The horror of turning children into thoughtcriminals

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I wasn’t surprised to read The Times’s story about schoolchildren being investigated for possible ‘hate crimes’. These included a nine-year-old who’d called a classmate a ‘retard’ and two girls at a secondary school who’d told another pupil she smelt ‘like fish’. The police, having decided that these episodes did not meet the threshold for criminal prosecution, dutifully recorded them as ‘non-crime hate incidents’ (NCHIs).

Toby Young, Spiked, 15th November 2024.

Review hate laws to protect free speech, says Kemi Badenoch

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Toby Young, director of the Free Speech Union, said: “This isn’t East Germany. Criticising the police isn’t a criminal offence.”

Gordon Rayner and Charles Hymas, The Telegraph, 15th November 2024.

Thought police in KeirStarmer’s Britain ‘are like Soviet Union’, warns Boris Johnson: Ex-PM attacks growing number of social media ‘hate incident’ probes as threat to free speech

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The Free Speech Union has branded non-crime hate incidents (NCHIs) as ‘thought policing’ as it was revealed they have been used to investigate children as young as nine.

Kumail Jaffer, Daily Mail, 15th November 2024.

British Children Among Thousands Being Investigated for ‘Hate Incidents

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Anti-censorship campaigner Toby Young said that if the government does push ahead with its plans to force police officers to record yet more NCHIs, his Free Speech Union will take legal action.

Michael Curzon, The European Conservative, 15th November 2024.

Essex Police have made Allison Pearson a free speech martyr instead of fighting actual crime

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I think I can guess the sort of person or group who might be responsible for this sort of charge; I think we all can. But it’s the sinister effect that the charge seems intended to have which should worry us. It is designed to intimidate; to make people like Allison Pearson think twice before they sound off about matters to do with race or religion. It is meant to have a chilling effect on free speech, which is why the Free Speech Union has provided her with a solicitor to accompany her to her voluntary police interview.

Melanie McDonagh, The Standard, 15th November 2024.

MINOR INCIDENTS Child, 9, among kids investigated by cops for hate incidents after calling classmate a ‘r****d’

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Critics have slammed the use of police resources for such incidents – with some calling for the protection of free speech. The Free Speech Union has said it amounts to “thought policing”.

Ellie Doughty, The Sun, 14th November 2024.

Keir Starmer backs the ‘thought Police’ – Prime Minister told to ‘police streets, not tweets’ as row builds after No10 supports officers recording controversial ‘non-crime hate incidents’

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Critics have slammed the use of police resources for such incidents – with some calling for the protection of free speech. The Free Speech Union has said it amounts to “thought policing”.

Jason Groves, Daily Mail, 14th November 2024.

‘Orwell’s Operation Manual’ — UK Hate Speech Laws Used Against Conservative Journalist

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Free Speech Union director Toby Young added: “It’s little wonder that 93 per cent of car-related crimes went unsolved in Essex last year. The local officers are too busy policing journalists’ tweets to police their streets. I’m sure they’d prefer to be investigating actual crimes rather than ‘non-crimes’, but their politically correct bosses are more concerned with punishing wrongthink.”

Kurt Zindulka, Breitbart, 14th November 2024.

Police accused of ‘appalling’ attack on free speech with probe into Telegraph journalist

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She said: “I am probably going to go in for an interview. The Free Speech Union, which is a brilliant organisation, is helping me. They are giving me a solicitor, so if I have to go into the police station and have a voluntary interview I will go in, and maybe then we will find out what I am accused of, and then we will see how it progresses.”

Charles Hymas, The Telegraph, 13th November 2024.

How police are cracking down on ‘hate speech’ – while burglaries and shoplifting go unpunished

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Instead, the year ending this June saw 11,690 NCHIs issued across 30 forces, an almost identical figure to the year before, according to an FOI request from the Free Speech Union. A number of forces recorded double digit increases year-on-year.

Ben Butcher, The Telegraph, 13th November 2024.

In the Media

Articles That Mention the Free Speech Union

The horror of turning children into thoughtcriminals

Review hate laws to protect free speech, says Kemi Badenoch

Thought police in KeirStarmer’s Britain ‘are like Soviet Union’, warns Boris Johnson: Ex-PM attacks growing number of social media ‘hate incident’ probes as threat to free speech

British Children Among Thousands Being Investigated for ‘Hate Incidents

Essex Police have made Allison Pearson a free speech martyr instead of fighting actual crime

MINOR INCIDENTS Child, 9, among kids investigated by cops for hate incidents after calling classmate a ‘r****d’

Keir Starmer backs the ‘thought Police’ – Prime Minister told to ‘police streets, not tweets’ as row builds after No10 supports officers recording controversial ‘non-crime hate incidents’

‘Orwell’s Operation Manual’ — UK Hate Speech Laws Used Against Conservative Journalist

Police accused of ‘appalling’ attack on free speech with probe into Telegraph journalist

How police are cracking down on ‘hate speech’ – while burglaries and shoplifting go unpunished

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