Free Republic

POLICE questioned a retired couple for 80 minutes about their “homophobic” views after they asked their local council if they could display their Christian literature next to gay rights leaflets, it was reported last night. Joe and Helen Roberts said that police officers warned them that their actions “were close to a hate crime” after they complained to Wyre Borough Council about its gay rights policies. The couple claimed that the police told them they were “walking on eggshells”. Mr Roberts, from Fleetwood, Lancashire, said he had been offended because of the council’s distribution of the gay rights leaflets and...

When Tony Blair last month hailed the latest meaningless British Crime Survey statistics — which claimed a drop in violent crime last year — he again parroted what has become his Government's mantra on the subject: it is not crime that we should worry about but the fear of crime. Fear of crime is something that keeps chief constables and politicians awake at night. Why else would police forces up and down the country list reducing it as one of their priorities? Why else would virtually every large police station have its own "public relations manager" tasked with keeping as...