Met police chief calls for review of law after Graham Linehan arrest

The Metropolitan police have declined to drop their investigation into the comedy writer Graham Linehan for tweets about trans issues, and said that the law used by officers to detain him needs reviewing.

The Met commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, said on Wednesday officers should not be “policing toxic culture wars debates”, and while any review took place, officers would investigate only more serious cases concerning online messages.

I gather the Met isn’t thrilled about all the headlines.

In a statement, Rowley said: “On Monday, officers arrested a man in his 50s at Heathrow in relation to allegations of inciting violence, linked to posts on X. The officers involved in the arrest had reasonable grounds to believe an offence had been committed under the Public Order Act.”

Inciting violence is it?

The tweet in question:

If a trans-identified male is in a female-only space, he is committing a violent, abusive act. Make a scene, call the cops and if all else fails, punch him in the balls.

Is that inciting violence or instructing in self-defense?

People used to know that women are at a physical disadvantage compared to men, and that therefore it’s useful for them to know some self-defense techniques. I’m wondering what makes the Met so confident that Graham was inciting violence as opposed to suggesting a means of self-defense.

I don’t think he meant it exactly literally – I think it’s more exasperated hyperbole than advice. But either way, surely it’s about self-defense as opposed to inciting violence. He’s suggesting self-defense techniques for the underdog, which is the obverse of inciting violence. It seems highly perverse for the cops to pretend women are a threat to men.