James

Science is real, vaccines work, pro EU, all things electric vehicles, Men’s and mixed netball, films, etc... All views my own.

[The Free Speech Union @SpeechUnion]

🚨🚨 BREAKING NEWS: Blasphemy law is back — but it only applies to Muslims.

FSU member and retired police officer Stephen Gray was found guilty of being "grossly offensive", a criminal offence under s127 of the Communications Act 2003, for repeating a joke about Mohammed.

Stephen reposted a message he saw on Facebook that said: “Fun facts about bacon! People who eat bacon have a lower chance of marrying a 9 year old!”

While giving evidence, Stephen explained that the post was a reference to the marriage between the Prophet Mohammed and Aisha — which was consummated when she was just nine years old, after he married her when she was six.

Stephen said the post was intended to be satirical but he also hoped it would spark a serious debate: did that marriage, as recorded in the Hadiths, contribute to the acceptability of child marriage in Muslim countries?

District Judge Steven Hood found the post to be “grossly offensive” and dismissed Stephen's defence that it was making a serious political point about the acceptability of child marriage. He found that the post was designed to be offensive and could not be making a serious point because it was light-hearted in nature. He concluded that a conviction would not amount to a disproportionate interference with Stephen’s right to freedom of expression.

The Free Speech Union is helping Stephen appeal his conviction and has instructed a top criminal silk, John Beggs KC, to act for him.

With your support, we hope to be able to pay for Stephen’s legal defence in the Crown Court and meet the costs of any further appeals. Please donate Stephen's crowdfunder in the link below.

Earlier this year, the FSU paid for the defence of Hamit Coskun, who burnt a copy of the Quran outside the Turkish consulate in London. He was initially convicted, but we managed to get that conviction overturned on appeal. When the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) then tried to appeal the acquittal, we took them on and won again.

More recently, the Free Speech Union threatened South Wales Police with legal action after it adopted a draconian version of the Government’s definition of anti-Muslim hostility, instructing officers to record any comment that went beyond “legitimate” discussion of Islam as a 'non-crime hate incident'. We won, and the force withdrew the guidance.

Stephen’s case gives us another opportunity to reaffirm the principle that there is nothing illegal about criticising any religion, including Islam.

It should not be a criminal offence to repost jokes about Islam that some Muslims find offensive.

Read more below and please donate to our Crowdfunder 👇

[Cat Hobbs @CatHobbs]

Water is a natural monopoly

There is no competition
There is no choice
There is no market

The privatised water companies have carte blanche to rip us off, we are a guaranteed revenue stream

Bring water into PUBLIC OWNERSHIP - we can't afford not to 👇

https://t.co/knABxPJREZ

[Windrush WASP @WindrushWasp]

Just passed 10K signatures so Gov will respond and we will find out what that means - don't hold your breath..

Next target 100K.. petition will be considered for debate.

Can you please help us all to get there?

https://t.co/p7dZoNJONr

[Cat Hobbs @CatHobbs]

Woop woop! @Feargal_Sharkey totally nails it on Channel 4 News just now 🔥🔥🔥

Calling for a REFERENDUM so the public can decide whether to bring water into public ownership

Alongside @WindrushWasp + local sewage groups

SIGN THE PETITION if you agree 👇 https://t.co/l6N2oKiXxd

[David__Osland @David__Osland]

Instead of letting Thames Water off the hook for £123m in fines, I've got another idea. Why not ban it from paying a penny in dividends until it stops dumping shit in rivers?

[James @jameseverley82]

@SouthwestAir so disappointed with the recent changes, no pre boarding for young children, one family member had a different boarding group and not allowed to board together. You’ve changed the brilliant boarding method to a worse one. All in all won’t be flying with you again.

[Hugh Grant @HackedOffHugh]

Dirty Business on @Channel4. Brilliantly made, devastating. Water must be nationalised now. The owners of the private water companies jailed.

[Cat Hobbs @CatHobbs]

Angry after watching Dirty Business on Channel 4?

Channel that anger! 👇👇👇

📢 @ashsmith43 @WindrushWasp will be at our protest against illegal sewage next Weds 4th in High Wycombe 🤩 - join us!

Can't make it? Write to Ofwat https://t.co/BHLvh47MoM

https://t.co/eCxi3YcIsy

[Feargal Sharkey @Feargal_Sharkey]

The petition is almost at 300,000 do your thing internet.

[Bevan Boy 💚 @mac123_m]

#VoteGreen
Nationalise water. Save the environment. Save money on your bills.

[Tracy Edwards @TracyEdwardsMBE]

Return the Water Industry to Public Ownership - Sign the Petition! https://t.co/TVgxOBpUI7 via @UKChange

[Surfers Against Sewage @sascampaigns]

When you’re watching #DirtyBusiness, remember that these are REAL stories, REAL lives, REAL families that have been devastated by the greed of “our” water companies. It’s a national outrage and they must be held to account

#sewagescandal

[MattStaniek @MattStaniek]

🚨 Breaking News 🚨

Save Windermere has once again been involved in exposing United Utilities exploitation of Windermere. Today the BBC reported that in the last 3 years, United Utilities has ILLEGALLY dumped 143,000,000 litres of untreated sewage directly into Windermere from just one of their sites — that’s thethe equivalent of 23 million toilet flushes, 1,600 double-decker buses, or enough to fill Big Ben 30 times! 💩

According to the BBC, United Utilities claims they reported these incidents at Glebe Road Pumping Station as soon as they were aware, which suggests they simply didn’t know about the instances of illegality from 2021 to September 2023, despite it being their statutory obligation to show permit compliance. The BBC estimates an additional 24 incidents that weren’t reported at the time could have cost the company £2.5 million through lower rewards or greater penalties.

You might be thinking, where’s the Environment Agency? Isn’t this their job? Well, once again, they’ve turned a blind eye. They’ve failed to ask for the data, failed to hold United Utilities accountable and failed to protect Windermere from this predatory behaviour.

We need your help to stop this 🫵

👊 Tag @Keir_Starmer 
👊 Email Keir Starmer
👊 Share the video with the hashtag #savewindermere

Let’s try and get this trending. Keir Starmer has often spoken about his love for the Lake District. Now it’s time for him to put his money where his mouth is and end sewage pollution in Windermere once and for all. Windermere is a symbol of our cultural heritage, a key driver of the local and national economy, and a sanctuary for rare and protected wildlife. This is a national and international disgrace, one of the country’s greatest natural treasures is being exploited by the multi-billion pound private water company. It’s time for Westminster to act.

@Keir_Starmer , it’s time to stop the sewage to Save Windermere.

Read the full blog to see how we uncovered this shocking story 👉

https://t.co/6PjOupP7VT

BBC article 👉

https://t.co/ow0eYJrys4

@Feargal_Sharkey @timfarron @GreenJennyJones @ChrisGPackham @RobGMacfarlane @CraigBennett3 @jimmycarr @joelycett @WindrushWasp @MarinaPurkiss @carolvorders @campbellclaret @CarolineLucas @GaryLineker @sascampaigns @GeorgeMonbiot @ByDonkeys @HugoSAS @paulpowlesland @ThisisDavina @RoryStewartUK @BearGrylls @simon_reeve @WarwickADavis @alextomo

[RiverActionUK @RiverActionUK]

“This isn’t a question of if we run out of water - it’s when.” - @jaowallace, CEO of River Action

This is not a scarcity problem. It’s a water security crisis driven by a profit-first system that leaks billions of litres, pollutes our rivers and over-abstracts from the environment.

The public has paid enough through rising bills. Now water companies must invest - to prevent taps running dry and avoid serious damage to our economy, food security, industry and health.
https://t.co/eVPG8PQMIS

[RiverActionUK @RiverActionUK]

🌧️A rainy country running out of water? Absurd - and very real.👇

Decades of under-investment and profit-first water companies have left our system dangerously fragile.

3 MILLION litres lost every day to leaks. No new major reservoirs since the 80s.

The public has paid the bills through rising costs. Now water companies must invest - before taps, food security and our economy run dry.

https://t.co/LboOiULKaW

[Peter Stefanovic @PeterStefanovi2]

This is shocking. New @jrf_uk report has found ‘very deep poverty’ in Britain has hit its worst level in 30 years.

Why is this not on every UK news show this morning?

[Feargal Sharkey @Feargal_Sharkey]

Your Tuesday morning live sewage update. Yes this is what we do to the country we live in.

[Feargal Sharkey @Feargal_Sharkey]

"A wastewater treatment works is a "significant source" of faecal bacteria in a river."

What, United Utilities dumping sh*t into local rivers, surely not?

https://t.co/Ns5tFODQPR

[James @jameseverley82]

@jbchoknows I kept faith in him this week partly because of you cheers! 🍻

[Carole Cadwalladr @carolecadwalla]

Read this.

A scrappy indie outlet standing up to Farage’s bullyboy lawyers in a way that should shame better-funded outlets