The Chairman of Bradford's policing scrutiny panel was sacked by West Yorkshire Police after complaining that officers were ignoring the elephant in the room of Islamist extremism after last year's synagogue attack.
Meta is silencing Sarah Wynn-Williams, a former Director of Global Public Policy at Facebook, who published a memoir — Careless People — containing damning claims about the company's internal culture and its appeasement of the Chinese government. Bound by a legal order that exposes her to a $50,000 fine for every breach, Wynn-Williams sat in silence on stage at the Hay Festival while Professor Tim Wu answered questions on her behalf.
Henry Nowak, an 18-year-old student, was stabbed with a 21cm ceremonial knife on a night out in Southampton. When police arrived, they handcuffed and arrested him for an alleged racial slur rather than trying to save his life. The Free Speech Union has long warned that the police need to get their priorities straight, and there are serious questions Hampshire Police must answer.
South Wales Police has told officers to log anti-Islam conversations that stray beyond what it deems "legitimate" — a subjective threshold that hands individual officers the power to determine acceptable speech and could see lawful expression recorded as an anti-social behaviour incident, potentially appearing in DBS checks. The Free Speech Union has written to the force demanding it withdraw the guidance, warning of judicial review if it refuses.
British citizens are flocking to freedom.gov, a "censorship circumvention project" set up by the Trump administration's State Department, to bypass the restrictive online safety laws imposed by the UK's Online Safety Act and the EU's Digital Services Act. Sarah Rogers, US Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy, says Brits are visiting the site more than any other nationality — because they are living under a government "hostile to freedom of speech".
Labour MPs write to the Equality and Human Rights Commission to accuse Reform UK of Islamophobia. The Free Speech Union has long warned that the Government's official definition of Islamophobia would be weaponised to silence legitimate criticism of Islam.
Max Thompson surveys the six bills in the King's Speech most likely to threaten free speech and civil liberties in the parliamentary session ahead.
Avon and Somerset Police drop investigation into Christian street preacher who is backed by the White House. Dia Moodley describes it as a "win for free speech", but he should never have been arrested in the first place.
In this week's FSU Member Testimonial, Graham Linehan describes the role the Free Speech Union played in supporting him through his arrest at Heathrow, the dropping of the criminal investigation against him, and the Metropolitan Police's eventual apology.
The Singing Striders, a choir whose invitation to perform at the London Marathon was withdrawn by disability charity Scope over the gender-critical beliefs of its founder Janet Murray, has launched legal action against the charity. Murray and three fellow members are seeking a formal apology and damages, arguing that Scope unlawfully discriminated against her on the basis of a belief that is explicitly protected under the Equality Act 2010. Janet joined External Affairs Officer Connie Shaw on this week's episode of the FSU Podcast to discuss her experience.
After a five-month investigation, the Metropolitan Police has issued an unreserved apology to Graham Linehan for his arrest at Heathrow Airport last September, when five armed officers detained him over posts he had made on X expressing gender-critical views. The apology is welcome — but it has taken far too long, and Graham should never have been arrested in the first place.
Starmer bans "right-wing" commentators from entering the UK ahead of the Unite the Kingdom rally.
