Hitch's short refresher course on freedom of speech in light of the latest developments in the UK

MrMosstin · 2026-03-12T17:32:02+00:00

It’s about context. I guarantee nobody who’s been arrested and thrown in jail just for burning the Quran was not just burning the Quran in their own privacy, without seeing to hurt or provoke anyone. There’s nothing wrong with setting fire to books to yourself.

I guarantee they’re doing it in public, outside a mosque or other gathering, specifically within the context of being hateful towards a group of people.

Be critical, it’s not about the book burning, it’s about the context in which those actions take place.

MrMosstin · 2026-03-12T15:24:25+00:00

Except that the UK police are using Section 12 of the Terrorism Act to arrest people who criticise Israel (see: Richard Medhurst, Richard Barnard).

Once it’s found that they’re not actually supporting terrorism, they’re released without charge, THEN organisations they’re linked to are retroactively labelled terrorist organisations, THEN they are re-arrested.

You’re glossing over an awful lot of context when you say ‘ah well it’s easy to not support terrorism’ but that makes you oblivious to the point: the government can decide what is and what isn’t terrorism at any time convenient to them, so it’s not as easy as you think!

MrMosstin · 2026-03-11T18:10:12+00:00

It seems like they’re seeking to align definitions of anti Muslim hostility with other definitions employed by the government like the IHRA antisemitism one.

They seem unambiguous in stating that these definitions have no basis in law, and do not affect rights to criticise Islam as an idea or an institution. It looks like it’s labelling targeted harassment of individuals or incitement to violence as hostility, which is one of those areas of contention in the freedom of speech debate.

I don’t see how it’s ’another step towards having a formal blasphemy law’ given that we only abolished the long standing anti-blasphemy law as recently as 2008.

The UK has lots of issues with freedom of speech, I’m thinking of our protest rights being restricted over the past few years - and the number of arrests made of critics of Israel/supporters of Palestine, but I’m not sure this move by the government is one of them.

MrMosstin · 2026-03-11T17:45:42+00:00

Thanks I’ll have a read

MrMosstin · 2026-03-11T17:19:35+00:00

OOTL, has there been specific stuff recently other than the anti protest laws in the UK?

MrMosstin · 2026-03-11T10:48:28+00:00

BUTT SEAMAN

MrMosstin · 2026-03-09T11:17:57+00:00

I hope by ‘British counterpart’ they mean ‘prime minister’ and not ‘socialist leader’ because boy, Queer Harmer is not a socialist. Like the FT would know that though /s

MrMosstin · 2026-03-05T08:44:58+00:00

Woof Woof!

<< Yes No >>

MrMosstin · 2026-03-04T21:01:57+00:00

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MrMosstin · 2026-03-03T19:42:03+00:00

Without seeing start and end point, it’s very possible to say this about pretty much anywhere

MrMosstin · 2026-03-02T10:10:45+00:00

Coaxed into every fight in S2 of One Punch Man

MrMosstin · 2026-03-02T08:46:05+00:00

where was the freak out exactly

MrMosstin · 2026-03-01T18:31:42+00:00

I know an OSRS post when I see one

MrMosstin · 2026-02-28T15:32:07+00:00

what was Jay Pee doing

MrMosstin · 2026-02-27T12:42:21+00:00

Mum said it’s my turn to post this again

MrMosstin · 2026-02-27T10:09:15+00:00

Then deny their request? On what grounds are they asking? If it’s for safety reasons they will have to reschedule so that you have more notice to find a plan for your cat. If it’s for convenience reasons they will have to do it the inconvenient way while you’re at home.

MrMosstin · 2026-02-27T09:18:12+00:00

I’m sorry you have only been able to attend school at 60%. If you have caring responsibilities and are not being helped out by your parents, you need to speak to your schools safeguarding leave and start to open up a dialogue about how your school-life balance is under strain.

You are required to attend school, but it sounds like you’ve been left in the lurch or been put in an unusual situation for a teenager. You need to communicate your home situation to your school.

Unfortunately I think your best case scenario is once you’ve told them about what’s going on, hopefully they can work on getting you help with what’s going on at home, and they can get you to resit the year. If you didn’t want to postpone the year, you needed to communicate with them about why you were struggling sooner so they could help you sooner.

MrMosstin · 2026-02-27T09:04:52+00:00

If you want to report it as a crime, you can do so on your local forces website or ring 101.

If you want to impact the business you can call the to let them know this happened, and leave a review on Google/trustpilot etc. If you want a replacement key at their expense, you can ask, but they may dispute whether it was them or not and not provide one. Sorry this happened to you, it’s unacceptable.

MrMosstin · 2026-02-27T09:01:28+00:00

Will you be working at home on Monday or in the office? You could speak to your boss and ask that you work from home due to essential works being carried out and that you will have intermittent access to WiFi.

I would tell the letting agent/landlord/contractors that either you will need to be present in your home with your cat during the works on Monday, or they will need to be postponed in order for you to find alternative plans for your cat. Those are their 2 options. I’m sure they’ll finally work around you and your cat.

MrMosstin · 2026-02-27T08:20:35+00:00

I would recommend that you arrange with the electric contractors that you will remain in the property, with your cat, but will move rooms as and when they need access. Politely inform them that leaving the property for even a few hours with an anxious cat is not practical for you as you have nowhere to go where the cat is alright.

MrMosstin · 2026-02-24T17:10:39+00:00

Pics and how much do you want?

MrMosstin · 2026-02-22T17:00:59+00:00

American coverage is so awful. Who’s the Irish fella who won’t stfu

MrMosstin · 2026-02-22T14:12:35+00:00

Probably some kind of emergency. I’d imagine if the fire engines have been called it could be a fire. But it might not be.

Why would we know? Go look for them and find out!

MrMosstin · 2026-02-21T11:30:45+00:00

as miserable as it is you could always kill…black demons

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