Judge Liam McNally’s decision to allow the unpleasant Pastor James McConnell walk free is a little triumph for free speech
Padraig Reidy: What’s the difference between “offensive” and “grossly offensive”?
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Padraig Reidy
Padraig Reidy is the editor of Little Atoms and a columnist for Index on Censorship. He has also written for The Observer, The Guardian, and The Irish Times.
Padraig Reidy: Insisting the heavyweight be silenced accomplishes nothing
Pity poor Tyson Fury. No, wait, don’t. He’s heavyweight champion of the world and doesn’t seem particularly bothered what you or I think
Padraig Reidy: UK’s counter-extremism strategy is another blow to universities as free spaces
There are a few techniques you can use to spot whether someone has slightly dodgy views on the world. My favourite is the hand-chopping test.
Padraig Reidy: When it comes to public figures, we should err away from caution
This week’s intervention by Lord Ashcroft might not be the best example of the old speak-truth-to-power schtick, but being rude about powerful people is very important and even cathartic
Padraig Reidy: “Denis O’Brien to sue everyone”
Ireland’s richest media mogul, owner of the country’s largest newspaper group, had a satire malfunction last week when his solicitors, Meaghers, pursued up-and-coming satirical website Waterford Whispers.
Padraig Reidy: Why Golders Green isn’t Britain’s Skokie
This is the British way of free expression; a matter of practicality rather than principle, a pliable concept, one that can almost always be tempered by appeals to taste
Padraig Reidy: A disgraceful use of the Communications Act
The prosecution of Pastor James McConnell under the Communications Act is the action of a prosecution service more interested in appearing to be liberal than upholding justice and rights
Padraig Reidy: Just another old man yelling at a cloud?
Every so often (roughly generationally) there are upheavals in mores and language. We’re on that cusp now.
Padraig Reidy: When Putin met the Pope
What might have happened when the leader of the world’s largest state met the leader of the world’s smallest?
Padraig Reidy: Denis O’Brien, parliamentary privilege and the public interest
Irish billionaire Denis O’Brien got on an injunction on the reporting of a speech in parliament regarding his private banking relationships
Padraig Reidy: We cannot choose which free speech we will defend and which we will not
If we are to imagine free speech as a defining value of democracy (as David Cameron has said he does) then we cannot just choose which free speech we will defend and which we will not (as David Cameron has said he wants to)
Padraig Reidy: James Rhodes and the visceral need to be heard
I was reminded of poet Carolyn Forché and her concept of witness when I read the reactions to the court decision that would finally allow pianist James Rhodes to publish his memoir, Instrumental