Is it a freedom?

There is no written constitution in the United Kingdom. A set of laws and principles govern the United Kingdom. Therefore there is no need for people here to be concerned about any constitutional amendments.

As there is no constitution to define or protect the freedom of expression it is covered by the common law. Although one feels there are no restrictions in freedom of speech in the UK, people have a negative right in many aspects. In 1988, the UK incorporated the European Convention with some reservations.

Words of hatred or of anti-religious nature, indecency including corruption of public morals and much more are amongst the excluded ones. Whatever it is, newspapers here exercise the freedom to its maximum when disclosing a wrong doing of a public figure or a politician.

The most recent was the story of advertising magnate and art dealer Charles Saatchi grasping his wife Nigela's throat at a restaurant in London. It happened few days ago when they were having dinner at the restaurant.

A photographer captured the incident which appeared in a Sunday paper sparking anger amongst human rights and anti-domestic violent activists. One of the seven pictures that appeared shows Nigela leaving the restaurant weeping. She is a prominent TV chef and the daughter of former Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir Nigel Lawson.

Nigela is the third wife of Saatchi. She married Saatchi after the death of her husband at the age of 41. Every newspaper and TV stations gave prominence to the incident and Saatchi was called to the police for an interview.

At the beginning of the exposure he denied the attack as "none other than a playful tiff". But he later changed his tune and admitted to officers he attacked 53-year-old Nigella as horrified diners looked on.

He accepted a police caution which will remain on records for five years.

Although it is interesting to know politicians' and prominent people's mistakes and wrong doings through the media, one can categorise it as intrusion.

One's freedom of expression curtails someone else's personal freedom. Starting from the Royal family, we have experienced prominent people in the UK being destroyed by so called 'freedom of expression'. Although the liability actions against the media drain their bank accounts no single journalist paid the penalty with his or her own life.

There is no state owned media in the UK. But it is not a secret that some national papers support political parties to come in to power. At the last general election, Sun, the tabloid with the largest circulation in the UK switched sides and supported conservatives to come in to power. It went kade for the Labour Party since the last stages of the previous conservative government. Even the BBC Radio and the TV are independent institutions. They are maintained by the licence fees and marketing of their programmes to other stations around the world. No commercial advertising allowed in any of the BBC channels. The government has no authority over running them.

The Speaker's Corner in London Hyde Park is a place where anyone can exercise their freedom of expression. It is crowded on Sunday evenings with people with hundreds of visions.

However, as briefly mentioned earlier, there are many acts barred under the common law in the UK. These are threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour intending or likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress or cause breach of peace, enticement to racial hatred, religious hatred and enticement to terrorism, treason including compassing the death of monarch, sedition, obscenity, indecency scandalising the court my criticising or murmuring judges, privileged communications, classified material and many other similar ones.

Once the Mirror newspaper published a photoshoped photograph of Tony Blair on the front page, just in his underwear.

I don't know how to agree with publishing the Prime Minister's almost naked picture on the front page in the name of "freedom of press."

Once there was a picture of William Hague's head attached to a monkey's body. He is the present Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. A tabloid once published photographs of few prominent male and female politicians attaching leftists' beards to their faces. It was not taken as an offence and was laughed off.

But if a Sri Lankan newspaper were to publish shaven faces of some of our leftists, God knows what will happen.