5 ms·

A gf asked to go on a trip to England/Ireland and I told her I will go to Brazil or Colombia before I go to the UK. Im not going to risk getting in trouble beca

A gf asked to go on a trip to England/Ireland and I told her I will go to Brazil or Colombia before I go to the UK. Im not going to risk getting in trouble because I made a post online or discussed immigration or trans people in the wrong way according to them.

edwcross 7mo ago
In those countries, you'll probably have more to fear for your physical security from non-governmental threats than the other way around. But given the increasingly dystopian state of many countries worldwide, you may also encounter difficulties related to administrative burden and systems with not enough human oversight and override for exceptional situations.
specproc 7mo ago
No chance I'd go to America, as they definitely check that sort of thing at the border now. Not sure how often that happens coming to the UK, yet.
- throwawaytea 7mo ago
  It happens to citizens of the UK everyday, so I'm not really into finding out how tourists are treated.
  - 2postsperday 7mo ago
    [flagged]
  - marcus_holmes 7mo ago
    You are the victim of misinformation and need to check your sources.
    - throwawaytea 7mo ago
      So are you. Wow we really learned a lot didn't we.
      - marcus_holmes 7mo ago
        I am not making blatantly false statements about someone else's country that are obviously repeating political talking points. Again, please check your sources before posting obvious disinformation.
- sva_ 7mo ago
  I just went there as German and it actually went really smooth. They just asked me why I'm visiting and I said to visit a friend/tourism, took less than 2 minutes. So I think this is FUD
  - fc417fc802 7mo ago
    That's usually how it goes with the US as well but every now and then they decide to search someone's electronic devices. Of course AFAIK this can happen pretty much everywhere at this point so your only hope is being a citizen of a country that doesn't allow it for locals (such as the US) and then not traveling. Or wipe your devices prior to traveling.
patrickmcnamara 7mo ago
What is the HN way to say "touch grass"?
- pessimizer 7mo ago
  Not to say it, but instead to choose to say something both interesting and directly responsive to the comment you're replying to.
  - Leynos 7mo ago
    Okay, here goes. You can tell when someone is acting in bad faith when they talk about a law that has been in force and enforced since the 1960s is something new. Of course, "touch grass" works just as well.
    - DANmode 7mo ago
      Does it?
      - Leynos 7mo ago
        Yup
    - throwawaytea 7mo ago
      Laws can be in existence for decades before they are weaponized against people. It's illegal to have most eBay/Amazon bulbs on your car because they are not DOT approved. If someday they start impounding cars crossing state borders with light bars, fog lights, and LEDs of races they don't want in that state... Someone like you will say "you're just making stuff up, that law has been on effect since 1961."
      - Leynos 7mo ago
        And do you have statistical evidence to back up your claim of increased enforcement, or are you just reading about it in the Daily Mail?
Reason077 7mo ago
> "Im not going to risk getting in trouble because I made a post online or discussed immigration or trans people in the wrong way according to them." This is a mis-truth which has been spread by Joe Rogan and his ilk. Political speech is very much protected in UK law. You won't get in "trouble" if you make posts against immigration or trans people. J.K. Rowling and Ricky Gervais certainly haven't been locked up. Yes, there have been cases, such as the infamous Cowley Hill School case where Hertfordshire police arrested a couple over their posts in a school WhatsApp group. However, such arrests are illegal and in that case the police had to apologise and pay compensation. What will get you in trouble in the UK is threatening violence against people or posting hate speech that encourages others to do so. But this is also true in the USA and in most countries.
- Dylan16807 7mo ago
  > You won't get in "trouble" if you make posts against immigration or trans people. Not to say anyone would actually get in trouble for just some opinion posts, but I don't know why you went with "against" here, I think "for" is the more likely one to make the current UK (or US) government upset.
- TeapotNotKettle 7mo ago
  “Burn old fella burn”, felt like political speech - but that didn’t work out so well.
- troad 7mo ago
  > Political speech is very much protected in UK law With "protected political speech" being defined as which flavour of the established, incompetent elite you prefer this year. People have been arrested in the UK for holding blank signs within vicinity of Palestine marches. People have been arrested over protesting Charles' coronation. To say nothing of thousands of people arrested every year over tweets. Political speech is basically criminalised in the UK at this point. This is not an establishment worth any of our respect.
  - hunterpayne 7mo ago
    You forgot the part where they are literally debating if to get rid of jury trials or not because the government didn't hire enough judges.
lovich 7mo ago
Not like good ole America where you can get arrested for mocking Charlie Kirk.
- hunterpayne 7mo ago
  [flagged]
  - lovich 7mo ago
    > Nobody was arrested. You are entirely incorrect. https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/17/politics/retired-cop-jailed-over-charlie-kirk-meme https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/17/politics/retired-cop-jailed-o...
  - heavyset_go 7mo ago
    From "Retired cop jailed for 37 days over Charlie Kirk meme sues, saying his First Amendment rights were violated"[1]: > A retired Tennessee law enforcement officer was held in jail for more than a month this fall after police arrested him over a Facebook post of a meme related to the September assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. [1] https://edition.cnn.com/2025/12/17/politics/retired-cop-jailed-over-charlie-kirk-meme https://edition.cnn.com/2025/12/17/politics/retired-cop-jail...
  - hdgvhicv 7mo ago
    How brainwashed do you have to be to come out with this?
School-Cotton 7mo ago
You can be arrested for being racist in Brazil
n3t 7mo ago
Ireland, in contrast to Northern Ireland, is not part of the UK.
- hdgvhicv 7mo ago
  Don’t tell MAGAs, might cause them to cry https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/maga-traveler-dragged-online-after-saying-her-politics-ruined-ireland-vacation/ar-AA1YuSZH https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/maga-traveler-dragged-o...

edwcross 7mo ago

In those countries, you'll probably have more to fear for your physical security from non-governmental threats than the other way around. But given the increasingly dystopian state of many countries worldwide, you may also encounter difficulties related to administrative burden and systems with not enough human oversight and override for exceptional situations.

specproc 7mo ago

No chance I'd go to America, as they definitely check that sort of thing at the border now. Not sure how often that happens coming to the UK, yet.

throwawaytea 7mo ago
It happens to citizens of the UK everyday, so I'm not really into finding out how tourists are treated.
- 2postsperday 7mo ago
  [flagged]
- marcus_holmes 7mo ago
  You are the victim of misinformation and need to check your sources.
  - throwawaytea 7mo ago
    So are you. Wow we really learned a lot didn't we.
    - marcus_holmes 7mo ago
      I am not making blatantly false statements about someone else's country that are obviously repeating political talking points. Again, please check your sources before posting obvious disinformation.
sva_ 7mo ago
I just went there as German and it actually went really smooth. They just asked me why I'm visiting and I said to visit a friend/tourism, took less than 2 minutes. So I think this is FUD
- fc417fc802 7mo ago
  That's usually how it goes with the US as well but every now and then they decide to search someone's electronic devices. Of course AFAIK this can happen pretty much everywhere at this point so your only hope is being a citizen of a country that doesn't allow it for locals (such as the US) and then not traveling. Or wipe your devices prior to traveling.

patrickmcnamara 7mo ago

What is the HN way to say "touch grass"?

pessimizer 7mo ago
Not to say it, but instead to choose to say something both interesting and directly responsive to the comment you're replying to.
- Leynos 7mo ago
  Okay, here goes. You can tell when someone is acting in bad faith when they talk about a law that has been in force and enforced since the 1960s is something new. Of course, "touch grass" works just as well.
  - DANmode 7mo ago
    Does it?
    - Leynos 7mo ago
      Yup
  - throwawaytea 7mo ago
    Laws can be in existence for decades before they are weaponized against people. It's illegal to have most eBay/Amazon bulbs on your car because they are not DOT approved. If someday they start impounding cars crossing state borders with light bars, fog lights, and LEDs of races they don't want in that state... Someone like you will say "you're just making stuff up, that law has been on effect since 1961."
    - Leynos 7mo ago
      And do you have statistical evidence to back up your claim of increased enforcement, or are you just reading about it in the Daily Mail?

Reason077 7mo ago

> "Im not going to risk getting in trouble because I made a post online or discussed immigration or trans people in the wrong way according to them." This is a mis-truth which has been spread by Joe Rogan and his ilk. Political speech is very much protected in UK law. You won't get in "trouble" if you make posts against immigration or trans people. J.K. Rowling and Ricky Gervais certainly haven't been locked up. Yes, there have been cases, such as the infamous Cowley Hill School case where Hertfordshire police arrested a couple over their posts in a school WhatsApp group. However, such arrests are illegal and in that case the police had to apologise and pay compensation. What will get you in trouble in the UK is threatening violence against people or posting hate speech that encourages others to do so. But this is also true in the USA and in most countries.

Dylan16807 7mo ago
> You won't get in "trouble" if you make posts against immigration or trans people. Not to say anyone would actually get in trouble for just some opinion posts, but I don't know why you went with "against" here, I think "for" is the more likely one to make the current UK (or US) government upset.
TeapotNotKettle 7mo ago
“Burn old fella burn”, felt like political speech - but that didn’t work out so well.
troad 7mo ago
> Political speech is very much protected in UK law With "protected political speech" being defined as which flavour of the established, incompetent elite you prefer this year. People have been arrested in the UK for holding blank signs within vicinity of Palestine marches. People have been arrested over protesting Charles' coronation. To say nothing of thousands of people arrested every year over tweets. Political speech is basically criminalised in the UK at this point. This is not an establishment worth any of our respect.
- hunterpayne 7mo ago
  You forgot the part where they are literally debating if to get rid of jury trials or not because the government didn't hire enough judges.

lovich 7mo ago

Not like good ole America where you can get arrested for mocking Charlie Kirk.

hunterpayne 7mo ago
[flagged]
- lovich 7mo ago
  > Nobody was arrested. You are entirely incorrect. https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/17/politics/retired-cop-jailed-over-charlie-kirk-meme https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/17/politics/retired-cop-jailed-o...
- heavyset_go 7mo ago
  From "Retired cop jailed for 37 days over Charlie Kirk meme sues, saying his First Amendment rights were violated"[1]: > A retired Tennessee law enforcement officer was held in jail for more than a month this fall after police arrested him over a Facebook post of a meme related to the September assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. [1] https://edition.cnn.com/2025/12/17/politics/retired-cop-jailed-over-charlie-kirk-meme https://edition.cnn.com/2025/12/17/politics/retired-cop-jail...
- hdgvhicv 7mo ago
  How brainwashed do you have to be to come out with this?

School-Cotton 7mo ago

You can be arrested for being racist in Brazil

n3t 7mo ago

Ireland, in contrast to Northern Ireland, is not part of the UK.

hdgvhicv 7mo ago
Don’t tell MAGAs, might cause them to cry https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/maga-traveler-dragged-online-after-saying-her-politics-ruined-ireland-vacation/ar-AA1YuSZH https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/maga-traveler-dragged-o...