He is quite sound in general, but Tahir Ali is still an MP only because there were two pro-Gaza Independents against him. They came second and third, and their combined vote was higher than his total.
As for a blasphemy law in England and Wales, there is not going to be one, but there was one in Scotland until this year, and there is one in Northern Ireland to this day. In their own terms, what good do they do? As much as the one here used to do. The same would apply again.
Even to address the problems identified by Ali, there is already public order legislation, in particular. For example, the only reason publicly to set fire to a copy of the Bible or the Quran would be as a provocation such as that legislation was specifically designed to cover.
Still, successive Governments have effectively criminalised criticism of the State of Israel, and why should sauce for the goose not be sauce for the gander? Stop to this sort of thing by recanting the IHRA Definition.
Not that free speech has ever been especially robust in Britain. D-Notices have just been extended to counterterrorism policing. They are not the law, but they attain their desired end because the entire media have the necessary class loyalty. The "centrist" liberals still think that they are insurgents against the Establishment, while even the very individuals who used to pride themselves on being members of that now call themselves "populists". If either of them were right, then whatever else there may be, there could be no such thing as D-Notices.
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