Having Your Say: Threats to Free Speech in the 21st Century

1 Introduction 
New types of speech restrictions 2
This book 10
2 A history of laws on hate and abuse 18
Suppression of abolitionist writings in the US 21
British colonialism 24
Apartheid South Africa 27
The United Nations, human rights and hate speech 30
The continuing importance of free speech in protecting minorities 36
3 Tolerating extreme speech 39
Classical liberal free speech doctrine 40
Is extremism exceptional? 43
Everyday extremism 46
A taste for violence 50
Alternatives to restrictions on speech content 52
Conclusion 55
4 Legislation on online harms will damage free speech 56
Legal but harmful 58
Disinformation and fake news 66
Rowing back from safe harbours 69
Free speech needs free enterprise 72
A fool’s errand? 74
5 Liberty: beyond left or right? 77
Free speech and the Covid-19 crisis 78
The racism crisis and the threats to free thought and expression 88
Beyond left and right: a new movement? 100
6 Having a laugh? Free speech in comedy 102
A brief history of censorship in comedy 102
Modern censorship 104
My own experience 119
In defence of censors 125
The impact of censorship 126
7 Why free speech in advertising matters 129
‘Good’ and ‘bad’ advertising? 130
Advertising regulation in the UK 136
Advertising and the curtailment of free speech 141
Conclusions 155
8 Attacks on freedom to speak and to pray 157
Introduction 157
Restrictions on freedom of speech, conscience, prayer and thought 160
We know where you live: free speech and police visits 169
A close-run thing: Lee v. McArthur and Ashers 172
Free speech and institutional culture 174
Conclusion 178
9 The threat to freedom of speech in universities is a symptom of a wider problem 180
Freedom of thought 181
Limitations on speech 183
The historical basis of university freedoms 184
Challenges to free speech in universities 188
This is part of a wider problem 192
10 Free speech: the freedom that trade unions forgot 200
Disorganised unions 201
The therapeutic turn 202
Trading off free speech for safety 204
Free speech and the Prevent duty 205
Speak up only to whistleblow 207
The suppression of speech 208
UCU in the therapeutic university 212
Forward with the Free Speech Union? 221
Postscript: #Je ne suis pas Samuel 223
11 Offence, hypocrisy, and the function of democracy 225
Introduction 225
Offence, insult, and harm: conceptual considerations 227
Waldron on ‘hate speech’ 231
The deliberation argument for free speech in a pluralist democracy 236
Freedom of speech as prior to freedom from offence 238
Conclusion 242
References 245
About the IEA 262