Thank you to everyone for their generous comments about my posts. I've had to research and write about many topics and know from experience that many headlines and stories in newspapers are simplistic. What I found depressing was the impression that Muslims had not condemned the atrocities in Paris. This was not the case and I wanted to set the record straight. When faced with such a menace as Daesh, we must not not let propaganda divide us. Marian has had the good grace and manners to appreciate that the initial impression which prompted the thread was not correct. How many others, however, still believe it to be the case that Muslims did not speak out following the attacks? Particularly following the Sun's disgraceful headline which stated that a quarter of British Muslims backed Isis. Not true. If anyone cared to look at the actual questions asked by Survation, Isis was never mentioned. But why let the truth get in the way of a good headline which will sell newspapers?
Debate and discussion is healthy and I welcome it. We are indeed lucky to live in a part of the world where we can voice out views without fear of prison, torture or death. Freedom of expression is a right under British law. However, it has never been an absolute right - there are many exceptions.
Much of what follows is copied from the internet (but checked by me), as I am still a little rusty in the brain department following recent serious illness.
The exceptions included threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour intending or likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress or cause a breach of the peace, sending any article which is indecent or grossly offensive with an intent to cause distress or anxiety, incitement, incitement to racial hatred, incitement to religious hatred, incitement to terrorism including encouragement of terrorism and dissemination of terrorist publications, glorifying terrorism, collection or possession of a document or record containing information likely to be of use to a terrorist, treason including advocating for the abolition of the monarchy (which cannot be successfully prosecuted) or compassing or imagining the death of the monarch, sedition (no longer illegal, sedition and seditious libel (as common law offences) were abolished by section 73 of the Coroners and Justice Act 20090, obscenity, indecency including corruption of public morals and outraging public decency, defamation, prior restraint, restrictions on court reporting including names of victims and evidence and prejudicing or interfering with court proceedings, prohibition of post-trial interviews with jurors, scandalising the court by criticising judges,harassment, privileged communications, trade secrets, classified material, copyright, patents, military conduct, and limitations on commercial speech such as advertising. UK defamation laws are some of the strictest in the world.