More than 12,000 arrests in a year
for things people said.
Two Years for a Tweet attacks a justice system RebelliousBard believes has developed an extraordinary sense of priorities. In 2023, 12,183 arrests were recorded by just 37 police forces in England and Wales under two laws governing offensive, threatening and other communications. Against a backdrop of violent crime, sexual offences, burglary and victims waiting for justice, the song asks how policing words on a screen came to demand this much attention. Offensive speech may be ugly, stupid or deliberately provocative. RebelliousBard’s argument is that none of those things should make words a greater priority than people who actually cause physical harm.
Welcome to Britain, where justice wears two faces,
One for the words, one for the blood on the pavement
Murderers walk on bail with a slap on the wrist
While a dodgy meme gets you on the blacklist
Grooming gangs slipped through the cracks for years
But post the wrong joke and you’re drowning in tears
Soldiers flagged as risks for speaking their mind
Knife crime exploding best not fall out of line
The cops scroll your timeline with serious intent
While the streets run red and the real threats go unbent
Priorities twisted like a bureaucratic knot
The wrong kind of truth gets you tied in a knot
Two years for a tweet, that’s justice today
While rapists get cautions and slip away
Say the wrong word and you’re locked in a cell
But stabbing a stranger? Just “mental health”, mate, all well
Two years for a tweet, how the system excels
At crushing the voices while the chaos swells
Truth is offensive, silence is safe
Welcome to Britain where justice is fake
Tag the wrong politician, that’s a hate crime spree
But burglars get rehab and a cup of tea
Steal millions and you’ll pay a modest fine
Mock the sacred narrative? You’re crossing the line
The courts are a circus, the streets feel unhinged
But heaven forbid you notice who’s offended
They lecture us daily on fairness and light
While the scales of justice tilt out of sight
Two years for a tweet, that’s justice today
They jailed a lad for a meme on his screen
While grooming reports gathered dust, unseen
A veteran flagged as a danger to kids
For daring to question what the policy bids
Priorities, mate… top bloody shelf
Two years for a tweet, that’s justice divine
While the worst walk free and we’re losing our mind
Say you miss old Britain, that’s a dangerous sign
But real victims waiting in an endless line
Two years for a tweet the country’s new creed
Where feelings are sacred and truth makes you bleed
Welcome to Britain… bought, gagged, and sold
Two-tier justice… ice cold
Two years for a tweet… two years for a tweet
Truth is the crime now… feel the heat
Two Years for a Tweet grew from a succession of British cases involving people being arrested, prosecuted or imprisoned for things they posted online, including the imprisonment of Lucy Connolly following a social-media post after the Southport murders. The scale behind those individual stories was equally striking: figures for 2023 recorded 12,183 arrests across 37 police forces in England and Wales under the Communications Act 2003 and Malicious Communications Act 1988. For RebelliousBard, the absurdity lies in a country devoting that level of police attention to words while victims of violent and sexual crime continue to watch offenders receive what they regard as inadequate punishment. The song is the resulting accusation: Britain has become frighteningly good at policing what people say while appearing increasingly incapable of protecting them from what people do.