📣🚨CONVERSION THERAPY BAN PETITION The Government has announced it intends to press ahead with a ban on conversion therapy. Like most 'bans', this sounds benign. How could anyone not want to ban giving electric shocks to gay kids? But the fact is, that's already against the law, as are all the other coercive practices conjured up by the phrase 'conversion therapy'. So what is it the Government wants to ban, exactly? The answer is 'converting' children who think they're trans to being 'cisgendered'. That's where the impetus for this ban has come from — well-funded pro-trans lobby groups like Stonewall and Mermaids. So any parent who 'misgenders' their confused adolescent daughter, or tries to talk them out of embarking on an irreversible medical pathway, could face criminal charges for trying to 'convert' them. And we're not talking about out a slap on the wrist. In the state of Victoria, Australia, which brought in a conversion therapy ban in 2021, the maximum penalty for trying to 'convert' someone is 10 years in prison. It won't just be parents and medical professionals who will risk imprisonment for trying to talk gender-confused children out of mutilating themselves. Any religious leader who shares the teachings of their faith on issues like homosexuality and gay marriage, could also face prosecution. That's what this authoritarian Government wants to ban — any dissent from radical progressive orthodoxy when it comes to sex and gender. So please do sign our petition and let Andy Burnham know how you feel about this anti-free speech measure. Speech is always curtailed in the name of preventing 'harm'. But stopping parents talking honestly to their children about the risks of irreversible medical procedures will cause actual, real world harm. This is a fight we have to win. ✍️ Sign our petition below 👇

🚨🚨🚨BREAKING: An American cancer patient and Trump supporter was confronted by British police and told to apologise for her online posts or face an investigation. Deborah Anderson, a mother of two, was visited at her home in June by an officer from Thames Valley Police. He told her someone had lodged a complaint about her social media posts. She told him she was an American citizen and a member of the Free Speech Union and he should be investigating burglaries and rapes, not hurty words on social media. Chillingly, he told her he was there to get her to apologise to the person who was offended by her posts. If she refused, she’d be questioned down at the station. What was Deborah’s supposed crime? The policeman didn’t tell her. Was it her passionate support of President Trump and the MAGA movement on her Facebook and X pages? To make it worse, Deborah is in the midst of cancer treatment, including chemotherapy. She ought to be have been convalescing. Instead, she was harassed for her tweets. The FSU took on her case and, as a result, the police have now dropped their investigation. But they still haven’t told Deborah which of her posts got her into trouble, claiming they’ve accidentally deleted the record of the complaint. Thames Valley Police are responsible for guarding President Trump this week. What would he make of the fact that those same officers are visiting the homes of his supporters – including US citizens – and threatening them with arrest.

When @Glinner landed at Heathrow, he was met by five armed police officers, and immediately arrested. His ‘crime’? Three gender-critical tweets. As Graham says in his Substack: “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”. Graham’s single bail condition is that he does not go on X. We do not believe Graham’s arrest or the bail conditions imposed were lawful. We will be backing him all the way in his fight against these preposterous allegations and the disproportionate response from the police.

BREAKING: Graham Linehan strikes back!! After being arrested by five armed police officers, spending 16 hours in custody and taking a trip to A&E, @Glinneris suing the @metpoliceuk. Daniel Berke – a top solicitor, appointed by the @speechunion – is going to help Graham sue the Met Police for wrongful arrest and false imprisonment, as well as breaches of his free speech rights. We want to send the police a message with this case – you cannot use these heavy-handed, Gestapo tactics with impunity. But we need your assistance! Will you help Graham fight back by contributing what you can to the Crowdfunder the @speechunion has set up? We’re hoping to raise enough to cover all his costs in this case, as well as any outstanding costs in another case he’s fighting. Anything left over will be pent on defending other people who find themselves in a police cell for exercising their right to free speech and pushing back against state interference with free speech more widely Today it's Graham, tomorrow it could be you. Donate here:: freespeechunion.org/graham-l…

Free speech isn’t always free. Tonight it cost a good man his life. Please join us in praying for the Charlie Kirk’s family and that justice might be wrought for his murder.

BREAKING: Moussa Kadri, the knife-wielding Muslim who repeatedly assaulted Hamit Koskun as he burned the quran outside the Turkish Consulate, has been spared jail. Despite pleading guilty to assault and being in possession of a 'bladed article', Kadri was handed a suspended sentence of just 20 weeks. No jail time. The judge said he had “lost his temper". Hamit, meanwhile, is living in hiding, having been warned by the police that there are several credible threats to his life. This sentence will do nothing to dispel the suspicion that Britain has a two-tier criminal justice system. Had a knife-wielding white male pleaded guilty to attacking a Muslim for breaching a Christian blasphemy code, you can bet your bottom dollar he would have gone to prison.

🚨🚨🚨BREAKING: MAJOR VICTORY FOR FREE SPEECH! HAMIT COSKUN WINS HIS APPEAL AGAINST ISLAMIC BLASPHEMY LAW The Free Speech Union is delighted that Hamit Coskun’s appeal has been successful. Hamit was convicted under the Public Order Act for burning a copy of the Koran during a lawful protest against the rise of political Islam and authorities in Turkey under President Erdoğan’s regime. The court conflated his political protest against Islam with hatred of Muslims, effectively reviving blasphemy law by the back door. It ruled his action as “disorderly” — not because of what Hamit did, but because it provoked violence against him, namely a man called Moussa Kadri slashed a knife at him and shouted “I’m going to kill you”. Kadri was spared jail time, and actions were used to prove Hamit’s guilt. Meanwhile, Hamit is forced to live in hiding due to multiple threats to his life. Hamit’s conviction has now been overturned. Had the verdict been allowed to stand, it would have sent a message to religious fundamentalists up and down the country that all they need to do to enforce their blasphemy codes is to violently attack the blasphemer, thereby making him or her guilty of having caused public disorder. Instead, the Crown Court has sent the opposite message - that anti-religious protests, however offensive to true believers, must be tolerated.

🚨Our fears appear to have been vindicated on the very first day of the Online Safety Act's enactment. Some footage of protests taking place this evening against illegal immigration is unavailable on X for at least some UK users, with a warning about a restriction due to ‘local laws’ appearing as the Online Safety Act comes into force. If you have a standard X account in the UK - presumably the majority of British users - it appears that you may not be able to see any protest footage that contains violence. We’re aware of one censored post that shows an arrest being made. We warned repeatedly about how censorious this piece of legislation would be.

🚨 STATEMENT Sir Keir Starmer strong-arming the authorities to prosecute people for imprudent social media posts will have a chilling effect on free speech. At the Free Speech Union (FSU), we're fighting back. When Cheshire police arrested a 55 year-old women last week for wrongly identifying the Southport attacker as a Muslim asylum seeker, we stepped in to provide assistance. We would be amazed if she is charged — but if she is, we will pay for her defence. While she may be guilty of spreading misinformation, that isn't (yet) a crime, and it would be hard to charge her with the section 179 false communications offence created by the Online Safety Act, because one of its tests is that "the message conveys information the person knows to be false" — clearly, this isn't the case here. Many other people have been getting in touch to seek advice following recent pronouncements that even the act of sharing footage of rioting on social media could be enough to land you with a criminal record. That's why we've put in place an arrangement with a top firm of criminal lawyers, so if one of our members is contacted by the police in connection with something they've said — in real-life or online — about the murder of the three schoolgirls in Southport and the subsequent unrest, we will pay for a telephone consultation about your case and may, at our discretion, pay for a solicitor to attend a police interview, as well as further legal work on your case. If you're an FSU supporter, now might be a good time to become a member. Click the link below to join us and help support the work we do, standing up for the speech rights of our 15,500+ members in an increasingly censorious culture. freespeechunion.org/join The enemies of free speech fight in packs. It's defenders need to band together too. Join the FSU. Together we can cancel cancel culture.

Elon Musk has announced that Twitter will publish government censorship requests, including calls for deleting tweets of banning accounts based on claims of alleged disinformation. europeanconservative.com/art…

“Not only will the law punish you if you offend the institution of Islam, but it will also treat Muslims who respond violently with the lightest of touches”.  How can it be right that someone who burns a religious book is charged with a ‘hate crime’, while someone who attacks a stranger in the street with a knife is spared jail?  Read more in @spectator ⬇️

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) have publicly named a man and disclosed his street address and local area after he was charged with allegedly burning pages of the Quran — despite the clear and immediate risks posed to those accused of blasphemy by radical Islamists. The 47-year-old man has today pleaded guilty to causing racially and religiously aggravated intentional harassment, alarm, and distress after setting fire to the Islamic holy book in Manchester city centre, during a livestream on social media. Given the well-documented dangers faced by those accused of blasphemy, the FSU believes GMP should have liaised with the CPS before making these personal details public. The failure to do so will almost certainly result in a direct threat to his life. We are urgently trying to get in touch with him to offer support. If you can help, please reach out. Full details here. freespeechunion.org/manchest…

The Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner, is facing calls to apologise after dismissing Nigel Farage’s questions about the Southport attacker’s terror links as “fake news” and “conspiracy theories”. freespeechunion.org/angela-r…

Charlie Kirk has devoted his life to debating ideas on university campuses. Young people need and deserve to hear every viewpoint when they go off to university. His shooting is a despicable, violent, and criminal attempt to censor ideas and discussion. Everyone at the FSU is joined in prayer and thought for Charlie and his family.

Breaking: the FSU has got all of Graham Linehan’s bail condition dropped. When @Glinner was arrested by five armed police officers for three tweets, he was bailed on the condition that he couldn’t use X. After legal correspondence, the police dropped that condition, but imposed an even more riddiculous one - “Not to contact the victims or interfere with the investigation”. A condition so vague, it presumably banned Graham from speaking to any trans-identifying person. They wouldn’t drop it, so we took it to court. Today, Westminster Magistrates Court deleted the condition. The Judge ruled that: “the conditions are so vague as to make compliance with them extremely difficult, with a high risk of an inadvertent breach. The phrase not to contact ‘victims’ is a loaded term - nothing proved to date. In any event who are the victims? There is reference to one individual who is offended. It’s a type of offence where anyone, anyone from the trans community could take offence. So it is meaningless as a prohibition”. The police didn’t even bother to turn up to court. But a barrister, funded by FSU supporters, did. He won. The @metpoliceuk lost. But Graham’s fight doesn’t end here. He’s still under investigation and the police are yet to compensate him for his ordeal. You can back Graham’s crowdfunder to force the Met to end their anti free speech crusade here

This decision sends a green light to any Muslim who wants to enforce an Islamic blasphemy by taking the law into their own hands. The court is effectively saying that if you attack a blasphemer with a knife, he will be convicted of causing you harassment, alarm or distress and you won't have to spend a day behind bars. Moussa Kadri has been let off with a suspended sentence after repeatedly slashing Hamit Coskun with a knife while shouting that he was going to kill him. Kadri had been enraged that Coskun was protesting against Islam. Hamit is still living in hiding having been convicted of a “hate crime” for burning his own copy of the Quran. Read more below ⬇️

Former University of Leeds student, @_ConnieShaw, wasn’t just removed from her committee position at Leeds Student Radio. She was faced with potential expulsion from the University of Leeds itself after she interviewed Graham Linehan. The Free Speech Union, with the help of an external lawyer, wrote Connie a 16 page long legal defence. She was subsequently found not guilty and was allowed to complete her degree. She was told she could be disciplined again if she spoke about the ordeal publicly. Now that Connie has graduated, she can reveal the full story.

Greater Manchester Police fails to solve 75% of shoplifting cases—yet two officers found time to visit a grandmother over a Facebook post criticising Labour politicians. No further action was taken, but the chilling effect of the knock on the door is clear.dailymail.co.uk/news/article…

🚨 BREAKING NEWS! We are delighted that the jury in the trial of our member Jamie Michael has found him not guilty. Jamie, a former Royal Marine, was on trial at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court for a video he posted on Facebook about Axel Rudakubana. The Free Speech Union (FSU) paid his legal fees and arranged for him to be represented by solicitor Luke Gittos and barrister Adam King. His prosecution for a video in which he urged people to go on peaceful protests was a grotesque interference with his right to freedom of expression and Mr Gittos wrote to the Crown Prosecution Service urging it to drop the charges. Unfortunately, this plea fell on deaf ears, even though it took a jury all of 17 minutes to find him not guilty. It emerged during the trial that Jay had been arrested and prosecuted at the urging of a Welsh Labour politician. It’s a great pity the authorities didn’t resist this political pressure, given the amount of time and money that’s been wasted. People should not be threatened with imprisonment for expressing views which, however much the party in power may dislike them, are not unlawful. The fact that a jury voted unanimously to acquit Jamie in just 17 minutes suggests that if the dozens of people arrested and charged for comments they made on social media last August had pleaded not guilty, many of them would not now be in jail. We urge anyone who’s concerned they might be arrested in connection with something they’ve said on social media to join the FSU. We can provide you with proper legal advice and, if we think your case has merit, arrange and pay for your legal defence, as we did in this case. No one should go to prison for hurty words. Click the link to become a member. 🔗 freespeechunion.org/join/

From the Crown Court's judgement in the Hamit Coskun case: "There is no offence of blasphemy in our law. Burning a Koran may be an act that many Muslims find desperately upsetting and offensive. The criminal law, however, is not a mechanism that seeks to avoid people being upset, even grievously upset. The right to freedom of expression, if it is a right worth having, must include the right to express views that offend, shock or disturb.   "We live in a liberal democracy. One of the precious rights that affords us is to express our own views and read, hear and consider ideas without the state intervening to stop us doing so. The price we pay for that is having to allow others to exercise the same rights, even if that upsets, offends or shocks us." Mr Justice Bennathan Ms T Guest JP Mr D Graves JP 10 October 2025

🚨 BREAKING: We've written to the Home Secretary Yvette Cooper threatening to take her to the High Court over her plan to force police officers to record more 'non-crime hate incidents' (NCHIs)! thesun.co.uk/news/politics/3… 👊 We're not prepared to stand idly by while this Labour Government takes us back to the bad old days when the subjective perception of 'hatred' was enough to have your name and address logged in a police database. Details on NCHIs are below. thecritic.co.uk/the-return-o… 🤐 If you're worried about the Government's continuing, extrajudicial onslaught on civil liberties, now might be a good time to become an FSU member. Click the link, join the resistance. freespeechunion.org/join/ 🚔 For the avoidance of doubt, 'non-crime hate incidents' really are as Orwellian as they sound — if one is recorded against your name it can show up on an enhanced criminal records check and prevent you from getting a job. That's right, you might not get a job because someone perceives you've committed a 'non-crime'. 🧵 Here's a short thread detailing some of the most egregious of the 250,000+ NCHIs we estimate the police in England and Wales have logged since 2014...

Lucy Connolly told the Court of Appeal she didn’t fully understand what she was admitting to — and that her solicitor failed to explain what ‘inciting violence’ meant in the context of her tweet. With our support, she’s appealing the 31-month prison sentence. dailymail.co.uk/news/article…

🙏 A huge thank you to all our members and supporters who helped us establish contact with Martin. After several appeals on X, people came forward and put us in touch — proving once again that solidarity matters. Martin was publicly named by Greater Manchester Police after burning pages of the Quran in a social media livestream. Given the well-documented risks associated with such cases, this decision put his safety in jeopardy. Our case and legal teams are now providing Martin with the support and assistance he needs. Free speech shouldn’t come with a target on your back. We’ll do everything we can to help. Find out more about this case here. freespeechunion.org/manchest…

🚨 Victory for free speech! A man arrested for burning a Koran in Bradford will face no charges—the FSU intervened, instructing a solicitor and covering our member’s legal fees. Blasphemy laws were abolished in 2008. He should never have been arrested. conservativewoman.co.uk/no-c…

🚨BREAKING: Greater Manchester Police (GMP) have just NAMED the man arrested for burning a Quran in Manchester — including the street and area where he lives. Given the known risks, we believe in this case GMP should have liaised with the CPS to determine whether it was appropriate to release these details at this stage. The failure to do so will almost certainly result in direct threat to his life.

🚨 Victory for free speech! A man arrested for burning a Koran in Bradford will face no charges—the FSU intervened, instructing a solicitor and covering our member’s legal fees. Blasphemy laws were abolished in 2008. He should never have been arrested. conservativewoman.co.uk/no-c…

🚨 For the first time since records began, the UK is no longer classified as an “Open” country in a leading global ranking of freedom of expression. This latest drop continues a pattern of decline since 2014, across indicators including media freedom, internet censorship, academic freedom, freedom of assembly, and the public’s ability to access information and criticise those in power. It now places the UK in a second tier alongside Colombia, Nigeria, Romania, and South Africa. In a country often hailed as the birthplace of Parliamentary democracy, this downgrade carries undeniable symbolic weight. thecritic.co.uk/the-uk-is-no… FAO: @David_Cameron @theresa_may @BorisJohnson @trussliz @RishiSunak @Keir_Starmer

🚨 BREAKING: SIX uniformed officers from Hertfordshire Police were sent to arrest Maxie Allen and Rosalind Levine after their child’s school objected to a series of emails and “disparaging” comments in a parents’ WhatsApp group. They had questioned the recruitment process for a new headteacher and were accused of “casting aspersions” on the chair of governors — which the school claimed had become “upsetting” for staff, parents and governors. The couple were detained in front of their nine-year-old daughter, fingerprinted, searched, and held in police cells for eight hours. They were then questioned on suspicion of harassment, malicious communications, and causing a nuisance on school property. After a five-week investigation, police concluded there was insufficient evidence and took no further action — though by then, the knock at the door, the squad cars, and the spectacle of arrest by half a dozen officers will already have done the damage in the eyes of their local community. This is where perception-based policing leads: lawful speech chilled, ‘upset’ weaponised, and moral red lines drawn by the easily offended. Full details here: thetimes.com/uk/education/ar…

Sending 5 armed police officers to arrest people of good character for humorous tweets isn’t just wrong, it's dangerous. After several hours in custody, @Glinner was taken to A&E when a nurse discovered his blood pressure was over 200 - stroke territory. As Graham says on his Substack: “The stress of being arrested for jokes was literally threatening my life”!

🚨 BREAKING: A 17 year-old girl banned from football after asking a bearded transgender opponent "Are you a man?" is to appeal her punishment with the help of the Free Speech Union (FSU) — we've appointed a leading barrister to fight the guilty verdict. The teenager had no legal representation when she was found guilty last month by the FA's National Serious Case Panel. Now we've evened up the playing field. For a young girl to be given a six-game ban just for asking whether a member of an opposing 'ladies' team is a man is a grotesque injustice. We hope it will be overturned on appeal. The Telegraph has the story. telegraph.co.uk/football/202…

The UK government's new 'Islamophobia' working group is here — and Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner calls it a "crucial step" in tackling hate incidents and bigotry. In reality, it risks paving the way for an official speech code, which will make it even harder to discuss some of the most important, sensitive and politically fraught issues of our time. 📖 Read more in @spikedonline: spiked-online.com/2025/03/05…

We're delighted the solicitor we've engaged to act for @Glinner was able to get his bail condition, preventing him from posting on X, dropped. Next step is to get the @metpoliceuk to declare 'No further action' will be taken against him for the three tweets he was arrested for.

🚨BREAKING: In what is believed to be a legal first for the UK, FSU member Hamit Coskun has been charged with “harassing the religious institution of Islam” after burning a copy of the Koran during a political protest. The charge, brought under the Public Order Act, has sparked concern that prosecutors are effectively reintroducing a “back door blasphemy law” in a country where such laws were formally abolished in 2008. Shadow justice secretary @RobertJenrick has now warned that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) risks criminalising free expression, stating: “There are many things in our society that people find offensive, but that doesn’t make them criminal.” Coskun’s legal team argues the charge is legally flawed, since “Islam” is not a person for the purposes of the Act — and that convicting him would amount to criminalising the public desecration of a religious text, an act protected in law as a form of political expression. 👉 Full story here: telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/05…

VPN ban is “on the table” as the Online Safety Act could be expanded says, Digital Minister, Baroness Lloyd. We believe that this would be a step too far, and are monitoring the situation closely. The Online Safety Act has become a sinister tool for online censorship. Read more in The Express ⬇️

FSU member Jamie Michaels has been acquitted in just 17 minutes, after being prosecuted at the urging of a politician for a Facebook video. We covered his legal costs and secured top representation — because no one should go to prison for hurty words. freespeechunion.org/former-r…

In 2024, the FSU intervened in the case of a 16-year-old autistic girl who was arrested and charged with a public order offence after telling a female police officer she looked like her "lesbian nana". Following our intervention, charges were dropped. freespeechunion.org/police-o…

Graham Linehan is back on X!! The Free Speech Union’s lawyers successfully overturned the gagging order that prevented @Glinner from posting on X. The fight isn’t over. We are helping Graham sue the @metpoliceuk for wrongful arrest and false imprisonment. Donate to our crowdfunder: freespeechunion.org/graham-l…

For years, politicians promised the Online Safety Act would target only illegal content — protecting kids from porn, exploitation and suicide forums — without touching free speech. But from the moment age verification checks took effect on 25 July, that reassurance began to unravel. Full details here: freespeechunion.org/protest-…

“For the last two billion years, there’s been just two sexes and then suddenly in the last ten years or so a whole lot more started to get invented”. Watch evolutionary biologist, @RichardDawkins, speak at the book launch for The War on Science. Full video in the comments 👇

.@Glinner was arrested at Heathrow yesterday when he got off a flight from Arizona because of three tweets posted earlier in the year criticising trans rights activists. The @SpeechUnion is paying for his legal defence. He's been bailed, not yet charged. grahamlinehan.substack.com/p…

Former footballer Joey Barton found guilty of six counts of sending “grossly offensive” social media posts. This sets a dangerous precedent. Being ‘offensive’ is not a crime. Making a joke is not illegal. This is the UK, not North Korea.

Toby Young calls out Owen Jones for joining with 337 other @Guardian writers to denounce columnist Suzanne Moore, falsely accusing her of anti-trans bigotry.

That's right Laurence. We've provided @KTHopkins with full legal support throughout this investigation.

“These behaviours may not be criminal offences in themselves, but they need to be addressed,” says a Surrey Police spokesperson. He’s talking about an operation where female officers are sent jogging, with a squad car ready to pull over anyone who cat-calls, wolf-whistles or beeps. Apparently, these acts might “lead on to other behaviours”. The police should stop hunting “pre-crimes” through bizarre social-psychology experiments, and focus on enforcing the law.

🚨 Later this week, FSU member Lucy Connolly will appear at the Court of Appeal to challenge the 31-month prison sentence she received for a tweet posted hours after the Southport attacks. That sentence is wildly disproportionate — comparable to, and in some cases longer than, those handed down to individuals convicted of violent disorder during the same period. With our legal support, Lucy is arguing that the judge failed to properly weigh the mitigating circumstances, including her personal trauma and immediate remorse. And we’re not just helping behind the scenes. We’ll be there, outside court, standing by our member, placards in hand. The message? “Police our streets, not our tweets.” 🔗 Full details here: freespeechunion.org/lucy-con…

Katie will face no further action from Devon and Cornwall Police after a six-month investigation. Her “crime”? Calling herself a “spaz” during a virtual comedy night she hosted on Instagram. It’s a textbook example of the process being the punishment for those accused of being ‘thought criminals’. We provided Katie with a solicitor who supported her every step of the way. The FSU exists to defend everyone’s right to free speech - whether at work, at university, or even during a virtual comedy night. Read more below 👇

🚨 Labour’s secretive working group on Islamophobia has free speech in its crosshairs. That’s why the FSU has written to Angela Rayner, raising serious concerns about the group’s closed-door operation and the fact that all advice to ministers is marked “not to be made public”. We’ve asked the Deputy Prime Minister to disclose the group’s full membership, publish any advice received so far, and explain how she intends to reconcile this opaque process with her government’s duty to uphold free speech. And if that’s not forthcoming, we’ve made clear we’re prepared to take legal action. Here’s why this matters: spiked-online.com/2025/06/30…

A 12-year-old schoolboy has been investigated by counter-extremism officers after he declared there "are only two genders". The school told the boy's mother they would refer him to Prevent, as he could be at risk of being radicalised by the far-right. dailymail.co.uk/news/article…

Lucy Connolly will tomorrow challenge her 31-month prison sentence for a tweet posted after the Southport attacks. The FSU isn’t just providing legal support — we’ll be outside court too. Her sentence is wildly disproportionate. Time to take a stand. freespeechunion.org/lucy-con…

🚨WATCH: Body-worn camera footage of Kent Police searching FSU member Julian Foulkes’s home — all because of a perfectly lawful tweet. “Very Brexity things,” murmurs one agent of the state, while browsing the pensioner’s bookshelves. Then, glancing at a Eurosceptic tome on Britain’s entry to the Common Market in the 1970s: “That’s a little odd.” It’s called literature, officer. You should try it. 👉 Find out more and support Julian’s legal action here: freespeechunion.org/julian-f…

🚨 BREAKING: The FSU has written to Greater Manchester Police (GMP) demanding answers after they recklessly exposed Martin Frost’s identity — putting his safety at risk. In our letter, FSU General Secretary Toby Young warns that demonstrations involving damage to a Koran have provoked serious violence before. Just last week, Iraqi activist Salwan Momika was murdered in Sweden after burning one. In this country, the preacher Hatun Tash — a former Muslim who has damaged the Koran in public demonstrations — has been targeted in multiple incidents, including a plot to shoot her and a stabbing attack. This is to say nothing of other, similar cases of anti-blasphemy extremism, like the March 2021 Batley Grammar School incident, or the murder of Ahmadi shopkeeper Asad Shah for showing “disrespect” to Islam. Burning a Koran should never be a police matter. But in this context, by charging Frost and publicising his details, GMP may have placed him in grave danger. We have demanded: 📌 Assurances that GMP will take urgent steps to protect him. 📌 An explanation for why his personal details were publicised. Blasphemy laws were abolished in England and Wales in 2008. It’s time to push back and make sure they don’t creep back in — whether by legal or extralegal means. If you care about free speech and aren't already an FSU member, you can join here. freespeechunion.org/join/ In an age where expressing lawful views can cost your safety, your job, or worse, it’s never been more important to stand together. Full story via The Telegraph. telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/02…

Lucy Connolly case raised with White House telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2025…

“I am a thorn in the side of the would be censors because they chose to pick on the wrong guy.” After Toby Young was cancelled, he set up The Free Speech Union. Since its formation, The FSU has fought over 4,500 cases and has had a succession of victories. Join The Free Speech Union today if you’ve found yourself in a similar situation at work, university or even doing your weekly shop! 👇 freespeechunion.org/join/?v=…

🚨 BREAKING: Following an intervention by the FSU, Kent Police has agreed to pay £20,000 in compensation to Julian Foulkes, the 71-year-old retired special constable arrested in November 2023 over a tweet about rising anti-Semitism! The tweet had just 26 views. Nevertheless, it was reported to the Met, and the Metropolitan Police Intelligence Command — a unit set up to counter terrorism and extremism — referred it to Kent Police, the force Julian had served for a decade. The next day, six officers arrived at the pensioner’s home, armed with batons and pepper spray. He was arrested, booked, fingerprinted, photographed, swabbed for DNA, interrogated, kept in a cell for eight hours, handcuffed, and issued with a caution. For good measure, police also searched his home, scrutinising books by authors like @DouglasKMurray and copies of The Spectator — with one officer of the law sniffily describing them as “very Brexity things”. After we contacted Julian, he accepted our offer of help, telling The Telegraph: “I’m extremely grateful for such excellent support and would urge anyone concerned about the sustained attack on free speech to please join the FSU. They’re fighting hard every day for all of us.” We instructed leading criminal solicitor Luke Gittos to argue that the arrest and house search were unlawful. Kent Police has now agreed to pay the compensation and cover Julian’s legal costs, although Luke took on the case pro bono. Chief Constable Tim Smith — who had already called Julian to apologise — has apologised again and said Kent Police will investigate why he was arrested. A big thank you to everyone who donated to Julian’s fundraiser. That money will reimburse him for the legal expenses he incurred getting the caution removed — which aren’t covered in the settlement — with the remainder going into our legal fighting fund. 👉 If you want to take Julian’s wise advice, you can join the FSU here: freespeechunion.org/join/ 📖 Full story via The Telegraph: telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/05…

A Free Speech Union (FSU) member was arrested in an early-morning raid after criticising his former employer in a private Facebook group, then placed under “Orwellian” bail conditions barring him from even revealing the arrest. Following legal intervention supported by the FSU, the extraordinary “gagging clause” has now been overturned at a special court hearing. freespeechunion.org/police-g…

Under the Online Safety Act, there’s a new crime — which carries a sentence of up to a year in prison — for knowingly spreading false information online. After the arrest of @Glinner, perhaps the police should now arrest Sir @Keir_Starmer for doing just that when he told @JDVance we don’t have a problem with free speech in the UK. @SAshworthHayes's piece in @Telegraph below is worth a read.

We've threatened to take the Home Secretary Yvette Cooper to court over her plan to revive the perception-based version of the Orwellian 'non-crime hate incident' (NCHI). NCHIs are a recent and chilling restriction of our free speech — find out more below. thecritic.co.uk/the-return-o…

🚨 BREAKING: FSU member and army war hero Colonel Dr Kelvin Wright, who was forced out of the army after being hit with a transphobia complaint for stating that "men cannot be women", has been cleared of wrongdoing by an official inquiry! The FSU has been supporting Col Wright every step of the way during this Kafkaesque investigation, and arranged for him to receive top-drawer legal advice while committing to foot any legal bills. The freedom to express your views in the public square is a fundamental human right that the British Army is supposed to be defending, not attacking – it’s therefore reassuring to see that the inquiry’s findings are full of praise for Col Wright and make clear that he had a legal right to express his beliefs. Back in May, Col Wright shared a post on his private Facebook account from @fairplaywomen, a campaign group that works with governing bodies to preserve women’s sport for those born female. The post consisted of a quote from @HJoyceGender, the Director of Advocacy at @SexMattersOrg. Shared without any additional comment, it read: "If women cannot stand in a public place and say 'men cannot be women', then we do not have women’s rights at all." A solitary complaint then snowballed, and a group that Dr Wright describes as the Army’s "LGBT champions" subsequently drew up a seven-page dossier about his "substandard behaviour" — which he was never allowed to see. However, what we now know is that one of the complaints against Col Wright was that he was prejudiced for banning pronouns badges from uniforms. Another grievance related to Col Wright's wife saying of Strictly Come Dancing that she liked to see men and women dance together. Unbelievably, a formal investigation was then opened, and could have led to Col Wright being formally censured under the Army’s Major Administrative Action process. The FSU is delighted that the investigation has now cleared Col Wright of all wrongdoing, although the complaint against this army war hero should never have been taken seriously. You can read more about the story in the @MailOnline — link is below. dailymail.co.uk/news/article… Help us to help Dr Wright, and others like him: if you can, please donate to our general fighting fund. gofundme.com/f/the-free-spee… And if you want to join us and help support the vital work we do standing up for the free speech rights of our members, in the workplace and the public square, then click the link below! freespeechunion.org/join/

"We felt the platform was no longer consistent with our values." British police forces have begun withdrawing from X after Elon Musk's takeover of the platform led to less censorial punishment of lawful free speech which challenges progressive orthodoxy. freespeechunion.org/police-f…

A Muslim teacher has just lost a discrimination case at the Employment Tribunal after alleging ‘Islamophobia’ at her school, claiming she was harassed when colleagues discussed Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses in front of her. Her claims of harassment on grounds of race and religion were dismissed. But with the Labour government now considering the adoption of an official ‘Islamophobia’ definition, the case offers a chilling reminder of how easily such frameworks can be weaponised to censor perfectly lawful speech. It’s certainly true that Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner’s Islamophobia council is developing a non-statutory version. But it wouldn’t need the force of law. Once embedded in HR policies and workplace codes of practice — particularly in public bodies — it would quickly become a powerful tool for censorship, turning casual conversations into grounds for formal grievance. Details via The Critic: thecritic.co.uk/rushdie-ing-…

🚨 URGENT: Greater Manchester Police have named the man arrested for burning a Quran — including his street and local area — despite the clear and immediate risk to his life. If you are a friend or family member of this man, or know how to reach them, please contact us. It is now more essential than ever that he receives the right support and assistance. The FSU stands ready to help ensure his safety. 📩 DM us or email: help@freespeechunion.org

🚨 Lucy Connolly’s appeal has been denied. The Court of Appeal has refused to reduce her 31-month prison sentence, which she got for a single tweet posted just hours after three young girls were murdered in Southport by Axel Rudakubana. With the FSU’s support, Lucy — a childminder and mother of a 12 year-old daughter — appealed the sentence. Her barrister, Adam King, argued that Lucy pleaded guilty to a level of culpability she should not have done because she wasn’t properly advised by her solicitor — an argument the Court of Appeal rejected — and that the judge in the case, HHJ Melbourne Inman KC, failed to give due weight to powerful mitigating factors, such as the death of Lucy’s 19-month-old son following a hospital error, which meant she felt the death of the schoolgirls in Southport particularly acutely, and the fact that, after having time to reflect, she deleted the post within hours and then apologised for it. That, too, was an argument rejected by the Court of Appeal. This is a deeply disappointing judgement. No one disputes the tweet was offensive, but the sentence of more than two-and-a-half years was plainly disproportionate. Lucy received a longer jail term than Philip Prescott, who joined a racially aggravated mob attack on a mosque and threw missiles at the police in a riot in Southport. Mohammed Islam Choudhrey, a man who pleaded guilty to paying for sex with a child prostitute in Telford, received a lighter sentence. And the same judge who jailed Lucy gave 20 months to Haris Ghaffar, who pleaded guilty to violent disorder during last summer’s riots. The FSU funded Lucy’s appeal and we were present in court throughout. Two-and-a-half years for a single tweet is grossly disproportionate and it should trouble anyone who believes the law must be applied evenly, without fear or favour. Lucy should be at home with her family — not locked up in jail while her husband, Ray, battles bone marrow failure and her 12-year-old daughter is struggling to cope without her mother. Lord Young of Acton, the General Secretary of the FSU, said: “This is terribly disappointing. How can it be right for Lucy to have been condemned to spend more than two-and-a-half years in jail for a single tweet when members of grooming gangs who plead guilty to the sexual exploitation of children get lower sentences? Lucy should be at home with her 12 year-old daughter and husband, not rotting in jail.” You can donate to Lucy’s crowdfunder, set up by @AllisonPearson, here. democracythree.org/helplucyc…

FIRST BATTLE WON: After the FSU intervened, the @metpoliceuk have now dropped their X ban on @glinner. The fight back begins… But, Graham is still under investigation for a Public Order crime and will have to answer bail later this month. We say that all this is unlawful but the Commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, has defended their position saying that the Met had “no choice” but to arrest Graham after a disgraced trans ex-cop reported him for anti-trans posts. We’re helping Graham sue the Met but we need your help. Could you chip in here? freespeechunion.org/graham-l…

🚨 FSU member suspended by Waitrose for Tweeting Conservative views 🚨 Ben Woods, a long-serving Waitrose wine specialist, has been suspended for ‘misconduct’. His crime? Tweeting lawful conservative views. After snooping on his social media, company bosses compiled a dossier of 30+ posts, including support for Reform UK, calls to tighten border controls, and a Telegraph cartoon poking fun at gender ideology. After 25 years of service, @benonwine is now fighting for his livelihood. 📖 More details: freespeechunion.org/fsu-memb… The FSU has stood by Ben throughout this ordeal. Sadly, he’s one of 260 people we’re assisting right now who are being punished for their opinions. That’s why we’re backing his legal battle. This is a major test of free speech in employment law and could set an important precedent. As Ben’s solicitor, @ElliotHammerSR of Branch Austin McCormick (@BAMLLP), puts it: “Employees like Ben have rights under the Equality Act 2010 and Article 10 ECHR to manifest lawful beliefs and engage in robust debate about political matters.” If companies start to think they can get away with policing lawful views outside work, who’s next? 💷 Please donate and share — every penny counts. crowdjustice.com/case/defend…

Labour’s plans for ‘Islamophobia’ definition are aimed at shutting down free speech, warns ex-equalities chief... thesun.co.uk/news/35882449/l…

A man burns a Koran outside the Turkish consulate in central London — lawful but provocative. Another man responds by kicking him and slashing at him with a knife. The former remains in police custody. The latter has been released on bail. Both will now stand trial in the same court. The UK’s free speech landscape in one bleak vignette. itv.com/news/london/2025-02-… We're urgently trying to contact Hamit Coskun, the man arrested for burning the Koran, to offer our assistance but have not yet been able to reach him. If you think you can help, DM us.

🚨 BREAKING: An FSU member was arrested in an early-morning raid after criticising his former employer in a private Facebook group — and then placed under “Orwellian” bail conditions barring him from even revealing the arrest. Following legal intervention supported by the FSU, the extraordinary “gagging clause” has now been overturned at a special court hearing. Robert Moss, 56, a former firefighter and Labour councillor, worked for Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service for 28 years. Earlier this summer, Staffordshire Police raided his home, seizing devices before arresting him under the Malicious Communications Act 1988. However, at Newcastle-under-Lyme Magistrates’ Court, Tom Beardsworth, a barrister instructed by the FSU, successfully challenged the gagging conditions, arguing: “For the police to prohibit an arrested person from speaking about their arrest is extraordinary and Orwellian and it is not hyperbole to put it in those terms.” In the more than 4,000 cases the FSU has handled since 2020, this is amongst the most egregious abuses of state power we have encountered. 👉 Full details here: freespeechunion.org/police-g…

Among those supporting Hamit Coskun today at Southwark Crown Court at his appeal for burning a Quran was @RobertJenrick. Blasphemy laws were abolished 17 years ago. We must not let them return via the backdoor for just one religion. If you want to support Hamit too, you can by donating here - freespeechunion.org/hamit/?v…

The teenage girl with suspected autism who was banned from football after asking a bearded transgender opponent “Are you a man?” is to appeal her punishment with the help of the FSU — we've appointed a leading barrister to fight the guilty verdict. freespeechunion.org/teenage-…

🚨 UPDATE: Waitrose sacks wine expert over political tweets. FSU member Ben Woods was fired after 25 years for supporting Reform UK and questioning gender ideology. With our help, he’s suing for unfair dismissal. Help him fight back 👇 crowdjustice.com/case/defend…

A French philosopher who has been barred from entering the UK due to his controversial views on immigration is preparing to challenge the Home Office’s decision with the support of the Free Speech Union. freespeechunion.org/french-p…

🚨 BREAKING: We’re on The Telegraph’s homepage tonight—and we’re front-page news in tomorrow’s print edition! FSU General Secretary Lord Young has written to the Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, raising serious concerns about how the Prevent programme is now treating mainstream conservative views as signs of potential extremism. Yes, you read that correctly. In training materials completed by thousands of public sector workers, the Home Office lists “cultural nationalism” as a form of terrorist ideology. That label now applies to anyone who believes mass immigration is threatening British values or social cohesion. Once flagged, individuals—often just teenagers—can have their names and political views logged in police and safeguarding databases for decades, with devastating consequences for jobs, university places, and future prospects. In his letter, Lord Young calls on Ms Cooper to suspend the use of “cultural nationalism” in Prevent guidance, conduct an urgent audit of the programme, and establish a way for wrongly flagged individuals to discover and delete their data. If you’ve got “very Brexity” Douglas Murray books in your house, a strong interest in national policy, and believe immigration is changing this country, the Home Office now says you’re an extremist. This has got to stop. If you’re worried about being flagged and left with a record you can’t erase, join the FSU—our expert casework and legal teams are here to protect your rights. 👉 Click the link. Join the resistance. freespeechunion.org/join/ 📰 Read the full story: telegraph.co.uk/politics/202…

Waitrose sacked wine expert Ben Woods over conservative tweets. Employees have a right under the Equality Act and Article 10 to express lawful beliefs. With the FSU’s support, Ben is suing for unfair dismissal. Help defend workplace free speech 👇crowdjustice.com/case/defend…

The UK is now ranked only in the third tier on a global index of freedom of expression due to the 'chilling effect' of government policies, policing and the intimidation of journalists. "How did we let this happen?", asks Labour MP Graham Stringer. freespeechunion.org/when-it-…

🚨 BREAKING: MAJOR FREE SPEECH WIN! The Court of Appeal has ruled in Higgs v Farmor’s School, finding in favour of Kristie Higgs, a school administrator who was dismissed for expressing traditional Christian views about marriage and sexuality. The FSU intervened in the case and successfully persuaded the Court to adopt most of our key arguments — a landmark moment in the fight for free speech at work. Higgs is the most important belief discrimination case since @MForstater's victory in the Employment Appeal Tribunal. It now provides authoritative guidance on how the law protects the expression of religious and philosophical belief in the workplace and beyond. 🔹 Disrepute is not enough to justify dismissal — employers must prove actual harm. 🔹 Tribunals must assess beliefs objectively, not rely on subjective activist complaints. 🔹 Stereotyping beliefs is discriminatory — a crucial judicial clarification. 🔹 Robust speech remains protected — the threshold for ‘objectionable’ expression is high. This ruling strengthens protections for those who express lawful but unorthodox views, ensuring employers cannot outsource their decision-making to activists or ideological pressure. Huge thanks to our legal team: Ben Cooper KC and Spencer Keen of @OldSqChambers, and @ElliotHammerSR of Branch Austin McCormick. A crucial victory for workplace free speech. More to follow. 👊👊👊

🚨BREAKING: The @metpoliceuk have dropped their investigation into Graham Linehan’s tweets. After weeks of police bail – subject to unlawful conditions, including a ban on posting on X – officers have told @Glinner that prosecutors say there isn’t sufficient evidence to support any charges. That shouldn’t have been a surprise since opposing trans ideology is not a crime. Throughout this probe, the police have behaved like activists, not impartial upholders of the law. Last week, FSU lawyers had to take the Met Police to court to get their illegal ban on Graham contacting any trans-identifying male dropped. The Met didn’t even show up to the hearing. Rather than inviting Graham for an interview in September, the Met sent five armed police officers to arrest him at Heathrow airport. So, we’re not stopping here. Police forces cannot continue to suppress lawful free speech without facing consequences. We’ve instructed a top flight team of lawyers to sue the Met for wrongful arrest, among other things. Graham deserves an apology but, more importantly, the police need to be taught a lesson that they cannot allow themselves to be continually manipulated by woke activists.

Senior Conservatives, including a former prime minister, have called for the release of the FSU member Lucy Connolly, who was jailed for a social media comment made in the wake of the Southport murders. The FSU is funding her appeal against the sentence. freespeechunion.org/mother-j…

The UK’s new ‘Islamophobia’ working group is here, and it's been hailed by Angela Rayner as “crucial”. In reality, it risks paving the way for an official speech code, which will chill debate on one of the most politically sensitive issues of our time. spiked-online.com/2025/03/05…

A Tory councillor whose wife was sentenced to 31 months in jail for inciting racial hatred after posting offensive remarks online during the recent riots says she will appeal her sentence. The FSU stands ready to provide any assistance that may be helpful. freespeechunion.org/conserva…

🚨 A man has been arrested in Manchester after a video appeared to show him burning pages of the Quran. He remains in custody, reportedly on suspicion of a "racially aggravated public order offence". England abolished its blasphemy laws in 2008 — yet this arrest raises serious free speech concerns. Burning a religious text, however provocative, is not incitement under the Public Order Act 1986. If you are this man or know him, please get in touch. The Free Speech Union stands ready to help. 📩 DM us or email here: help@freespeechunion.org Full details here. freespeechunion.org/man-arre…

If the Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, goes ahead with a plan to force police officers to record more 'non-crime hate incidents' (NCHIs), the Free Speech Union (FSU) will take legal action — WATCH FSU Head Toby Young discuss the issues on Talk TV below. As an organisation, we're not prepared to stand by while the government takes us back to the bad old days when Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights was ignored, and the subjective perception of 'hatred' was enough to have your name and address logged in a police database. We've written about NCHIs in more detail here. thecritic.co.uk/the-return-o… Our most recent research briefing on NCHIs is here. freespeechunion.org/police-s… The FSU has also had success in securing deletion of NCHI records for members. We've written this informative guide for our members, setting out how to go about it — log in to your FSU account to take a look! freespeechunion.org/how-to-r… If you care about defending free speech and you aren't already a member of the FSU you can join by clicking here. freespeechunion.org/join/ In an era where speaking one's mind can lead to unforeseen consequences, it's reassuring to know that with the FSU and its 20,000+ members behind you, you won't navigate those challenges alone. 👊👊👊

In response to freedom of information requests, police forces across Britain have revealed that 'non-crime hate incidents' (NCHIs) are being logged against people in authority doing their jobs. Examples include: ❌ An NCHI recorded against a doctor in West Yorkshire after a patient alleged they were misdiagnosed "because they were bisexual". ❌ A journalist's article about his interview with a "deaf and dumb" scooterist being reported to the police as a hate incident. ❌ A social worker was also reported to the police in Lancashire over claims she had abused her position and racially discriminated against the victim by preventing her from seeing her children. freespeechunion.org/doctors-… In 2014, the College of Policing — a taxpayer-funded quango — came up with the concept of the NCHI in its 'Hate Crime Operational Guidance'. As defined in this document, an NCHI is any incident perceived by the victim or any bystanders to be motivated by hostility or prejudice to the victim based on a 'protected' characteristic (race or perceived race, religion or perceived religion, and so on). For the avoidance of doubt, non-crime hate incidents really are as Orwellian as they sound. They aren't anonymised, and sit forever against the names of the alleged perpetrators without any real investigation or right of appeal. In addition, if one is recorded against your name it can show up on an enhanced criminal records check and prevent you from getting a job. That's right, you might not get a job because someone 'perceives' you've committed a 'non-crime'. Here's a short 🧵detailing some of the most egregious of the 250,000+ NCHIs we estimate the police in England and Wales have logged since 2014...

“This was blatant, observable, undeniable, inescapable two-tier justice” Hamit Coskun was repeatedly slashed with a knife by Moussa Kadri for burning a Quran outside the Turkish consulate. Kadri walked away with a suspended sentence. Listen to Director of Legislative Affairs @samwarmstrong on TalkTV with @JuliaHB1.

1/ An alarming number of people are losing their jobs at the moment – or being suspended from them, pending investigations – because they've criticised some aspect of the Black Lives Matter movement.

📺 Watch this video to find out about our latest case — it's arguably our biggest yet. ⚽️ If you're a fan of a Premier League team, and you've ever expressed lawful but non-woke views on social media, please CLICK the link to use our new, automatic form to submit a subject access request, both to your Premier League club and to the Premier League itself. freespeechunion.org/SAR/ 🤐 If you find out they have been keeping tabs on your political views, let us know and it will help us put a stop to this flagrant interference in free speech.

The Court of Appeal ruled that the recording of 'non-crime hate incidents' is an interference with people's free speech. The ex-Home Secretary issued Guidance to that effect. So why are the police recording more of these Orwellian 'non-crimes' than ever? freespeechunion.org/telegrap…

“An official definition of Islamophobia, specifically designed to be adopted by our institutions and public services, will shut down difficult but necessary conversations about grooming gangs, gender equality, and even Islamist extremism” says Shadow Equalities Minister @ClaireCoutinho .  Read more below ⬇️

The trans activist whose complaint got Graham Linehan arrested by five armed police officers is a disgraced ex-cop who is behind scores of failed legal challenges, The Sun reports. @Glinner is suing the @metpoliceuk for wrongful arrest and false imprisonment to make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone else. Will you help? Donate: freespeechunion.org/graham-l…

"Join me in the Free Speech Union and together we can defeat the authoritarianism and intolerance that is once again threatening to destroy our liberty."

🚨 BREAKING: Teen footballer Cerys Vaughan has WON her appeal after being banned for asking a bearded trans player: “Are you a man?” The FA’s case against her was thrown out after a damning ruling exposed a flawed and unfair process — one that left 17-year-old Cerys in tears. We’re proud to say: we made her victory possible. The Free Speech Union funded Cerys’s legal team, including a top-tier barrister, and supported her family through months of Kafkaesque disciplinary proceedings. It’s thanks to that support that she was able to fight back — and win. Following the Supreme Court’s ruling that “woman” means biological female under the Equality Act, the FA has now U-turned, scrapping its transgender inclusion policy: from June, males will be barred from the female game. That’s the right decision — but it comes too late for girls like Cerys, who were punished under speech codes that should never have existed. Female players in single-sex football leagues should never have been forced to compete against men, given how much stronger, faster and more physically aggressive male players are, on average. For a teenage girl to receive a six-game ban simply for asking whether an opposing player was a man was a grotesque injustice — and we’re proud to have helped her get the decision overturned. Cerys is one of nearly 4,000 people we've supported since 2020 — people who got into trouble for saying something perfectly lawful. What we do is only possible because of the incredible support we receive from our members and donors. Join us and help fight the next battle: 🔗 freespeechunion.org/join Read Cerys’s exclusive interview with the Telegraph here: 🔗 freespeechunion.org/im-the-g…

BREAKING: Hamit Coskun's criminal conviction for burning a copy of the Quran has been overturned by the Crown Court. FSU Director Lord Young of Acton says: "This is a huge victory for Hamit, the Free Speech Union, the National Secular Society and, above all, for freedom of expression. "Had the verdict been allowed to stand it would have sent a message to religious fundamentalists up and down the country that all they need to do to enforce their blasphemy codes is to violently attack the blasphemer, thereby making him or her guilty of having caused public disorder. "Instead, the Crown Court has sent the opposite message -- that anti-religious protests, however offensive, must be tolerated."

In another victory for the Free Speech Union, Linzi Smith, the lifelong Newcastle fan banned from attending games because of gender critical posts on X, is now able to watch her beloved Magpies again. We are delighted for her. Newcastle United is far from the only club to be captured by radical progressive ideology. Cases like Linzi’s are becoming increasingly common and will become more so when Labour’s new football regulator starts throwing its weight around, insisting all clubs do more to promote diversity, equity and inclusion. Our advice to any football fans who don’t sign up to this woke agenda is to join the @speechunion. telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/11…

🚨 BREAKING: The FSU has just learnt that Essex Police has decided to take no further action against Allison Pearson, following the intervention of Luke Gittos, a top criminal lawyer paid for by us — full details below. freespeechunion.org/police-d… Essex Police should never have investigated this tweet in the first place. It didn't come close to being a criminal offence, which they've now effectively acknowledged. If you think there's a risk the police will turn up on your doorstep about a social media post, join the FSU. We'll have your back. freespeechunion.org/join/ 👊👊👊

🚨 BREAKING: For two years, a government superinjunction prevented the public, and even Parliament, from knowing that the Ministry of Defence had accidentally disclosed the personal data of nearly 25,000 Afghans linked to UK forces. Welcome to the birthplace of parliamentary democracy in 2025. The secrecy concealed a costly emergency resettlement scheme and the rehousing of thousands in hotels and military sites around the country — all without public consultation. A Whitehall briefing note circulated to ministers in September 2024, two months after the Southport murders, noted that the riot hotspots were largely in areas with high numbers of Afghan arrivals. Another briefing, sent in July 2025 — just days before the injunction was lifted — advised officials to prepare for a backlash in communities facing stretched public services. Now, finally, we know the truth, after the High Court lifted the gagging order. In his ruling, Mr Justice Chamberlain warned that it “completely shut down the ordinary mechanisms of accountability which operate in a democracy”, creating what he described as a “scrutiny vacuum”. There’s more on this extraordinary case here: freespeechunion.org/governme…

1/4 BREAKING: As you may have seen, the teenager accused of murdering three young girls in Southport has been charged with possessing a military study of an Al-Qaeda training manual, and the manufacture of ricin poison. Read our statement below. freespeechunion.org/southpor… The mass stabbing perpetrated by Axel Rudakubana targeted children at a Taylor Swift dance workshop in Southport on Monday, July 29th. Along with the fatalities there were 10 people injured, including eight children. On July 30th and over subsequent days there were outbreaks of civil disorder in England and Northern Ireland. We suspect some of the prosecutions of people for saying supposedly inflammatory things on social media may now be unsafe — for instance, the man in Cumbria sentenced to eight weeks in jail for reposting three allegedly ‘Islamophobic’ memes on Facebook. At the very least, it may be grounds for appealing their often draconian jail sentences. And what about the many people arrested in August for social media posts about the Southport attack who came under enormous pressure from the police to plead guilty? Did the police know at that time that the news about the link to an Islamist training manual would eventually come out and that once it had it would be more difficult to persuade a jury to convict these people? If so, that may be a good basis for a law suit. We’ve provided legal assistance to several of our members who did get into difficulty over the summer for saying things about the Southport attack on social media, including a Royal Marines veteran prosecuted for a Facebook video who has pleaded not guilty. His trial is forthcoming and we’re paying for a solicitor and a barrister...

"The Mail can reveal a document was circulated within the force saying ‘gender binary’ [the belief there are only two genders] was a ‘key feature’ of the Nazis’ beliefs." dailymail.co.uk/news/article…

Judge rules that criticism of Islam is a protected belief under equalities law. General Secretary of The Free Speech Union, Lord Young, comments: “This landmark judgment will make it much harder for the Government to roll out an official, state-approved definition of Islamophobia”. Read more below 👇

🚨 BREAKING: The FSU has appointed an employment barrister to defend Dr Kelvin Wright, an army Colonel with 14 years' unblemished service, who was forced to resign after being hit with a transphobia complaint for stating that "men cannot be women". telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/06…

The strange willingness of Hertfordshire Police to intervene in a dispute at a primary school is proving ever stranger. In January six uniformed officers were sent to arrest Maxie Allen and Rosalind Levine after Cowley Hill Primary objected to a series of emails and “disparaging” comments in a parents’ WhatsApp group. As the police searched their home, the couple were detained in front of their three year-old daughter before being held in cells for eight hours. And all this for querying the recruitment process for a new headteacher. No wonder that Mr Allen, a Times Radio producer, said the police’s behaviour represented “massive overreach”. But it now transpires that the force’s intervention wasn’t restricted to him and Ms Levine. Hertfordshire Police also warned Michelle Vince, a local county councillor, to stop helping the family by sending emails to the school on their behalf — or risk being investigated herself. It then asked her to pass on the same warning to anyone she’d cc’ed when contacting Cowley Hill. This included the local Conservative MP Sir @OliverDowden, who has professed himself “astonished that a situation could have arisen where any police officer could think it would be remotely acceptable to suggest that an MP should be curtailed in carrying out their democratic duties”. All of which rather backs up the FSU’s research findings that the British police have very little understanding of free speech. freespeechunion.org/the-urge… Full story here. freespeechunion.org/the-incr…

🚨BREAKING: The FSU is supporting Connie Shaw, a 20 year-old undergraduate at Leeds University who has been suspended from hosting a student radio show for expressing gender-critical views — the Telegraph has the story. telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/12… Ms Shaw was handed a “notice of suspension” by Leeds Student Union (LSU) after a complaint was raised with Leeds Student Radio (LSR) about her social media activity. Her alleged ‘speech crimes’ include writing a post for Irish comedy writer and gender-critical campaigner @Glinner’s Substack, voicing criticism of Leeds University’s alleged capture by gender ideology, and hosting prominent ‘detransitioner’ @astor_charlie on her own personal podcast. Rather than tipping their hats to a media-savvy student with a critical and open mind, SU officials suspended her from the LSR committee having decreed that her actions brought the radio station into disrepute, violated its “values, ethos and expectations”, and failed to uphold “a duty of care to all society members”. Ms Shaw has since been told that she will remain barred unless she sends “a written apology to the membership” and agrees to attend an online political re-education course. The FSU has now warned Leeds University of potential legal action. In a letter, we’ve pointed out that the institution’s treatment of our member amounts to direct discrimination contrary to the Equality Act 2010, which counts gender-critical beliefs as protected beliefs. We are also appealing the SU’s decision on Ms Shaw’s behalf, and have promised to support the third-year philosophy undergraduate if she chooses to lodge a discrimination claim. Ms Shaw’s ordeal demonstrates perfectly why the free speech duties imposed on students’ unions in England by the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act are so badly needed. This is one of the (many) reasons the FSU is bringing a legal challenge against the Labour Government over its shocking decision to STOP commencement of this vital piece of legislation. The fact that the Administrative Court has given permission for our case to be heard in the High Court on 23rd January 2025 means that we have, at the very least, an arguable case. So if you can, please donate to our legal fighting fund and help us ensure that what happened to Connie Shaw is much less likely to happen in future. crowdjustice.com/case/help-r…

The US State Department has accused the UK of having "significant human rights issues", including restrictions on free speech. news.sky.com/story/us-accuse…