Controversy about television writer Graham Linehan

The London police chief has requested change, arguing that his officers are in an “impossible position” while trying to navigate the scenario in evolution of freedom of expression online while enforcing existing laws that drive threats and incitement to violence. The Metropolitan Police Chief has asked the Government of Great Britain to “change or clarify” the relevant laws after the controversial arrest of the Irish comedy writer Graham Linehan about the publications in the anti-transgender social networks.

Linehan, who co-created the popular British comedy of the 1990s “Father Ted” and wrote and created the most contemporary “The multitude of IT”, says that it was arrested by five armed officers at the Heathrow airport in London on Monday by their publications on social networks.

On his page on the Sustack platform, Linehan said he said in one of the X publications in question that trans women in only female spaces was a “violent and abusive act”, and added a call to people who see trans women in such spaces, “make a scene, call the police and if everything else fails in the balls.”

The Guardian newspaper reported Wednesday that the police force was still discussing the arrest of Linehan with the Crown Prosecutor’s Office, which determines if formal charges must be presented against suspected people of crimes.

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Linehan, 57, will appear in the Court on Thursday in a separate case, in which she has been accused of the online harassment of a transgender woman of 18 years named Sophia Brooks. He declared himself innocent of those charges.

The Head of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Mark Rowley, has defended the officers who arrested Linehan in Heathrow, saying in a statement seen by News themezone that the decision to stop Linehan, “was taken within the existing legislation, which dictates that a threat to hit someone from a protected group could be an offense.”

But, Rowley added: “I don’t think we should monitor the debates of toxic cultural wars and officers are currently in an impossible position.”

He said the police “would make similar decisions in the future unless the law and orientation are changed or clarified.”

Great Britain’s laws against incited violence have been in force for decades, but in recent years, specific legislation has also prohibited the hatred that is addressed to people based on their sexual orientation or gender.

Rowley acknowledged “the concern caused by such incidents given different perspectives on the balance between freedom of expression and the risks of inciting violence in the real world,” and said that Met officers would now persecute people only in publications on social networks, “where there is a clear risk of damage or disorder.”

“When there is ambiguity in terms of intention and damage, surveillance has been left between a rock and a difficult place by successive governments that have given the officers no option to register incidents such as crimes when they are reported,” he said.

“A long history of freedom of expression”

The arrest of the Emmy winning writer has revived a debate in the United Kingdom for freedom of expression, and Prime Minister Keir Starmer urged the police on Wednesday to “focus on the most serious problems.”

The creator of Harry Potter, JK Rowling, well known as oversely in his position on gender and trans issues, described the arrest of Linehan “completely deplorable” and “totalitarianism”, while the owner of X and former President Trump Elon Musk called Great Britain a “police state.”

The British extreme right politician, Nigel Farage, an ally of Mr. Trump whose reform party is currently leading others in the United Kingdom’s opinion surveys, said he would raise the case and others, when he gives evidence to the United States Congress on Wednesday.

“The Graham Linehan case is another example of the war on freedom in the United Kingdom,” he said before his appearance in front of the Judicial Committee of the Chamber. “Freedom of expression is under assault, and I am urging the United States to be attentive.”

But there was support for the Linehan Police arrest of some British politicians, including the newly appointed leader of the Green Party, Zack Polanski.

Speaking Tuesday night in the “Newsnight” program of the BBC, Polanski described Linehan’s publications on “totally unacceptable” social networks.

“The proportionality of the police response is a conversation that we must have,” said Polanski, but added that he could not understand why he would require five armed police to carry out such arrest.

Starmer, meanwhile, said the Parliament of Great Britain on Wednesday that there is “a long history of freedom of expression in this country” and “we must ensure that the police focus on the most serious problems.”

Starmer government recently Palestinian action of the declared activist group A terrorist organization, which leads to the arrest of at least 700 people, over 70.

• Nigel Farage
• Great Britain
• Transgender
• Keir Starmer
• LGBTQ+
• Freedom of expression
• United Kingdom
• London
• Crime