Tag Archives: freedom of speech

Hell has no fury like an editor scorned

By Andy Boddington | Sat 20th November 2021 - 6:12 pm

Paul Dacre, a doyen of the right and former long term editor of the Daily Mail, is raging. In a letter published in The Times this morning, he tells the world that he wants to set the record straight following “increasingly hysterical speculation from the left-wing media” on whether he would be applying again to be chair of Ofcom. He tells us he will not be submitting a new application while lambasting civil servants for working from home and “exercising on their Peloton bikes and polishing their political correctness”.

This episode arises from an attempt by Boris Johnson to stich up the Ofcom appointment. When the original selection panel did not appoint Dacre, Boris Johnson called for the selection panel and criteria to be changed, echoes of how he later tried to change the rules over the suspension of Owen Paterson. This debacle has only pumped more oxygen on the flames of sleaze that are engulfing Boris Johnson’s government.

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Humphrey Hawksley

China and its challenge to Liberal Democracy

By Humphrey Hawksley | Wed 9th September 2020 - 5:00 pm

Anti-Chinese rhetoric is growing, and it is amazing how seamlessly our enemy number one has shifted from Islamic extremism to an expansionist China with barely the blink of an eye. 

No longer do we have a War on Terror but the spectre of a new Cold War. 

Accusations against Chinese President Xi Jinping are beginning to mirror those against Middle Eastern dictators when complexities of cultures and societies were concertinaed into cartoon-style characters of evil such as with Iraq’s Saddam Hussein. 

We all know what happened there and, unless we are vigilant, we may be walking into another disastrous trap. 

With gulag-style camps in Xinjiang and the crackdown against political dissent in Hong Kong, such criticism against China are justified. 

The question is, however, what can liberal democracies do that is effective. 

A first step is to look more at ourselves and reestablish liberal democratic values that in the past two decades have fallen into a sorry state of repair. 

Liberal democracy was once heralded as a beacon for delivering security and freedom. Failure in the Middle East and North African conflicts has shredded that reputation. 

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 12 Comments
Michael Bukola

Thank Goodness! The Real McCoy back – and I’m not talking about the Crisps!

By Michael Bukola | Wed 5th August 2020 - 2:30 pm

I have never agreed with the debate around TV censorship, these past few weeks with the broadcasters initially pulling and then u-turning on a string of British comedy programs previously deemed offensive.

Many of you would have noticed the return of the 1990s TV Series “The Real McCoy” which was mysteriously “lost” and then subsequently “found” now being shown on BBC iPlayer. The show is a satirical take on Black British culture and the lived experiences of the children of the Windrush generation.

The BBC joined other media outlets in removing content found to be racially insensitive in the wake of Black Lives Matter protests, with ‘Little Britain’ removed from iPlayer due to its portrayal of minority characters.

A 1975 episode of Fawlty Towers was also temporarily removed by BBC subsidiary UKTV for racist language, and The League of Gentlemen was taken down by Netflix over concerns about a character in blackface make-up.
As someone who grew up in 1970s Britain, watching programmes like “The Black and White Minstrel Show”, “Till Death Us Do Part” with the infamous “Alf Garnett” character; and others like ‘Love Thy Neighbour’, ‘Mind Your Language’, and “Rising Damp”, I struggle to see what this memory-holing problematic culture demonstrates other than our inability to deal with own uncomfortable past.

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Kirsten Johnson

Championing Freedom of Belief

By Kirsten Johnson | Thu 27th December 2018 - 4:25 pm

Jeremy Hunt has ordered a review into the persecution of Christians worldwide. We are fortunate in this country to be able to practice our faiths, or have no faith, whichever the case might be. But in many countries of the world this is not the case. 

Our 2017 General Election manifesto called for the UK to lead on establishing the right to religious freedom around the world:

Appoint an ambassador-level champion for freedom of belief to drive British diplomatic efforts in this field, and campaign for the abolition of

…
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Posted in News and Op-eds | Also tagged , , and | 22 Comments
Chris Park

Ashers Bakery Verdict is Dodgy and Dangerous

By Chris Park | Thu 11th October 2018 - 9:30 am

The verdict of the Supreme Court in favour of Ashers bakery’s refusal to make a cake supporting same-sex marriage is dodgy and dangerous.

It is undoubtedly a complicated case. It makes sense, on the surface, because we all have freedom of speech and freedom of thought; yet it also makes sense that if you are running a business that is serving the public then you have to serve all the public, taking them as they are, whether you agree with their opinions or not.

The judgment was reached because the Supreme Court decided that it was the message, not the person that the Christian proprietors objected to. But how was this fact proved?

I don’t think it can be proved because prejudice is often hidden.

It seems to me that the judges have simply taken at face value what the owners of the bakery have said. How can it be proved that they weren’t using their beliefs as a pretext to conceal a hatred they have for gay people?

This question is important because it is at the core of homophobia and hatred against the LGBT+ community: this prejudice is legitimised and normalised because it is spun as an opinion, it’s just someone’s point of view – especially when it’s religious beliefs that are being weaponised.

It’s a slippery slope indeed.

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Posted in News | Also tagged and | 54 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Lunchtime Debate: Actually, let Donald Trump come here

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 9th December 2015 - 1:09 pm

There’s a petition doing the rounds at the moment which, at the time of writing, has some 120,000 signatures, close to the threshold at which it will be considered to be debated in Parliament, calling on the Government to ban Donald Trump from entering the UK.

Trump has disgraced himself with his recent call for Muslims to be refused entry to the United States.

I get that people find his views repugnant. So do I. This, however, isn’t the first time Trump has said something outrageously prejudiced. It’s his stock-in-trade. Earlier this year, the Huffington Post compiled a list of the most offensive things he had said about women – you know, how we’re all gold digging, how breastfeeding is disgusting and, basically, just there for decoration.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 29 Comments
Paul Walter

Can we learn from the Pirates leading the polls in the home of the world’s oldest parliament?

By Paul Walter | Wed 2nd December 2015 - 9:49 am

Postcard from Reykjavík


The photo above shows the location of the world’s first parliament, which was established here in Þingvellir, Iceland in 930. Interestingly, the Alþingi or Althing was held in the fissure (like a plain) between the edge of the European continental plate (on the right) and the end of the American continental plate, which is out of shot to the left.

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Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Also tagged and | 11 Comments
Adam Warner

Opinion: Counter-extremism laws will be anything but

By Adam Warner | Fri 15th May 2015 - 8:55 am

Less than a week into the new government and we are already beginning to see the signs of a Conservative party moving sharply to the right now that the Lib Dem shackles are off.

Announcing proposals for counter-extremism legislation yesterday, Home Secretary Theresa May said that she would implement ‘banning orders for groups’ who are ‘actively trying to promote hatred ‘ and ‘undermine British values’. Prime Minister David Cameron added that we have been a ‘passively tolerant society for too long’.

A similar piece of legislation was proposed 3 times during the coalition but was rejected every time. Lib Dem MP Tom Brake today said that they were blocked because they were ‘ill thought through, illiberal and will not tackle the problem they are supposed to’.

For starters, the proposal is flawed in principle. It is undoubtedly the case that these proposals undermine the key British value of freedom of speech. Whilst the Lib Dems hugely disagree with the views of radical fundamentalists like Anjem Choudhry, we will always defend their right to say it. That is a fundamental principle of democracy. If you partially stop freedom of speech, as these proposals do, you set a very dangerous precedent which can border on censorship and risks allowing a government to silence any voice of which it does not approve.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 11 Comments
Paul Walter

Je suis encore Charlie

By Paul Walter | Sun 11th January 2015 - 12:54 pm

It was a “you’ll remember where you were when you heard the news” moment.

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Posted in News and Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 14 Comments
Lee Dargue

Opinion: Why we can all be Charlie

By Lee Dargue | Sun 11th January 2015 - 8:55 am

I’ve often been moved to offer a rebuttal to comments made in the public sphere. Indeed, I’m known for taking a sharp intake of breath and squeezing my eyes shut in an anxious state when Michael Gove went to make a comment on education, before taking my big letter writing pen to an article asking what planet he inhabits.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 118 Comments
NewsHound

LibLink: Nick Clegg We must always be free to criticise ideas, even religious ones

By NewsHound | Fri 9th January 2015 - 2:30 pm

A powerful article in today’s Telegraph passionately defending the right to free speech by Nick Clegg:

Every so often we are confronted by events that force each of us to take a clear stand – and a side. The attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo was just such a moment, demanding a straight answer to a simple question: “are you Charlie?” You don’t have to agree with everything, or even anything, that Charlie Hebdo published to “be Charlie” – you only have to wish to protect the freedoms and rights that define liberal societies like ours.

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Posted in LibLink | Also tagged , , and | 48 Comments
David Evans

Opinion: “Sit down, shut up” now acceptable in Scotland’s political arena

By David Evans | Tue 9th July 2013 - 2:13 pm

scotland_fansI’m no football expert, but the chant “Sit down, Shut up” seems to be popular as a chant to silence a loosing team. In a similar fashion the cry ‘no mandate’ has taken a similar position in Scotland’s political arena. This was most recently seen in the Edinburgh instalment of Question Time, when both Angus McNeil MP and Lesley Riddoch argued that if a party has no elected officials in the country then its members have no right to express their opinions.

Regardless of your stance in the independence debate (though I …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 6 Comments
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