Climate of fear in UK

MR Bumble in Charles Dickens' novel 'Oliver Twist' famously said "the law is an ass".

- Cath Davis, North Tyneside Community Independents

That was when he learnt that under Victorian law he was responsible for the actions of his wife.

Since July this year, anyone showing support for the proscribed group Palestine Action commits a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison. This is even longer than in Putin's authoritarian Russia. You would have to be actively involved in a proscribed group there to receive such a sentence.