When DID Britain become North Korea?

 

Police were accused of a 'totalitarian' clampdown on free speech after the creator of Father Ted was arrested by armed officers over online comments about transgender activists.

Fury erupted at the Metropolitan Police's treatment of TV writer Graham Linehan, who told how he was dealt with 'like a terrorist', held in a cell and then had to be rushed to hospital because the stress 'nearly killed me'.

He was arrested at Heathrow by five armed officers as he returned to Britain, and accused of 'inciting violence' in relation to three posts he had made on social media network Twitter/X while living in the US - including what he says was a joke about urging women to punch transgender women if they use female-only spaces.

It came on a day when:

    UK borrowing costs spiralled to a 27-year high and the pound sank on Tuesday after an influx of 'tax fanatics' into No 10
    Sir Keir Starmer raised the prospect in Cabinet of everyone in Britain being forced to get a digital ID card to tackle illegal working
    His hard-left deputy Angela Rayner broke cover in Downing Street as speculation mounted over her leadership ambitions 

On Tuesday night, Irish comedy writer Mr Linehan, who said he was bailed on condition he did not use Twitter/X, told the Daily Mail: 'After spending a decade obsessing over their score on the Stonewall virtue index, the police can no longer tell up from down, left from right and, most worryingly of all, right from wrong.'
Harry Potter author JK Rowling led the chorus of outrage over his ordeal, asking online: 'What the f*** has the UK become? This is totalitarianism. Utterly deplorable.'

World's richest man Elon Musk branded Britain a 'police state' and asked: 'Why are police in Britain arresting citizens for social media posts instead of stopping child rape?'

Free speech campaigner and former police officer Harry Miller, who won a landmark court case against a force that investigated him for allegedly transphobic tweets, told the Daily Mail: 'This is the sort of behaviour you expect in North Korea, not from a British police force."
Downing Street declined to comment on the ongoing case, which risks reviving damaging claims by US Vice-President JD Vance that free speech is being eroded in Britain.

However Sir Keir Starmer's spokesman said the Prime Minister's priorities for the police were tackling street crime and serious violence, in what will be seen as a veiled swipe at the Met.

'On the specific incident it's an operational matter for the police, but the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary have been clear where their priorities for crime and policing are and that's tackling anti-social behaviour, shoplifting, street crime, as well as reducing serious violent crimes like knife crime and violence against women,' No 10 told reporters.

Lord Young, director of the Free Speech Union which is supporting Mr Linehan, told the Daily Mail: 'I don't think there's a better illustration of just how low we've sunk when it comes to free speech.

(Continue)

Father Ted creator Graham Linehan arrested over posts on transgender issues

 

Comedy writer intercepted by five armed officers at Heathrow 

after flying in from Arizona

 

The writer of TV’s Father Ted has been arrested at Heathrow over three social media posts expressing his views on transgender issues.

Graham Linehan, who also created the IT Crowd and Black Books, said he was intercepted by five armed officers after flying in from Arizona and told he was under arrest over the messages.

Writing on Substack, the 57-year-old Irishman said he was taken to a cell and then questioned over the posts, published on X in April.

He said the posts related to him challenging a “trans-identified male” in a “female-only space”.

Linehan said after questioning by police that his blood pressure “was over 200 – stroke territory” and he was taken to hospital and kept under observation before being discharged and released on bail.

The Metropolitan police did not identify Linehan but a spokesperson said: “On Monday, 1 September, at 1pm 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.

“After being taken to police custody, officers became concerned for his health and he was taken to hospital. His condition is neither life-threatening nor life-changing. He has now been bailed pending further investigation.

“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.”

Separately, Linehan is due to appear before Westminster magistrates on Thursday accused of harassing a trans woman, Sophia Brooks, and damaging her phone, which he denies.

Legal and regulatory oversight of social media posts in the UK has become an increasingly contentious political topic on both sides of the Atlantic. US officials have expressed concerns over the Online Safety Act and the country’s vice-president, JD Vance, has said the UK is going down a “very dark path” of losing free speech.

The case of Lucy Connolly, a British woman who was jailed after last summer’s riots for a post on X calling on people to set fire to hotels housing asylum seekers, has become a cause célèbre for the right.

The Reform UK leader, Nigel Farage, has said he will raise Connolly’s case in an appearance on Wednesday at the House judiciary committee in Washington, where has been asked to testify about online regulation in the UK and Europe. Connolly, who was jailed for two years and seven months, was released last month.

 

Hooded men attack young migrants in Spain 'over rape of 14-year-old'

 

An attack in Madrid against migrants following the reported rape of a 14-year-old Spanish girl has ignited social tensions across the country - just days after riots erupted when a teen 'migrant' died in Switzerland.

The latest assault targeted a centre housing young migrants after the arrest of one of its occupants - a Moroccan teenager accused of raping the girl. On Sunday evening, two hooded individuals attacked three people near First Reception Centre in the Spanish capital - two minors and an accompanying adult.

One child was left needing hospital treatment before being discharged and police have since opened an investigation.
Francisco Martin, the representative of the socialist-led national government in the Madrid region, condemned the violence, warning: 'Hate speech ultimately manifests itself in hate crimes.'

He vowed to apply the 'full force' of the law against those responsible. A Moroccan youth was arrested on Friday morning on suspicion of raping the 14-year-old in a nearby park. A judge has since ordered that he be held in a closed juvenile prison while inquiries continue.

In the wake of the arrest, the conservative regional government led by Isabel Ayuso announced plans to request that the accused be included in a group of 37 migrant minors deemed 'maladapted' and considered for repatriation. 

That sparked a furious backlash. Spain's ruling left-wing coalition accused Ayuso and her Popular Party of exploiting the case to push their hardline stance on migration, and of echoing the rhetoric of the far-right Vox party.

'Migrant teen scooter thief's' death that's turned Switzerland into a cauldron of hate . Martin said: 'Madrid has recorded 256 rapes this year, yet only this case elicits such political zeal… It is unacceptable to criminalise vulnerable populations.' Vox wasted no time in escalating its anti-immigrant message, calling for a demonstration outside the centre.

Its Madrid spokesman, Javier Ortega Smith, claimed: 'The sexual assault against a 14-year-old in Hortaleza is a consequence of the 'progressive consensus' embodied by both the socialist party and the Popular Party. 'This disastrous policy of open borders… allows violence to become widespread in neighbourhoods hosting these reception centres.'

By Monday, police had stepped up security, with vehicles and around 10 officers stationed outside the entrance. It comes just days after the death of 17-year-old Marvin 'Shalom' Manzila in Lausanne which sparked rioting. Local police, called to reports of a stolen motor scooter, soon identified Manzila as a suspect - and gave chase when he refused to pull over.

During the pursuit that followed, the boy lost control of the vehicle and was flung into a nearby wall, suffering a fatal head injury.

Marvin's violent death in the early hours of last Sunday morning marked a final straw for many of those living in the city's multicultural neighbourhood Prélaz and soon the demonstrations turned to rioting.

But the Daily Mail revealed that - for all the talk in the country about immigration that his death has inspired - Marvin was actually born in Switzerland. Majorca and Ibiza are 'preparing UK-style asylum seeker hotels' as no of small boat migrants surges
article image

His birth certificate shows he was born in the country on 13 July, 2008, to parents of Congolese descent but who had been granted Swiss citizenship, the youngest of three brothers. Whether he had stolen the scooter remains unclear - his family insist he hadn't.

Speaking to the newspaper, his distraught mother insisted: 'My son wasn't a scooter thief. He wasn't a bandit, he wasn't known to the law. He was never a complicated child. He was stable. 'We didn't see a scooter stolen from home. There was a group effect. They passed this scooter around among the kids.

'Who brought this scooter? We don't know. Talking about it makes my stomach ache.'The shocking incidents come just weeks after violent unrest in Torre Pacheco, Murcia - another flashpoint in Spain's growing anti-migrant hostility. In July, riots erupted after a 68-year-old man was attacked by three North African youths.

That assault triggered days of racially charged retaliation in the San Antonio neighbourhood, home to many migrants and agricultural workers. Social media posts fuelled false claims and claims to 'hunt immigrants', leading to street clashes between locals and migrants. Far-right groups exploited the chaos, while police made arrests and prosecutors launched hate crime investigations.

Where to house migrant children has become one of Spain's most diverse political issues. Reception centres for unaccompanied minors are fiercely resisted by regional governments who warn about overcrowding, security, and pressure on local services. Right-wing parties often portray them as hotbeds of crime and social tension.

Two pictures and the same "reality"

 

Rural UK is too white

 

Germany - Was a girl pushed in front of a train? Man sent to psychiatric facility

 

Gates of Vienna

Gary Fouse - translation from Die Welt:

    Incriminating DNA evidence

    August 29, 2025

    Incriminating DNA evidence

    Was a girl pushed in front of a train? Man sent to psychiatric facility

    August 29, 2025

    Subsequent to the death of a 16-year-old at the Friedland station, a 31-year-old has been placed in a psychiatric clinic pursuant to a court order. DNA evidence reportedly incriminates him. The man should not have been allowed to remain in Germany.

    A full two weeks after the death of a 16-year-old at the Friedland train station, a 31-year-old man has been placed in a psychiatric clinic pursuant to a court order. The Iraqi is strongly suspected of deliberately pushing the girl in front of a passing freight train on August 11, the Göttingen public prosecutor’s office reports.

    The police initially assumed it was an accident; The young girl was struck by a train and fatally injured, the exact circumstances being unclear at the time.

    Now the Public Prosecutor’s Office has further announced that shortly before the incident, police had been called to the train station due to a man causing a disturbance. At the scene, the officers encountered three persons, including the accused. He led the police officers, according to their information, to a platform where the young girl already lay dead. The man denied any involvement. A voluntary test for alcohol revealed 1.35 per milliliter.

    DNA traces on the shoulder of the deceased

    Since there was no evidence at that time, he was initially released. Subsequent investigation by the State Criminal Police revealed the man’s DNA traces on the shoulder of the deceased, the investigators further report.

    According to the State Prosecutor’s Office, the man was first encountered by the Federal Police in 2022 in Braunschweig, where he had applied for asylum. His application was denied in December 2022, and deportation to Lithuania has been pending since March 2025. An application for deportation custody was denied by the Hannover District Court in July 2025, however. In the meantime, the 31-year-old served an alternative prison sentence* and subsequently filed a new asylum application in Friedland.

    The case once more shows the massive problem of the so-called Dublin Treaty, said Lower Saxony’s Interior Minister, Daniela Behrens (SPD). The Dublin Treaty (or Convention) governs the distribution of asylum-seekers in Europe. Accordingly, the suspect should no longer have been in Germany, but rather in Lithuania.

    “It is incomprehensible to the citizens that this person could stay in Germany for years, even though another EU state was responsible for him,” said Behrens. She demanded a complete investigation into why the suspect was not removed. At the same time, she cautioned against exploiting the case to stir up hate.

    DNA traces incriminate suspect

    After the finding of DNA traces, the suspect was confronted with the accusation by an investigating judge at a specialized hospital. The 31-year-old exercised his right to remain silent. Upon the order of the prosecutor’s office, a detention order was issued for manslaughter.

    Just on Wednesday, the police warned against speculation on social media. Speculation as to the circumstances, according to their evaluation at that time, was considered unfounded. A Facebook entry by the Alternative für Deutschland District Association in Eichsfeld had raised the question: “Murder in Friedland?” and intensified the debate.

    Psychiatric abnormalities

    According to the State Prosecutor’s Office, the accused showed psychiatric abnormalities on the day of the crime. In the past, he has reportedly been diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic. Whether he will serve a prison sentence in case of conviction or be permanently placed in a psychiatric clinic is as yet not known.

* Serving time in jail when unable to pay a monetary fine. 

Back home

 

More violence in Spain against migrants after "14-year old girl raped"