577 academics have now signed an open letter to Bridget Phillipson calling on the education secretary to restore the Tories’ Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023. The act strengthened impositions on universities to support free speech on their premises and would introduce a complaints scheme to resolve issues. Naturally Labour said this would “enable hate speech” and immediately scrapped it…
Richard Dawkins, Niall Ferguson, Kathleen Stock and others have signed. The letter spells out that the act won’t be “burdensome” as Labour claims because government analysis has compliance cost at a tiny £4.7 million and that the complaints scheme would keep cases out of court. Seeing as the UK ranks so terribly on the Academic Freedom Index more protections might be a good idea…
Labour’s response is indignant: “We make no apology for pausing the Tories’ hate speech charter, which would have allowed antisemites and holocaust deniers free rein on campuses.” As far as competition goes UCL is leading on signers with 38, followed by Oxford on 36 and Cambridge on 21. Academics can sign here…
Read the full letter below:
In a victory against the grim spectre of UK censorship, Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, a Christian volunteer who faced two unjust arrests for silently praying outside an abortion clinic, has received a £13,000 settlement from West Midlands Police. This came after issuing two claims against the arrests with support from ADF UK. Though she’s been vindicated for her ‘thoughtcrime’, Labour’s push against free speech to protect the snowflakes is only beginning…
Ministers are now reviewing the initial guidance designed to protect “silent prayer”, having already axed the Free Speech Act designed to support debate in universities. Meanwhile, Yvette Cooper’s proposed Misogyny Extremism Law raises fears of further censorship and threats to free speech. A reminder that violence and misogyny against women are already criminal offences, and definitions of misogyny can vary widely. Labour should focus on addressing actual crimes rather than filling prisons with individuals convicted of so-called hate crimes…
Labour has been blasted over the Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson’s decision to axe the Free Speech Act – a bill that encourages debate and free expression in our increasingly left-wing universities. Today Phillipson announced:
“The Free Speech Act introduced last year is not fit for purpose and risked imposing serious burdens on our world class universities. This legislation could expose students to harm and appalling hate speech on campuses. That is why I have quickly ordered this legislation to be stopped.”
The Free Speech Union were quick to slam the “shocking” plans, with general secretary Toby Young promising they will pursue a judicial review if the cross-party approved law is blocked. Young nailed it:
“The government [is]…effectively declaring war on free speech…For all Sir Keir Starmer’s talk about human rights, he clearly doesn’t care about the most important human right of all, which is the right to free speech.”
Unsurprisingly, the National Union of Students welcomed repealing what they call the “dangerous ‘culture wars legislation’.” Every joke is a tiny revolution…
Our friends at Unherd have done some brilliant work on how woke activists are using the cover of “disinformation” to defund mainstream right-of-centre online media. It’s not just Unherd and Guido Fawkes that are blacklisted by unaccountable ratings agencies that hoodwink advertising agencies by bracketing them as brand risks alongside Jihadi beheading websites and actual foreign intelligence disinformation operations. Popular sites like the Daily Sceptic, Breitbart, Conservative Woman, the Daily Mail and The Sun get downgraded by these self-appointed guardians of the “truth”. In the video Freddie Sayers cites examples of these ratings agencies actually promoting demonstrable disinformation.
If an online publisher questions whether Greta Thunberg is right that the world really is on the edge of imminent climate catastrophe and human extinction, these agencies – funded by taxpayers – block advertising. Speculate that perhaps the pandemic did originate in Wuhan and it will cost you financially. It is an insidious form of censorship and should not be financed to the tune of £2.6 million by taxpayers. Foreign Office funding was designed to combat hostile foreign interests subverting democracy, not the free debate that is essential for democracy.
With today’s National Conservative Conference facing successive disruptions from protesters, not all lefties have had such an easy time of the vetting procedures. A number of left-leaning media outlets, including Novara Media, the Byline Times and openDemocracy, had their press pass applications rejected by the supporters of free speech. Solidarity, comrades!
After applying in April, Novara and Opendemocracy’s press passes were rejected due to “high demand and limited space”. A pro-tip for our comrades, Guido always sends a reporter to the Labour Party conference undercover and that’s how we get the scoops. Just sayin’…
Unlike Elon’s Twitter, Facebook has no such love of free speech. Today the Spectator attempted its usual practice of running their latest front cover as an advert. This week’s cover takes a light-hearted pop at Joe Biden; captioned “Six more years” it has an elderly President holding up five fingers. Pretty mild by The Speccie’s standards…
Facebook has, however, decided to block the advert. Even on an appeal, on the basis they’re a political magazine, the social media site rejected the advert.
As editor Fraser Nelson points out, it appears that splashes aimed at Trump, Boris and Truss – to name just a few – are fine. Biden appears to be a protected character. Unfortunately for the Spectator, the recent Steerpike article entitled ‘The tragic embarrassment of Sir Nick Clegg’ won’t help their cause…
