The absolute horror that that confronts you with of what happens when the armoured ring of the state shop over something that you've said.

So it's a very, very consistent pattern and I think that hopefully because this case has really broken through, really cut through people, will be able to start saying, yeah, and guess what, this has been happening for a long time.

But it is a reminder that that particularly toxic mix of that greenism, identity politics and now the Gaza issue is something, it's a bad smell that we continue to hang around. Hello, and welcome to the Spike podcast. I'm Fraser Myers, the agency editor of Spiked. Delighted, delighted as ever to be joined by Spite's editor, Tom Slater, and our extra special guest this week from the Free Speech Union, Connie Shaw.

Hello, thanks to having me.

Coming up on the pod today, we'll be discussing Graham Linehan's arrest, the Green Party leadership and Kirstehmers' plastic patriotism.

So Graham Linnehan, legendary comedy writer, friend of the show, was arrested as soon as he

touched down in London Heathrow earlier this week. Five armed officers were at the scene ready to

apprehend him. This was over three quite jokey gender-critical tweets. Now Tom, there's been a lot of cases like this. It won't surprise anyone who has followed the free speech issue, but there's something about this case that seems to have worked on one of people up. I think it's fair to say to the dangerous that we're seeing. No, absolutely. I think it could well be a line in the sand, and it really should be.

I think the reason that there's been so much interest in it, apart from the fact that Grange is a prominent public figure,

both in his previous incarnations as well as being a kind of gender critical crusader of recent years,

is also the fact that it's really hammered home how authoritarian and cruel these speech policing laws are the zeal with which the police pursue them as well.

The fact that you've got, in getting off of his flight from Arizona being arrested at Heathrow Airport,

by five-armed police taken to a cell interviewed, and then the experience being so stressful for it, and it ends up in A&E with

sky high blood pressure. I mean, just the absolute horror that that confronts you with

of what happens when the armoring of the state sharp over something that you've said,

not something you've done, not any violence that you've committed, but supposedly tweets that

you posted months ago, which may have the potential to spark violence. And it's worth saying that the tweets in general, these are jokes.

I mean, even the one that has been pointed to specifically, about, to put it gently, what women

should do to a trans-identified male, where they should punch him if they happen into women's

spaces, try and deter him from doing so again.

It's quite clearly a joke.

It's quite clearly lighthearted.

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