With the publication of Prince Charles’ “black spider” letters, ministers fear they will lose control of the freedom of information process
Padraig Reidy
Padraig Reidy: Ten years after the Danish Mohammed cartoons, we’re still having the same argument
Is there hope for resolution any time soon? I fear not.
Padraig Reidy: Imagine being Katie Hopkins
What if your job, your career, was winding up an entire nation?
Padraig Reidy: War on truthiness
Journalism should, at least, be against truthiness, if only out of self interest. If anyone can make stuff up and get 1,000 shares on Twitter, why pay people for deep digging or elegant writing?
Padraig Reidy: Sentenced to death for not believing in God
Washiqur Rahman and Ajivit Roy were killed because they were atheists who refused to keep quiet about their beliefs
Padraig Reidy: Life in paranoid Erdoganistan, where every day brings a new censorship story
Another week, another social media ban in Turkey. Such is life these days in Erdoganistan, where every day brings a new censorship story, greeted now with what my Turkish friend calls “the humour of desparation”.
Padraig Reidy: The “gay cake” case bedevils Northern Ireland
A new struggle has emerged over what many religious people in Northern Ireland see as threats to their religious freedom and way of life. And a cake has become the latest flashpoint
Padraig Reidy: Stop saying this isn’t a “free speech issue”. It is.
One wishes sometimes we could be more honest. Say “this is a free speech issue, and I’m OK with this amount of censorship, for this reason”; then we can talk.
Padraig Reidy: Doubting Cambridge University Press’s commitment to academic freedom
CUP are still refusing to publish Putin’s Kleptocracy by Karen Dawisha for fear of libel action — despite saying they have no reason to doubt the veracity of the work
Padraig Reidy: Women are denied the right to exist in public space — even in death
Whether openly hateful or couched in “protective” metaphor, the message to women is always clear: public interaction is for men, and at best, you are here by our permission
Padraig Reidy: George Galloway’s dear tweeter letters
TV presenter George Galloway has taken to wearing a black fedora, indoors. I know this, because I have seen him doing so on at least one of his TV shows
Padraig Reidy: There is not a limited amount of free speech to go round
There is, I am told, a war going on in feminism. A war between “intersectionalists” (I think) and TERFs (Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminists, as far as I can tell).