The Death of Free Speech.
In my last rant about British politics I discussed the Tory move to the right and highlighted the United Nations concerns regarding increased police powers and the threat that poses to our democracy.
We all know that the Metropolitan police have been found to be “institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic.” Now we have direct evidence that Leicestershire Police also has misogynistic questions to answer after the appalling way it has treated Labour MP Stella Creasy.
Ms Creasy was subject to an investigation by local social services because they had received a complaint from a man claiming Ms Creasy’s "extreme views” were a threat to her children because they might adopt her beliefs, and they needed to be taken into care for their own protection.
A safe-guarding review was carried out by a panel of people from social services, the police and schools, and the complaint was dismissed as being completely unfounded. The panel then contacted Ms Creasy because they thought she and her children might be at risk from the complainant.
The man in question had never met Ms Creasy or her children. This man, who used an alias, was contacted by Leicestershire Police, and was given an informal warning and a community resolution after it was found the man had repeatedly emailed Ms Creasy’s office, angered by her “man-hating" politics.
Ms Creasy now has a social services record that cannot be legally deleted from the files. To add insult to injury, Leicestershire Police said the man was “legally entitled" to express concerns to social services and that she should "expect to be challenged" because she is a woman MP in the public eye.
In short, Leicestershire Police have sanctioned the weaponising of the threat to have your children taken away from you if someone disagrees with your views. How can there be free speech if women with something to say can be subject to misogynistic trolls?
Have we really reached the point in this country where the police accept attempts by intolerant individuals to have peoples children taken into social care simply because they do not agree with the views of the mother? What if you don’t like the beliefs of the father? Will the police sanction similar complaints against male MP’s?
“The normal reaction would be utter horror at the suggestion my children should be taken away because someone disagrees with my views.”
Sadly, this appears no longer to be the case. Maybe the police-state has arrived sooner than I thought!
