No free speech in England
Knowing there is not a 1st amendment in England, this is not so much a surprise as it is a portend. Our speech is being infringed daily. Well, it does depend on who gets their "feelings" hurt now, doesn't it. Pffffft to them all.
Freedom of speech, incitement to violence, hatred, and (so-called) racial discrimination
A well known preacher:
“Oh Allah, count the Buddhists and the Hindus one by one.
Oh Allah, count them and kill them to the very last one”.
The police said:
“in this instance, no criminal offending occurred and no charges were laid.
No further comment will be made on this matter.”
Conservative journalist (Andrew Bolt) said certain named white skinned persons,
could choose if they were Aboriginal or not for the purpose of grants, scholarships and jobs.
A court found him guilty of contravening the Racial Discrimination Act.
http://www.news.com.au/national/south-au...
UK laws on defamation are among the strictest in the western world, imposing a high burden of proof on the defendant. However, the Education (No. 2) Act 1986 guarantees freedom of speech (within institutions of further education and institutions of higher education) as long as it is within the law (see section 43 of the Education (No. 2) Act 1986[125]). UK defamation law may have recently experienced a considerable liberalising effect as a result of the ruling in Jameel v Wall Street Journal in October 2006. A ruling of the House of Lords—the then highest court of appeal—revived the so-called Reynolds Defence, in which journalism undertaken in the public interest shall enjoy a complete defence against a libel suit. Conditions for the defence include the right of reply for potential claimants, and that the balance of the piece was fair in view of what the writer knew at the time. The ruling removed the awkward—and hitherto binding—conditions of being able to describe the publisher as being under a duty to publish the material and the public as having a definite interest in receiving it. The original House of Lords judgment in Reynolds was unclear and held 3–2; whereas Jameel was unanimous and resounding. Lord Hoffman's words, in particular, for how the judge at first instance had applied Reynolds so narrowly, were very harsh. Hoffman LJ made seven references to Eady J, none of them favorable. He twice described his thinking as unrealistic and compared his language to "the jargon of the old Soviet Union."<br abp="587">
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None of those things have anything to do with freedom of speech because the government was never involved in any of them. It is not possible for a non-government entity to infringe on anyone's freedom of speech, because censorship is an action which does not qualify as infringement or a violation of constitutional rights unless it is preformed by the government.
That said, it is rather appalling that freedom of speech in the U.K. is so severely limited. I can't believe you can actually get arrested for saying the wrong thing. Makes me glad we've got a Bill of Rights here. Even if it does often get trampled on, at least we have it.