Hezbollah has its own interests, connected to but separate from Iran, whether its leadership will go all the way for Tehran is unknown,» he concluded.
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The developments surrounding Hezbollah and the IRGC came as Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has appointed close ally Ali Larijani as the country’s de facto leader, according to reports.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment.
middle east,iran,ali khamenei,donald trump,middle east foreign policy,israel,lebanon
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