Lisa Nandy announced last week that she is leaving X. That’s right, the UK culture secretary is leaving one of the biggest communications spaces there is – one that directly and indirectly shapes the culture she is meant to be engaged with.
Freedom of speech
Hungarian Government Orders Black Screen on Public TV, Suspending Public Media News Coverage
Those who switched to the news channels of Hungarian public television (M1) and public radio (Kossuth Radio) on Tuesday, July 7, found only a black screen or dead silence. András Horváth, Hungarian public media corporation MTVA’s newly appointed interim CEO, said he “immediately halted the propaganda” on his first day in office and suspended news coverage across all public media platforms.
I bet Carney is smacking his lips.
‘Police state’ row as officers track down man who criticised his local Green councillor over outdoor drinking ban and left him fearing arrest
This is the extraordinary moment two Met police officers tracked down a photographer to a pub over his critical tweets about a local Green councillor – despite admitting he had committed no crime.
Alastair Hilton was having a drink with a friend in Chiswick, west London, on Thursday night when uniformed officers grilled him about his social media posts.
Mr Hilton feared being arrested when he was asked to step outside by two policemen as he celebrated a victory for his community over the Labour-run council and saved outdoor seating outside three much-loved pubs on the Thames.
I am having a drink this evening with a friend in a Chiswick pub. Two policemen have just come into the pub and asked me to step outside. I have stepped outside and they have threatened me because I tweeted about a councillor banning seating outside pubs in Chiswick. They admit… pic.twitter.com/r7MDIIdgvc
— Alastair Hilton (@London_W4) July 2, 2026
Canada steps up its war on the Bible
HE Canadian parliament has passed Bill C-9, known as the Combating Hate Act; it received Royal Assent on June 18 and the provisions come into force on July 18. Mark Carney, the liberal Prime Minister, considers that the legislation is ‘a huge step forward in our mission to build a stronger, safer country’.
Bill C-9 will usher in a ‘dark day’ for Canadians of faith. Conservative MP Brad Redekopp described the Bill as ‘a tool to enforce liberal DEI ideology while leaving fundamental freedoms dangerously exposed’. Such is the danger to the church that the legislation been dubbed the ‘Bible Ban’ Bill.
CROSSON: Bill C-9 — what Canadians need to know about speech and religious freedom
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees freedom of thought and expression and freedom of religion, among other fundamental rights. These concepts are not abstract — they dictate what Canadians can say, write, or believe every day.
Bill C-9 is proposed legislation currently before the Senate that would regulate certain forms of expression and amend Canada’s hate propaganda laws. Critics argue that it threatens to restrict these freedoms in ways Canadians need to understand clearly.
Removal of Religious Exemption to Hate Speech Laws Would Lead to ‘Open Season on Christians,’ Professor Tells Senators
Wilfrid Laurier University professor David Haskell says proposed legislation that removes religious exemption to hate speech laws would be detrimental to the rights of Christians in Canada, which he argues are already under sustained attack.
Haskell’s comments came during a recent hearing on Bill C-9 before the Senate committee on human rights, and were joined by criticisms from several other expert witnesses who said the bill is too vague to effectively counter hateful incidents or so open to interpretation that it risks infringing on basic civil liberties.
“If this Criminal Code protection is removed, it will be open season on Christians, as ideological opponents increasingly claim [Christians’] beliefs harm society,” Haskell told senators, adding that “it will lead to even more discrimination against Christians in Canada and negatively affect the social good they contribute.”
“I was found guilty of ‘insult’ for a publication in which I peacefully shared my Christian beliefs”—Finnish Parliamentarian Päivi Räsänen
For years, Europe presented freedom of expression as one of its most recognisable political hallmarks. Almost a foundational principle: the right to express uncomfortable, even unpopular opinions, provided they did not involve violence or coercion. The problem begins when that principle collides with newer and more open-ended legal categories, particularly those linked to hate speech. That is precisely where Päivi Räsänen’s case begins.
Trump’s free speech tsar: We’re flooded by complaints from Britons
British citizens are flocking to a website set up by the Trump administration to bypass online-safety laws because they are living under a government “hostile to freedom of speech”, a senior US official has said.
Sarah Rogers, the under-secretary for public diplomacy and public affairs at the State Department, said freedom.gov had received significant interest from British users.
Orwell’s Europe – Part I
In Europe, recently, it was found that a news outlet that had published a speech by US Vice President J.D. Vance has now been accused of journalistic misconduct. In February 2025, Vance gave his now famous speech at the Munich Security Conference, in which he sharply criticized Europe’s heavy-handed censorship and its rapidly deteriorating democratic values. The next day, Belgian news website 21News published Vance’s speech in full, without commentary.
Finnish MP To Appeal ‘Hate Speech’ Conviction to Strasbourg
Finnish MP Päivi Räsänen announced today that she will take her conviction for “insulting a group” to the European Court of Human Rights, setting up a test of how far free speech and religious expression are protected under European law.
The Finnish Supreme Court found her guilty in March 2026, by a narrow 3–2 majority, for disseminating a 2004 pamphlet to her religious community. In that text, Räsänen outlined the Christian conception of marriage as a union between a man and a woman and questioned certain practices from that doctrinal perspective.
BREAKING: Christian Finnish parliamentarian Päivi Räsänen, who was criminally convicted for “hate speech” by her country’s Supreme Court for a church booklet she wrote decades ago, has today announced that she will appeal her case to the European Court of Human Rights. pic.twitter.com/pQgsNZdRAb
— ADF International (@ADFIntl) May 7, 2026
Commons tracks Canadians’ Facebook posts about MPs in internal security files
House of Commons officials are keeping detailed internal records on what Canadians say about their elected representatives online, including comments posted to social media, according to testimony at a parliamentary committee.
Deputy Sergeant-at-Arms Paul Mellon told MPs the Commons maintains what he described as a “very robust records management system” that catalogues incidents involving members of Parliament, including online remarks that may be critical or offensive.
Michael Higgins: Canada’s most dangerous professor
Prof. Frances Widdowson has reserved a special place for the University of Lethbridge in her “Halls of Shame” list — the places she says are the worst for free speech and academic freedom.
Her view may be coloured by the fact that for treading the halls of that academy last week she was handcuffed and hit with a $600 fine for trespassing.
UPDATE: Dr. Widdowson Speaks Out After Arrest: “Warning Sign of Growing Totalitarianism in Canada”
After being arrested at the University of Lethbridge and released from custody with what a $600 trespass ticket, Dr. Frances Widdowson called on Alberta Premier @ABDanielleSmith to… pic.twitter.com/v0uIc7qG1g— Mocha Bezirgan 🇨🇦 (@BezirganMocha) April 26, 2026
President Trump Make Us An Offer!
Sliding into tyranny, one sunny way at a time. @fancypants_s https://t.co/FaRfwQQXjL
— Patti Jo (@TheSupeHero) April 23, 2026
Spread the word: Protests against Bill C-9 taking place across Canada on May 1
We’re entering a critical stretch in the fight against the Liberal government’s anti-religion Bill C-9.
This legislation directly threatens our fundamental freedoms of expression and religion, including the ability of Christians to live out their beliefs without fear of government prosecution.
Certain Bible passages will be effectively banned as “hate speech” if C-9 passes in the Senate.
Carney is making annexation more attractive by the day.
I hope the US accepts us as political refugees.
h/t Patti Jo
A New Online Harms Act Would Mean Canadians Talk Less Freely
Once it was confirmed that, for the first time, Canada would be ruled by a majority government achieved through floor-crossing, it didn’t take long for talk of a renewed Online Harms Act to be proposed.
Heritage Minister Marc Miller was approached after his party—thanks to winning three byelections to hold seats it had previously won in last year’s election and gaining five floor-crossing MPs—had turned a minority government into a majority with unfettered legislative power.
Self-censorship has become the safest form of expression
A few years ago, I was in New York with my 21-year-old daughter. We visited museums, ate at great restaurants, did some shopping. During our trip, she found a pair of sandals made of embroidered Chinese fabric and fell in love with them.
But that summer, I noticed she never wore them. When I asked why, she said: “I just feel like there’s a chance I’ll offend someone.”