Freedom of speech
Juries are defenders of free speech
On Tuesday, David Lammy announced in parliament that a bill would be included in the next King’s Speech restricting the…
The persecution of our local politicians
Have a thought for Darren Grimes, the 32-year-old Reform councillor. Since becoming deputy leader of Durham County Council in May,…
Lord Young goes to Washington
I’m writing this from Washington, D.C., where I’ve spent the best part of a week talking to politicos and thinktankers…
Goodbye and good riddance to ‘non-crime’
The congratulatory messages started pouring in shortly after 5.30 p.m. on Monday. The Metropolitan Police had just issued a press…
The lost art of the insult
Imagine I were to begin this column by remarking that a woman preaching is like a dog walking on its…
The hypocrisy of the limousine liberals
You’d have to have a heart of stone not to laugh at all the Hollywood celebrities rending their garments about…
You can’t cancel the cancelled
When Theresa May appointed me as a non-executive director of the Office for Students, the Downing Street press office decided…
The cultification of science
My, how we all laughed. Thirty years ago the physicist Alan Sokal hoaxed a social science journal into publishing a…
How America could save free speech in Britain
The only holiday the Youngs had this summer was a week in Norfolk for the Hunstanton tennis tournament. I’m too…
Save our swearing!
Last week I took a day trip to Margate. Not to enjoy a swim in the sea, but in the…
Ctrl U: the Online Safety Act is shutting down the internet
This time last year, the UK was consumed by the worst race riots since 2001. It was precipitated by the…
With many despairing academics packing it in, who will solve the problem of the universities?
Something is seriously amiss when such a courageous and independent-minded professor as Matt Goodwin feels he no longer belongs in the system
Is the end of ‘non-crime hate incidents’ in sight?
Could the end of non-crime hate incidents (NCHIs) be in sight? As the head of the Free Speech Union, I’ve…
I’m a culture war addict
Reading Melissa Lawford’s excellent analysis in the Sunday Telegraph, ‘Putin can’t afford peace – Russia’s economy is hooked on war’,…
Are you offended by ‘hard-working families’?
Scarcely a day passes without a newspaper story about some absurd ‘language guide’ issued by a public body. This week…
Buckingham University’s shameful treatment of Professor Tooley
One of many reasons I felt blessed, seven years ago, to be offered a professorship at the private University of…
Should free speech campaigners hope Andrew Gwynne is prosecuted?
David McKelvey, a former detective chief inspector in the Met Police, has called for the prosecution of Andrew Gwynne, the…
How Ipso surrendered to the trans lobby
Two months ago, the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso) upheld a complaint against The Spectator for referring to Juno Dawson,…
Can I be cancelled twice?
One of the biggest regrets of my life was saying yes when Jo Johnson asked if I wanted to be…
Why Elon Musk shouldn’t be kicked out of the Royal Society
In a notorious interview in the Sunday Times in 2007, the Nobel Prize-winning geneticist James Watson said, among other things,…
Carry on Kafka: this is our Brave New World
An ex-copper who blogs as Dominic Adler – not his real name – came up with a good phrase this…
The true meaning of free speech
Right after Donald Trump’s landslide, I opined on YouTube that this turning point could sound the death knell for Woke…
Will Keir Starmer get me banned from football games?
Last Saturday, I made the 400-mile round trip to Burnley with my 16-year-old son Charlie to see Queens Park Rangers…
A British First Amendment wouldn’t save free speech
Does the United Kingdom need a First Amendment? That’s a question I’ve been thinking about a lot recently, given the…
Labour’s backwards steps on free speech
Free speech advocates like me need to stop talking about the meagre gains we made under the last government because…
