Weasel words have abounded since the arrest of Graham Linehan. It seems a tad ‘heavy-handed’ for five armed cops to collar a man over his tweets, said Index on Censorship. It feels ‘disproportionate’, some say. Perhaps the police should be focussing on more serious crimes, said that supposed devotee of the liberty to speak, Sir Keir Starmer. What wet, weak protestations. What puny complaints. What spineless bluster. The rest of us must speak more plainly: the armed interrogation of a comedy writer for daring to demur from gender ideology is not some mere regrettable incident – it is an abomination.
What we saw at Heathrow Airport on Monday was nothing less than the militarisation of cancel culture. It was the enforcement at gunpoint of what the ruling class deems to be correct-think. Mr Linehan was nabbed like some common criminal as he got off his flight from Arizona. Five armed officers – five! – took him to a room and told him he was being arrested over three tweets. Eventually they bailed him, with a strict condition: he must not go on X. In the old days, ‘witches’ were made to wear a metal bridle that encircled the head and compressed the tongue so that the town might be spared their heretical drivel – now the ‘witch’ is warned not to utter a word in that modern town square of social media.
