Free Speech At Risk
Chris Davies
December 6, 2024
Free speech matters. That is not or at least, should not be a controversial statement.
And yet, and yet...
Be honest, how much and how often do you self censor? Do you - now - stop and think before posting on social media? Is it more often than 5 years ago? I’ll bet it is more often than 5 months ago. Whilst the clown show running the country has released hardened criminals who have served 40% of their time (yes, really - just forty per cent!), they have locked up first time 'offenders' for ill-advised posts on social media.
Now, free speech comes with responsibilities and accountability. It does not give carte blanche to slander for example. That said, the UK, once seen as the birthplace of free speech is now in the censorship business up to its tonsils.
The Online Safety Act will ultimately be used to censor and potentially imprison YouTubers who dare to question the state approved narrative. The Tories set us on the road to this curtailment of the most fundamental of our civil liberties but the arrival of Sir Kier Starmer at 10 Downing Street has accelerated the process and put it on steroids.
This is what happens when you have a majority a mile wide and an inch deep. Remember, Labour may well have been elected in accordance with due process, but they were still voted for by a substantial minority of eligible voters. The party is now polling third behind Reform and the Tories just five months after taking office.
Starmer’s approval ratings currently are at -38 and dropping like a stone. The zombie era of Rishi Sunak looks like the high water mark for governance in 2024. That is a very low bar to get under but Starmer has found a way.
The prospect of Elon Musk donating big money to Reform is met with a desire to cap individual donations from the Starmtroopers - not really a surprise when you consider historical precedent; when the right is in government, it is in office. When the left is in government, it is in power.
They will not relinquish it lightly. And they will consider the sacrificial lamb of free speech as a small price to pay.
In the meantime, be brave, don’t take a step back and say what you see while you’re still free to do so.
Say it politely, with reason and rationale. Don't hurl pointless insults.
But say it!
© Chris Davies, 2024
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Free speech is indeed at risk and has been for some time. I raised the threat to freedom in my book, Comments of a Common Man Edition 3, published in September 2019.
Look what happened six months later.
Since 2020, various efforts have been made, not just in the UK, but worldwide, to restrict freedom - including the right to speak as we please.
The increasing restrictions must be resisted but in a lawful and peaceable way. As Chris Davies correctly points out, freedom - not just with what we say and how we say it - comes with responsibility. A self-discipline that we must use. If we do not put up that resistance however, the price we pay may be too great to bear.
Kevan James
Elon Musk trolls Keir Starmer because Musk believes in free speech, while Starmer’s Britain locks people up for saying nasty things on Facebook.
Nigel Farage MP
I've already been hauled down to the nick for social media activity. So yes I deffo have to self censor these days unfortunately.
Ralf Hexham
Our great nation is under threat—not from laws, but from a culture of cowardice and political correctness. Blasphemy laws are creeping into Britain, silencing debate and free speech. We must fight back for our values and our liberty.
Suella Braverman MP
Every hate speech law in Britain needs to be scrapped. You can’t call it a free society if non-violent speech—even the most offensive—is policed.
Nicholas Lissack
