Connie Shaw

External Affairs Officer @SpeechUnion. Contributor @gbnews. All views my own.

[The Free Speech Union @SpeechUnion]

🚨 “Would you be prepared to go to prison?”

On this week’s episode of the FSU Podcast, women’s rights campaigner Helen Joyce joins @_ConnieShaw to discuss the Government’s draft Conversion Practices Bill.

@HJoyceGender, Director of Advocacy at @SexMattersOrg, explains why she believes the Bill could affect parents, teachers, employers and faith leaders who challenge trans ideology. She argues that the abuses the Bill claims to address are already outlawed, and that it could reverse recent legal victories.

Asked whether she would be willing to go to prison, Helen replies: “I absolutely would.”

The Joint Committee of MPs and peers is scrutinising the Bill, and anyone can submit evidence by 5pm on Monday 16 November 2026.

Watch the episode on our YouTube channel and use our tool to submit evidence below 👇

[Laurence Fox @LozzaFox]

Damn those pesky Ethnats at the @UN

Every single indigenous people have rights and protections except indigenous white British people.

And we are sick of it.

[Connie Shaw @_ConnieShaw]

I am unsure how denying the ethnic identity of the native population is going to help end a decade of division.

[The Free Speech Union @SpeechUnion]

🚨 A Reform Member of the Senedd has been barred from speaking in the Welsh Parliament after asking the Welsh Government for a statement on what he called the “demographic replacement of white British people”.

Joe Martin said mass immigration and differing birth rates meant white British people would become “a minority in our own country” by 2063.

The Senedd’s presiding officer said Mr Martin’s contribution was “unnecessarily provocative and deliberately offensive”, and that its focus on race and ethnicity was discriminatory and undermined the dignity of the Senedd. The officer said @joemartin1066 had previously been warned about his conduct and would not be called to speak until he showed he understood the rules and apologised.

This is a disgrace — and part of a wider problem in our politics. Democratically elected politicians are being silenced for raising legitimate concerns about mainstream issues such as migration.

People elected to represent us should be able to voice concerns on behalf of their constituents, however uncomfortable the subject.

This is an attack on free speech and democracy.

Read more below 👇

[Joe Martin Reform MS @joemartin1066]

White British people are set to be a minority in our own country by 2063.

This is morally wrong. We made the country the way it is, and if too many people from other countries move here, instead of assimilating to our way of life, they will bring with them theirs.

Numbers therefore matter. We can assimilate a small number of people from other cultures and countries over a long period of time. We cannot assimilate millions over the course of a generation.

Great Britain is not a collection of people who share the same passport, it is not a hotel, and we are not a charity. It is the ancestral home of the British people, who form an extended family, whom I love.

[David Lammy @DavidLammy]

Proud to co-sponsor the St George’s Bill led by @JoshBabarinde today.

It is absurd that neither I nor my mixed heritage children can describe ourselves as Black or mixed race and English on the census.

As I told Jean back in 2021, you don’t have to be white to be English.

[The Free Speech Union @SpeechUnion]

🚨🚨 HAVE YOUR SAY ON THE DRAFT CONVERSION PRACTICES BILL

If your child tells you they’re non-binary and you explain why you don’t believe that’s a real thing, should it be a police matter?

The Draft Conversion Practices Bill would create new criminal offences around what it calls conversion practices. Its wording is so broad that it could capture ordinary conversations between parents and children, pastoral care and careful, exploratory therapy. Those found guilty could face up to five years in prison.

The Bill threatens free speech, religious freedom, women’s rights and single-sex spaces. It also threatens gender non-conforming children, who need to hear from parents acting in their best interests. Above all, it threatens your right to a private family life, free from state interference in how you parent.

A Joint Committee of Parliament is accepting written evidence until 5 pm on Monday 16 November 2026 — one week from today. Anyone can respond.

The Free Speech Union has built a tool to help you write your own response to the Committee in just a few minutes, or add your name to the petition 👇

[The Free Speech Union @SpeechUnion]

Thank you to James O’Brien @mrjamesob for the free advertisement on LBC this morning.

The Free Speech Union was founded by Toby Young in 2020, two years after his own cancellation. In 2018, shortly after he was appointed to the board of the Office for Students on the strength of his work in education, the offence archaeologists launched a campaign against him. He was forced to resign from five posts, losing half his income and much of his reputation. He wished there had been an organisation he could turn to for help.

The FSU now has more than 50,000 members and has taken on more than 7,000 cases in six years. We receive between 40 and 70 new requests for help every week, and we have saved countless people from losing their jobs, their university places or their liberty simply for exercising their lawful right to free speech.

Often, the process is the punishment — we offer mental health support to our members who need it. The prospect of losing your job and livelihood over something you said can be extremely distressing. You can read the first report ever published on the mental health effects of cancellation by Carole Sherwood and Andrew MacLeod with a forward from Lord Young below.

It was in recognition of Toby’s work defending free speech that Kemi Badenoch nominated him for a peerage. That means the FSU can now do more than ever to protect free speech in Britain, at a time when it is under attack from all sides.

More than 60,000 people were arrested for “communications offences” between 2021 and 2025, a @BigBrotherWatch report found.

If the police turn up at your door and haul you into a cell for hours over something you’ve said online — as they did to Maxie Allen (@MaxieAllen) and Rosalind Levine — an FSU membership will be the best money you ever spend. We provided their lawyers, covered their legal fees and secured £20,000 in compensation and an admission of wrongful arrest from Hertfordshire Police.

Join today. You never know when you might need us!👇

[Inciteful Sisters @IncitefulPod]

Fancy a Bonfire Night treat? Here's a clip from our latest interview with Connie (@_ConnieShaw), discussing the importance of open debate.

[The Free Speech Union @SpeechUnion]

🚨PUT YOUR QUESTIONS FOR HELEN JOYCE ABOUT THE CONVERSION PRACTICES BILL IN THE COMMENTS

Tomorrow @_ConnieShaw will be interviewing Helen Joyce @HJoyceGender from @SexMattersOrg about the Conversion Practices Bill.

It is set to create new criminal offences around what it calls ‘conversion practices’ — the bill is drafted so broadly that it will include ordinary conversations between parents and children, pastoral care and careful, exploratory therapy.

Parents could face up to 5 years in prison for not affirming their child’s gender identity.

If you have a question you’d like to hear Helen answer, put it in the comments.

A Joint Committee of Parliament is taking written evidence until 5 pm on Monday 16 November 2026. Add your name to the petition, or write your own response to the Committee in a few minutes using the tool on the FSU website.

Subscribe to the FSU on YouTube!👇

[Connie Shaw @_ConnieShaw]

https://t.co/yhkaWryggl

[Connie Shaw @_ConnieShaw]

There are Muslims in Britain who want to murder a teacher because he showed a cartoon of their Prophet Muhammad in a lesson about freedom of speech.

Him and his family have been in hiding for over 5 years now. And our leaders continue to capitulate to the horrific state of affairs they have facilitated. They expect you not to just accept it, but to expect more of it.

Happy Islamophobia Month.

[The Free Speech Union @SpeechUnion]

“A nice guy doing his job, and he’s now paying a life sentence for it.”

It is now five years since a religious studies teacher in Batley was suspended from his job after offending some local Muslims.

His alleged offence? Showing his students a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad during a class discussion about the brutal massacre of journalists at the French magazine Charlie Hebdo.

Fearing for his and his family’s safety, the teacher fled his home.

On this week’s episode of the FSU Podcast, @DavidRoseUK is joined by the teacher’s friend and local activist, Paul Holloran, who says his friend can now “never go home”.

Watch the full episode on the FSU YouTube channel 👇

[The Free Speech Union @SpeechUnion]

“A nice guy doing his job, and he’s now paying a life sentence for it.”

It is now five years since a religious studies teacher in Batley was suspended from his job after offending some local Muslims.

His alleged offence? Showing his students a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad during a class discussion about the brutal massacre of journalists at the French magazine Charlie Hebdo.

Fearing for his and his family’s safety, the teacher fled his home.

On this week’s episode of the FSU Podcast, @DavidRoseUK is joined by the teacher’s friend and local activist, Paul Holloran, who says his friend can now “never go home”.

Watch the full episode on the FSU YouTube channel 👇

[Talk @TalkTV]

🚨"It's obviously freaky and bizarre."

Kevin speaks to Oxford student Harriet Dolby about the trans university lecturer wearing fake boobs whilst teaching.

@TVKev | @HarrietDolby

[The Free Speech Union @SpeechUnion]

🚨🚨 HAVE YOIR SAY ON THE DRAFT CONVERSION PRACTICES BILL

The Draft Conversion Practices Bill would create new criminal offences around what it calls conversion practices, in words so broad that they could reach ordinary conversations between parents and children, pastoral care and careful, exploratory therapy.

A Joint Committee of Parliament is taking written evidence until 5 pm on Monday 16 November 2026.

Add your name to the petition, or write your own response to the Committee in a few minutes 👇

[The Free Speech Union @SpeechUnion]

Hey @AngelaRayner, can you confirm whether Islamist extremists helped shape the “anti-Muslim hostility” definition?

If not, why did your department say it had deleted all responses to the Working Group’s consultation, only to later admit — after the Free Speech Union threatened legal action — that it still had them on record?

The public deserves to know the truth and this stinks of a cover up.

[Bruce Hamill - Daily Update @BruceHamill_DU]

An Iraqi Christian convert says he feels like he's still in Iraq after facing arrest in Britain for protesting against Islam. As a Free Speech Union member, I examine Dheyaa's extraordinary story alongside Hamit Coskun's case, and challenge the selective attention given to religious persecution in Britain's asylum debate. The original Free Speech Union interview is linked below.

@_ConnieShaw @SpeechUnion

[Winston Marshall @MrWinMarshall]

He Left Islam for Christianity. So They Tried to Kill Him…

Former Muslim and Christian convert Nissar Hussain joins me to reveal how abandoning Islam led to nearly two decades of threats, intimidation, and persecution.

We discuss the brutal attack outside his Bradford home, why he believes the police failed to protect his family, the Church of England’s betrayal, and the consequences of apostasy.

Link in replies

[The Free Speech Union @SpeechUnion]

🚨 “I feel like I’m still in Iraq” — this is how bad the situation is in the UK.

Asylum seekers who fled religious persecution in Islamic countries for freedom in Britain are now considering claiming asylum elsewhere, because they continue to be persecuted here for criticising Islam.

Dheyaa — a former Muslim who converted to Christianity — fled religious persecution in Iraq and came to Britain.

Exercising what he thought was his new-found freedom, he burned a copy of the Koran in symbolic protest against the ideology that had persecuted him.

Rather than protecting his right to free speech and protest, West Yorkshire Police swiftly arrested him on suspicion of inciting religious hatred.

He was then handed Orwellian bail conditions banning him from discussing religion on social media.

The Free Speech Union stepped in, defending Dheyaa’s right to free speech and helping him secure the removal of those bail conditions.

Earlier this year, before the Government unveiled its Islamophobia definition, FSU Case Director @BenBarryJones asked Dheyaa what he made of the prospect.

Dheyaa said he felt as though he was still in Iraq, and that he would look to flee the UK.

Hamit Coskun, another asylum seeker who burned a copy of the Koran in protest against the persecution he faced in Turkey, also considered fleeing to the US after he was convicted of a public order offence.

Shockingly, the CPS had originally charged him for harassing “the religious institution of Islam”, long before the Government had any state-approved definition of “Islamophobia”.

With the FSU’s backing, Hamit’s conviction was overturned on appeal. The CPS then tried to reinstate it at the High Court, and lost again.

The last thing Britain needs is a state-approved Islamic blasphemy code. One is already operating.

Watch the full interview with Dheyaa on the FSU YouTube channel 👇

[The Free Speech Union @SpeechUnion]

🚨GET TICKETS FOR ALICE SULLIVAN'S BOOK LAUNCH

Sex, Lies and Statistics: Why We Need Evidence-Based Policy on Sex and Gender by @ProfAliceS

⏰Thursday 12th November 7.30pm
📍Central London (location TBA)

Hosted by the Free Speech Union and joined by Professors Michael Biggs and Ian Acheson (@NotThatBigIan), Alice Sullivan will be discussing one of the most contentious and puzzling social phenomena of our time: the removal of biological sex from data, social policy and public discourse.

Clear, accessible and deeply researched, the book makes a powerful case for evidence-based policymaking and honest public discussion.

At a time when trust in institutions is increasingly fragile, Sullivan argues that if we are to avoid a post-truth culture, we must reject tribalism and groupthink, welcome critical voices, and reclaim the virtue of tolerance.

Professor Sullivan has stood her ground against repeated cancellation attempts and sometimes violent protests, while also defending academic freedom and the free speech of others on multiple occasions.

Get tickets below 👇