Is a silent prayer on a public street a criminal act? Not according to the case of 76-year-old grandmother Rosa Lalor, from Liverpool, who has successfully challenged a penalty given to her while out walking and silently praying near an abortion facility.
Continue reading20 years of euthanasia in Belgium: after almost 30,000 lives lost, what can we learn?
Over 27,000 people have died from euthanasia in Belgium since it was legalised 20 years ago on 28th May 2002, according to the latest official data from Belgian authorities.
Continue readingA short step from contact-tracing to mass surveillance
The NHS’s promised contact-tracing app could easily pose a threat to our freedoms
Whenever the dust settles on the corona era, and historians look back at what made it significant, there will be plenty to chew over. They will discuss the scientific models, government policies, the individual heroes, the economic fallout and the shift in the relationship between China and the West.
But, however seismic these phenomena are, historians have written about these types of things before. They have explored the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the Spanish Flu, the Cold War and the ‘Blitz spirit’.
What is potentially novel and unique about the happenings of the corona era is that Western states began to relate to their citizens through an app. This represents a social and administrative revolution between people and their governors, fuelled by the ostensibly admirable motivation to save lives and protect public health.
Yet where that revolution could lead can be glimpsed in China’s social-credit system, which ranks citizens according to such behavioural criteria as their trustworthiness.
Continue reading ‘A short step from contact-tracing to mass surveillance’ by Ryan Christopher at Sp!ked.
Grandmother awaits justice after being arrested for prayer walk during lockdown
Can a silent, peaceful prayer be a criminal act? This is the question facing the court as it considers the penalty that Rosa Lalor received when on a prayer walk during lockdown in 2021.
Continue readingProsecutor to continue “campaign” against Finnish MP after major free speech victory
“This criminal prosecution serves as a canary in the coalmine for countries such as the UK and others across Europe, which are implementing their own illiberal censorship laws,” said Paul Coleman, Executive Director of ADF International and author of ‘Censored: How European Hate Speech Laws are Threatening Freedom of Speech’.
Continue readingThe Overton window for Christian beliefs is narrowing
“After all, not one citizen actually spoke at the trial to say that they were offended by the tweet or other material. Even Twitter didn’t take it down. This was simply a matter of the state policing belief” says Lois McLatchie for UnHerd
Continue readingFinnish MP wins on all charges in major free speech trial
“This criminal prosecution serves as a canary in the coalmine for countries such as the UK and others across Europe, which are implementing their own illiberal censorship laws,” said Paul Coleman, Executive Director of ADF International and author of ‘Censored: How European Hate Speech Laws are Threatening Freedom of Speech’.
Continue readingCourt to rule TODAY on “Bible Tweet” trial
“This criminal prosecution serves as a canary in the coalmine for countries such as the UK and others across Europe, which are implementing their own illiberal censorship laws,” said Paul Coleman, Executive Director of ADF International and author of ‘Censored: How European Hate Speech Laws are Threatening Freedom of Speech’.
Continue readingPRESS STATEMENT (PCSC Bill): Free speech should be protected in law, not assurances
“Today’s Government decision to uphold our right to use language that makes others feel ‘serious unease’ is welcome news in a free society. Yet this amendment to the PCSC Bill is too little, too late to protect free speech.”
Continue readingThe Policing Bill will leave free speech in tatters
“At best, this is willful blindness, at worst, an unabashed leap towards authoritarianism” ADF UK’s Jeremiah Igunnubole says of the PCSC bill, which would allow police to restrict noisy conduct that even risks causing “serious unease”.
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