The illiberal obsession with silencing Nick Griffin and the British National Party in the run up to elections has won the party undeserved publicity, says Claire Fox
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The row over whether David Irving and Nick Griffin should speak at the Oxford Union is not an argument about freedom of speech, writes Padraig Reidy
“Hello. I’m calling from Index on Censorship, and I’d like to come along to your Free Speech Forum next Monday. Can I put my name down?”
“Hmm. You’ll have to wait til Monday.”
“Why’s that?”
“They’re having a poll on Friday.”
“On whether it should go ahead?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll keep an eye out for the result then.”
I’d imagine the Oxford Union has had a lot of calls like this in the last few days. The press loves a freak show, and Union president Luke Tryl has, to be fair, brought us a classic: why not get some nasty people, with pretty controversial views, to come and speak, under the banner of free speech. Few things get us going more than the far right, free speech, and posh kids. The posh kids bit may seem insignificant, but it actually counts here: consider the amount of newspaper coverage given to the Clareification publication of a Muhammad cartoon, and the amount given to Cardiff University’s gair rhydd‘s publication of the same cartoon: the nation’s press enjoys stories about the Oxbridge elite from which so many of its writers have come. Narcissism? Nepotism? I couldn’t possibly comment.