https://pjmedia.com/matt-margolis/2025/09/07/is-any-place-safe-to-visit-anymore-n4943423
I’ve always thought I’d eventually make it to the United Kingdom. It’s one of those “bucket list” destinations—castles, history, the pubs, the whole cultural experience, even the Harry Potter experience. But truth be told, over the past several years my appetite for visiting has cooled considerably. Sometimes the decline of a nation unfolds so quickly, you feel as though you’re watching it in real time.
PJ Media previously reported on the recent arrest of Graham Linehan, the man behind the sitcoms Father Ted and The IT Crowd, and the whole incident has pushed the UK squarely into the category of places I may never set foot in. Short of a total course correction in British culture and politics, I can’t imagine ever going.
Earlier this month, Linehan touched down at Heathrow from the U.S. and was immediately surrounded by five armed police officers—and then arrested for three tweets he posted back in April. His “crime”? Pointing out that letting a biological male into female-only spaces is, by definition, a violent, abusive act. He even joked that if authorities won’t step in to protect women, maybe ordinary people will have to. Predictably, critics ran with the line about “punch him in the b***s,” portraying it as some dire threat of violence. But anyone with half a brain could see it for what it was: hyperbole, a comedian mocking the absurdity of the world we’ve let ourselves live in. In Britain today, though, nuance is dead—and so is free speech.
Even Linehan’s bail conditions were an Orwellian overreach, banning him from accessing social media altogether. Those restrictions were only lifted on Saturday, highlighting again how intrusive and destructive the system is becoming. Public figures remain deeply split—some insist the police response was grossly disproportionate while others call his tweets “totally unacceptable.” Yet no one even questions the biggest outrage: that a citizen was placed in handcuffs over words.
