Graham Linehan arrested on arrival at Heathrow

[IDareSay]

Arrested again! Details on his Substack. This is beyond a joke; 5 armed officers!

https://grahamlinehan.substack.com/p/i-just-got-arrested-again

Are you living in the UK? Let's go through your list:

1. The National Crime Agency has told the government that, as they are now being swamped by the number of new cases regarding men watching kiddie porn - over 800 new cases every week - they are now only proceeding with the most egregious cases - i.e. Class A.
2. I think it's clear that knife crime is very widespread and shows no sign of abating, so anyone could be forgiven for saying that it is out of control.
3. Women meeting to discuss their rights, whether trans related or otherwise, are routinely harrassed by transactivists and threatened with rape, death, decapitation and some have been assaulted. Sadly, this is also becoming the norm. Consider also those women, notably MPs, who need bodyguards when going about their daily business.

I think you need to do an awful lot of reading to catch up with the rest of us, because currently you seem to be living in a parallel universe!

I was going to post similar. Punching/kicking a man in the balls isn't 'sexual violence', it's a well established technique that allows a smaller victim to defend themselves against a male aggressor and then escape. If someone in possession of testicles is in a female space, and will not leave despite being confronted, then a woman is likely to assume that she's in danger, so punching in the balls is... quite good advice? The other is to go for the eyes, but that's more difficult to do (especially if there's a disparity in height), and is more likely to result in long term damage.

I sometimes think that Glinner goes too far, despite my love of both Father Ted and The IT Crowd, but I genuinely don't think that this was one of those instances - and certainly not one requiring five armed officers:

1. One tweet is supporting women's right to single sex spaces, and suggesting what to do if a male aggressor is in one and refuses to leave - in a way that could be read as joking, but even if read with a straight face... isn't that bad? I'm guessing the people complaining have never walked with their keys between their fingers, "just in case".

2. One tweet is suggesting that people smell. Bad taste, rather childish, but not exactly five-coppers-with-guns territories....

3. One is expressing distaste for homophobes and misogynists. I... think this is commendable, not criminal?

You actually think that the police should come mob handed to an airport to arrest someone for saying ‘Make a scene, call the cops and if all else fails, punch him in the balls.'

you think thats a proportionate response

It is actually frightening to see this happening in front of us.

I'm not clear (and maybe it's obvious) but who actually sent the 5 police officers to arrest him?

As a working class not quite ‘British’ enough woman I’ve long been aware there’s two tier policing since childhood.

And I’m quite sure someone senior will have thought through the optics of 5 armed police men arresting Lineham for Wrongthink.

He’s also asking people to DM him if his name is mentioned anywhere.

Recently kicked off TwiX (again) for doxxing.

@MrsMitford3 see the screenshot in this post.

This is nothing to do with protected characteristics, it's about biological sex.

As the Supreme Court made clear in April, it's an offence for any person with bollocks (except, perhaps, a cleaner or a plumber or a member of the management going about necessary work) to be present in female-only facilities. This is because people with bollocks are of the male sex. Even if the man concerned calls himself Dorothy and wears lipstick and heels, even if he has a Gender Recognition Certificate, he is still male and he must observe the law on single-sex spaces and stay out of women's facilities. If he enters, he's committed an offence.

Any woman finding a man in a woman-only facility is likely to be alarmed and if anything he says or does makes her feel under physical threat then she is entitled to use reasonable force to fend him off. A punch in the balls will probably pass the reasonable force test.

Glinner wasn't inciting mindless violence. He was suggesting what women could lawfully do if they feel menaced by a man in a women-only space.

The right to self defence is an interesting area of law I guess.

I think the tweet could be perceived as inciting violence against one of the characteristics covered by hate crime.

It would be fine to suggest kicking any or all biological man in the balls but not fine to suggest kicking a subset of men who have one of those characteristics. e.g it wouldn't be acceptable to say only kick men of one ethnicity.

Having said that I'm 100% behind Graham but the law is stupid.

I think it’s a reference to the observation that trans activists are prone to being soap dodgers.

I think in the current volatile climate, we absolutely should be taking incitement to violence very seriously. Not “send five armed cops” seriously, but it shouldn’t be brushed off.

However, Glinners tweet wasn’t suggesting women go out and randomly attack individuals they don’t like. That would be incitement. All he was advocating was reasonable self-defence if a woman was vulnerable and felt unsafe. It’s not the same thing. No justification at all for police involvement.

On the other head, TRAs are particularly fond of threatening women…..and yet nothing. The police even pose happily for photos with some of the worst offenders.

For anyone in here who hasn’t seen what the other side say about TERFs and think we’re exaggerating, here’s just a few random examples. There’s literally hundreds more along the same line. Thousands if you include basic tweets.

So remember, encouraging others to kill or punch women is fine, but telling women it’s ok to act in self defence is a Bad Thing.

Note - images obviously under review. They are unpleasant but Mumsnet, I hope you approve them because they’re freely available in the public domain and being displayed on our streets with no action from the police….

I'm not sure if this has already been mentioned but it is nice to see JKR tweet in support of Graham

"What the fuck has the UK become? This is totalitarianism. Utterly deplorable."

It really is.

Well yes, and spending considerable resources tracking his movements so they knew when and where he’d be landing.

What threat does he pose that warrants such a show of force and such a large sum of money? Rather than knock on his door?

Or you can smell the testosterone?

And yet… my mugging remains unsolved, my burglary remains unsolved and the theft of my iPhone remains unsolved. It is astonishing that someone has considered this a good use of police resources.

Ah…so the “smell” is BO. Yeah…not funny.

But worth 5 armed guards arresting you? Hmmm…

Maybe the police should check out terfisaslur.com if they want to see real abuse.

I was told from a very early age to kick a man in the Nethers or use my shoe, just like our own dear Queen, if I felt threatened.

Good point re the lack of reaction to Sarah's comment.

Was JK Rowling with him?

(Name changed because I am a coward)

At one time, the jibe would have been about patchouli oil, I guess.

I think the tweet could be perceived as inciting violence against one of the characteristics covered by hate crime.
It would be fine to suggest kicking any or all biological man in the balls but not fine to suggest kicking a subset of men who have one of those characteristics.

This isn't AIBU, it's Feminism: Sex and Gender and we know the law.

I try not to use the word wrong, but you are wrong on this and obviously unaware of the Supreme Court ruling.

ANY biological male, regardless of his protected characteristics, commits an offence if he enters and uses women-only facilities. It has always been the law. Men have never been legally permitted to enter women's single-sex spaces. Stonewall told men they could: Stonewall was wrong.

What?