See here:
Quote:
Free speech is a fundamental value in a liberal democracy. Lord Dear’s proposed amendment to Section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986 - due to be voted on in the House of Lords on Wednesday - seeks to uphold, and defend, free speech in the United Kingdom.
Section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986 makes it illegal to use “threatening, abusive or insulting” words or behaviour if they are likely to cause “harassment, alarm or distress”.
The use of ‘threatening’ and ‘abusive’ language is wrong and their criminalisation justified. Both terms clearly denote a satisfactory degree of seriousness to be legislated against. The term ‘insulting’, however, is subjective, open to misinterpretation & abuse and undermines free speech.
The Reform Section 5 campaign is being supported (by amongst other people) the Christian Institute, the National Secular Society, the Peter Tatchell Foundation, the Freedom Association, the Bow Group and Big Brother Watch. Also a fervent supporter of this campaign is Rowan Atkinson:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gciegyiLYtY[/youtube]
Various politicians are supporting this, including Kate Hoey, Caroline Lucas, Julian Huppert, David Davis, Edward Leigh, Nigel Farage, Philip Davies, David Nuttall, Sammy Wilson and so on and so forth.
10 Dec 2012, 9:26 am
