This post, authored by Noah Carl, was republished with permission from The Daily Sceptic
You may have seen the viral video of Konstantin Kisin discussing free speech with the Australian politician John Anderson. “In Russia last year, 400 people were arrested for things they said on social media. How many people do you think were arrested in Britain?” Kisin asks. The answer: “3,300”. Anderson looks genuinely shocked. And so he should be.
Incidentally, Kisin’s stats are from a few years ago and it’s not clear the comparison is entirely apples-to-apples. What is clear is that Britain arrests a huge number of people for expressing their views or simply telling jokes online.
UK government is even banning leftists from speaking now. Completely authoritarian. https://t.co/2WIqP5Imnj
— m o d e r n i t y (@ModernityNews) June 1, 2026
An investigation by the Times revealed that, in 2023, over 12,000 people were arrested under laws that make it illegal to transmit “grossly offensive” messages. One man was arrested for posting a picture of himself dressed as the Manchester Arena bomber for Halloween. In other words, he was arrested for wearing an ‘offensive’ costume. I guess provocative hairstyles will be next.
While the joke is surely not to everyone’s taste, it is no more offensive than the sort of things Frankie Boyle or Jimmy Carr used to say. Are professional comedians going to be shoved in the back of police vans too?
Not content with mass arrests of online joke tellers and Halloween party goers, the Government has adopted a new tactic in the war against ‘offence’. It is banning lippy foreigners from entering the country altogether.
Since Sir Keir Starmer became Prime Minister in July 2024, there have been a number of such incidents.
In June 2025, the far-Left South African politician Julius Malema was banned over his support for Hamas and his refusal to rule out calling for the slaughter of white people. In April of this year, Kanye West was banned over various antisemitic comments he has made. In May of this year, 11 Right-wing activists, including Republican Congressional candidate Valentina Gomez, were banned over their anti-Islam views.
Now, the Left-wing activists Hasan Piker and Cenk Uygur have been banned, apparently for controversial remarks they’ve made about Israel and, in Piker’s case, saying that “America deserved 9/11”.
One thing that can be said in favour of these bans is they are remarkably non-partisan, with both Left- and Right-wing rabble rousers finding themselves in the Government’s crosshairs. Starmer isn’t simply pandering to the Left. He’s banning anyone he can.
Naturally, one doesn’t have to agree with any of the above persons to find this form of censorship deeply objectionable. After all, why should Keir Starmer get to decide who other Britons hear from? Actually, it’s more absurd than that. Britons can still hear from all the banned individuals — by going online. So it’s really: why should Keir Starmer get to decide who other Britons hear from in person?
Yes, all of the banned individuals have their critics, but they also have people who’d like to hear what they have to say. Why should the interests of the critics take precedence?
And shouldn’t people be able to hear what they have to say and then challenge them? Why do people who can’t bear their physical presence in the country get the final word?
In the case of Israel/Palestine, practically everyone who has taken a strong position has said something that people on the other side consider ‘offensive’. So shall we just ban all foreign participation in that debate from Britain’s shores? No more pro-Israel voices and no more pro-Palestine ones. That would minimise the total ‘offence’ to British ears.
In defending its actions, the Government has often claimed that the banned individuals’ presence “may not be conducive to the public good”. Personally, I would say the same about the Government’s attitude to free speech.
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