Late on a Thursday night two North Yorkshire officers turned up at the home of blogger Pete North, put him in handcuffs and hauled him away in a police van over a social media image he posted months earlier. Officers told him he was arrested on suspicion of a public order offence after their hate-crime unit reviewed the post, an escalation that should alarm anyone who still believes free speech matters.
North says the image in question was shared in August and featured a Palestinian flag overlaid with profane language aimed at Hamas, Palestine and Islam, and he posted footage of the arrest and his subsequent interview online. Whether you defend the taste of the message or not, the point is simple: the state does not get to decide which political cartoons, jokes or memes are allowed in a free society.
During the station interview North was stunned, he says, when an investigating officer focused on the part of the meme mentioning Hamas and appeared unaware of who Hamas are or what happened on October 7, 2023. That exchange — an officer unable to name a proscribed terrorist group while dragging a man from his home over a meme — perfectly captures how law enforcement has become a blunt instrument for political policing rather than protecting ordinary citizens.
North was later released while inquiries continue; police told reporters a 47-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of publishing material intended to stir up racial hatred and released on bail while the investigation proceeds. This is not a one-off; it is part of a worrying pattern in which speech that displeases activists or bureaucrats is treated as a policing matter.
Look at this for what it is: intimidation dressed up as law enforcement. Commentators and free-speech defenders across the English-speaking world are right to call this Orwellian — the point of these public, humiliating raids is not only to investigate but to send a message that dissent will be costly. Britain’s tradition of robust debate is being replaced by a culture of fear where a spicy meme can land you in a cell and on the official record.
Americans should not be smug about this; it is a warning. When police time and resources are spent hauling citizens in over social-media posts while violent criminals roam free, we are all on the losing end. Hardworking patriots must defend free expression, push back against the speech police, and remind our leaders that liberty is not a menu item to be checked off only when convenient.
