Not Charlie
Some cases which make Britain a pretty poor champion of free speech:
— In 2005 Bristol pub landlord Leroy Trought was given an Asbo and told to remove a sign for his car park, calling it ‘the porking yard’, after complaints to police that it was ‘racially and sexually offensive’.
— In 2006, Angie Sayer, landlady of the New Inn, Wedmore, Somerset, was questioned by police for using a Welsh flag in a St George’s Day darts match and inviting participants to ‘slay the dragon’.
— In 2010 street-preacher Dale McAlpine was arrested, locked in a cell for seven hours and had his DNA and fingerprints taken after telling a passer-by that he thought homosexuality was sinful.
Brum statistics
A self-professed expert on terrorism apologised after telling Fox News that Birmingham is ‘wholly Muslim’. Some 22 per cent of Birmingham’s residents identified themselves as Muslim in the 2011 census, compared with 46 per cent Christian and 19 per cent non-religious.
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