Explaining the British Theme of Freedom of Speech

Maybe before the 1990s....there was what you'd view as the American style of freedom of speech.  But as 1998 came around....the UK started to fall within the EU and they wrote up Article 10 within the UK law.

In this effort to effect change....they wrote broad exceptions to freedom of speech.  Anything you say in public, in a group or hall, that suggests a threat, or abusive-style wording, or even just an angry behavior....is a problem.

So the authorities or cops could hear something and sense that you were harassing someone, or alarming the general public by your speech.  You might be on the verge of causing distress with a certain group of people.  Or, you you might be 'breaching the peace'.  Half of Churchill's speeches?  They'd likely breach the peace.

This same effort in Article ten says that if you convey something in writing that is regarded as indecent, or offensive in nature....that it might cause anxiety or panic upon the receiver....that's prohibited.  Half the works of Joseph Conrad?  Probably couldn't be written or published in the UK today.

If you suggest anything of a anti-religious way.....well....that's a violation of Article ten.  If you wrote something that made terror acts seem like 'wonderful' or 'reasonable'.....that also violates Article ten.

In fact, they said that if you seriously talked or advocated the dismantlement of the crown or the death of the Queen.....that would move onto the idea of treason.

Article Ten even covers obscenity, and indecency.

All of this leads onto restrictions of court reporting.  You can't cover a news story in a court situation.....reporting the victims or those accused.

In fact, Article Ten even got around to company trade secrets, government classified information, patent information, the conduct or behavior of military personnel, and there's even a statement in the Article which covers advertising.

At the time, people were reassured, that no one would go and take this to extremes.  Well....it's pretty much going by the novel 1984 script.....they achieved exactly what people feared in 1998 when Article Ten became a reality.

A free nation?  No.  They've dug a pretty deep hole and it resembles Nazi Germany in the late 1930s.  Who prepared Article Ten?  Well....the Labor Party was in charge at this point, and they drafted the original document.

The real effect here?  It's a curious thing.  You could come over to the UK and sip an Ale with two friends at a local bar.  You might get into talking some rough words over something, and four hours later (around midnight) at your hotel room....you have a knock at the door.  Cops have arrived and seek to arrest you.  The judge will see you in the morning.....bringing in the two friends, and note that someone else in the bar heard the 'rough-talk', and they've complained.  The friends are fearful of the charge potential, so they agree with the judge.  In a matter of an hour, you are convicted and offered a slim window of twelve hours to exit the UK and never return.....paying a 500 pound fee along the way.

My humble guess is that you have two groups in the UK today.  You have those who live in fear each and every day that they might utter something to get themselves arrested for an Article Ten violation.  Then you have those who wander around and think they'd never be arrested because they are the 'right' people.

For those who said that Nazi behavior and expectations would never occur again?  They were wrong.