Unfreedom of speech

Following reports of the arrest in London of a British diplomat for "inciting religious hatred", Geoffrey Pullum at Language Log has something to say about the constitutional and cultural differences between the US and the UK:-

The thing is that Britain has absolutely no analog of the American guarantee of freedom of speech in its legal system. There is no Bill of Rights saying that one can speak one's opinions freely, even in political matters. The government can directly control what appears in the newspapers if it wants to, and has often done so. The courts can also, quite separately, block news reports of various sorts and do so all the time ("who for legal reasons cannot be named", say the newspapers when mentioning someone who a judge doesn't want identified in news reports). And speech about other racial, ethnic, or religious groups can have serious consequences here. It's not all just golliwogs and white wine. You shout out your opinions of the "fucking Jews" here, and you can face years in prison.

Norm also has some thoughts on the arrest.