News Round-Up
26 July 2024
Government Has Just Declared War on Free Speech
26 July 2024
by Toby Young
A month after the arrival of Scotland's Hate Crime Act and it appears reports of the demise of the Scottish Enlightenment may have been premature, no thanks to the SNP but due to the doughty spirit of the Scots.
Alas, once again a government has introduced a law to curb free speech and outlaw 'hate'. But if speech is so unpopular that some deem it hateful, that speech is the speech most worth protecting, says Lawrence Krauss.
Justin Trudeau to Humza Yousaf: "You think you can position yourself as the West’s most authoritarian 'liberal' political leader? Hold my Molson."
Could Justin Trudeau be prosecuted for encouraging genocide under the terms of his own 'anti-genocide' Online Harms Act, asks Steven Tucker. It may seem unlikely, but the Act is so poorly drafted that you never know.
Police Scotland staff have been given a script defending Humza Yousaf after he faced a deluge of hate crime reports.
We look over the border to Scotland with a sense of alarm and disgust at the extreme censorship now being imposed via the Hate Crime Act. But speech is already scarcely freer in England, says Ella Whelan.
Humza Yousaf has received more complaints under Scotland's new hate crime bill for his 2020 speech about "often being the only non-white person in the room" than J.K. Rowling, it was claimed today.
The leak of the Police Scotland training materials telling officers they should target actors and comedians for 'hate speech' has intensified concerns that the new draconian legislation will kill comedy.
Journalists against free speech? "Excessive free speech" threatens democracy, according to the public affairs columnist at Canada's top newspaper, the Globe and Mail. Rigid regulation of speech is what's required.
Ian Rons argues that the 'stirring up hatred' offence Sam Melia was found guilty of should be repealed and we should revert to the Common Law 'breach of the peace' standard.
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