Politicians on both sides of the Atlantic like to attack Farage because he gets to the underlying problems. He exposes the underbelly of society. This is a no-no for status quo politicians who like the nasty side of society to remain hidden as to do so supports the status quo upon which their power and authority resides.
This kind of status quo protectionism can be seen in the heavy-handed way Kier Starmer’s Labour government is rapidly charging, prosecuting and convicting social media users who carelessly make comments that break the law. These people can end up in jail for a long time which is ludicrous. The best example is Lucy Connolly and recently Graham Linehan. Conversely many criminals are never charged and if charged it takes years sometimes to get the matter to court!
Lucy Connolly’s Conviction and Sentence in the UK
Lucy Connolly, a 41-year-old former childminder and wife of a Conservative councillor, was convicted in 2024 for inciting racial hatred after posting a message on social media calling for asylum seeker hotels to be set on fire. The message was shared widely online before being deleted and was judged to have the potential to encourage serious violence. At Birmingham Crown Court, the judge treated the offence as the most serious category for this type of crime, starting with a three-year term. With a reduction for her guilty plea, Connolly was sentenced to 31 months in prison.
The case attracted widespread attention, both because of the inflammatory nature of her words and because of her connection to local politics. On appeal in 2025, senior judges upheld the sentence, ruling that it was neither excessive nor disproportionate given the seriousness of the offence and the public impact. Under sentencing rules, she was expected to serve around 40% of her term before release on licence. She was released after serving close to ten months. The case became part of a broader debate over the limits of online speech and the consequences of crossing into incitement.
Graham Linehan’s Arrest for Irresponsible Tweets
Graham Linehan, the comedy writer best known for Father Ted and The IT Crowd, was arrested in September 2025 at Heathrow Airport in connection with posts he made on social media about transgender people. Police said that several of his tweets crossed the line into incitement, with one suggesting that people should call the police or even use violence if a trans woman entered a female-only space. Audio of his arrest revealed his shock and anger at being detained, and he was later hospitalized briefly due to stress.
Linehan was released on bail with restrictions, including a ban on posting online. Separately, he faces trial over allegations of harassing a teenage trans activist and damaging her phone during a confrontation. He denies the charges. His arrest has fuelled intense debate about freedom of expression, online accountability, and the role of police in regulating digital speech.
Keir Starmer and his government fear mass social unrest and believe that it needs to be squashed at source namely social media commentary. But the reason for this unrest is poor governance by past and present governments. Starmer’s government is pretty hopeless. Some might argue very hopeless.
But they have failed to get a grip on the immigration crisis which stresses British society enormously. And the Home Office presides over a police force in the UK who have washed their hands of mass theft in the form of shoplifting and car theft. This fosters more crime.
Farage the leader of the Reform Party addresses these pertinent issues all the time most recently during his trip to America to meet Trump. Starmer does the opposite. He pretends all is well and his government is doing wonderful things. This is the other side of the coin to suppressing freedom of speech. It is the 1984 MO. A mild form of totalitarianism (a system of government that is centralized and dictatorial and requires complete subservience to the state).
As I say in the title: Farage airs and faces the difficult issues of today in Britain. This needs to happen if we are to resolve these problems.
Starmer wants him silenced. He wants to maintain the status quo and try and gently resolve the problems which has not worked and cannot work. What is need is huge change, almost a revolutionary change in the way we do things in the UK to get it back on track.
Some believe that the UK is drifting towards civil war due to societal pressures due in turn to unregulated immigration. Starmer needs to take emergency measures not piecemeal attempts. He needs to be more like Farage.
