Free Speech…not in the UK!

Last year under the leadership of Prime Minister Gordon Brown (Labour Party) Great Britain banned popular talk show host Dr. Michael Savage from entering the county. They added him to a terror watch list that included many terrorist and neo-nazis such as Hamas terrorist leader Yunis Al-Astal and many others. The reason sited for this was that they believed his views might provoke violence.
Dr. Savage was hopeful that under the new conservative leadership of Prime Minister David Cameron that the ban would be lifted. However things are still not going well for Dr. Savage. The new prime minister told him that he would first have to repudiate his statements, unfortunately Dr. Savage has never been told what those statements were. Dr. Savage has tried to sue for his reentry. This has been an uphill fight considering that in GB you have no right to free speech. As a matter of fact you do not really have any rights at all unless granted by parliament.
This really makes you appreciate living in a country that has a constitution. In previous years I have talked to many of my British friends about privacy issues and gun rights. They have the same major issue. There is no right to privacy, there is no right to bare arms, there is no right to free speech, there are no rights at all. The government pretty much does what it wants. The bill of rights in our constitution was written because our 4-fathers feared the country turning into a GB and now we can see why.
I travel a lot for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Last January I had a chance to visit GB. I flew to Europe with a few of my teammates from Crazy 88 to compete at the European Open. The European Open is the premier BJJ tournament in Europe held in Lisbon Portugal. On the way there and on the way back we stopped in London to sight see. Although overall it was a very nice city you got a little bit of a feeling of George Orwell’s 1984. They literally have cameras everywhere. Every street corner in the city “Big Brother Is Watching”. London was a very nice place to visit but I don’t think I would want to live there!
I’m not the biggest Savage fan. I listen when nothing else is on. However I think adding him to a terror watch list is a little extreme. They might not like that he is a conservative but I personally have never heard him say anything that would incite violence. Usually if he attacks anyone the target is politicians or the government. Maybe that’s what they are afraid of. Dr. Savage has now said that he plans to take his case before the European Court of Human Rights saying, "The European Union seems to be very forgiving of those who have actually murdered people in terror acts, Let's see if they will defend my right to free speech." Haha