Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Is the Crime and Policing Bill a threat to free speech.

3 replies

Imnobody4 · 14/04/2025 15:37

I have to admit I haven't studied it but am alarmed by this article.

https://www.spiked-online.com/2025/04/13/the-uks-free-speech-crisis-is-about-to-get-so-much-worse/

The bill, which is currently at the committee stage in the House of Commons, promises to keep our streets ‘safe’ by giving courts a new power to issue ‘respect orders’. These orders are potentially so draconian and wide-ranging that they could well end up being used for very different purposes – including silencing anyone who says anything online that the authorities disapprove of.

Under the bill, police, local authorities and a number of other bodies will be empowered to ask courts for ‘respect orders’ that can either prohibit someone from doing or require them to do ‘anything described in the order’. You read that right – anything. The only condition that needs to be satisfied is that the court thinks, on a balance of probabilities, that the person ‘has caused, or is likely to cause, harassment, alarm or distress to any person’. This essentially amounts to ‘precrime’. There won’t even be a need to warn people. The court can issue an interim order without notice. Once the order (which can be indefinite in duration) is there, breaching it carries an unlimited fine or two years in prison.

The UK’s free-speech crisis is about to get so much worse

The Crime and Policing Bill could unleash terrifying new censorship powers.

https://www.spiked-online.com/2025/04/13/the-uks-free-speech-crisis-is-about-to-get-so-much-worse/

OP posts:
CatProcrastinator1 · 14/04/2025 20:48

Yes. A vexatious complainant's charter.

EdithStourton · 15/04/2025 07:49

I think this needs a bump. I don't know enough about it to have a valid opinion, but it looks concerning and it would helpful if someone with a legal background could comment.

Supersimkin7 · 15/04/2025 07:53

Bumped.

‘or is likely to cause’

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread