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In the Media

Articles That Mention the Free Speech Union

Glasgow troll’s supporters raise £20,000 to fight conviction over sick tweet about Captain Sir Tom Moore

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Pressure group the Free Speech Union are now helping him try to appeal to the court in Strasbourg, and a crowdfunding appeal they organised has raised £19,472 from more than 380 donations, far exceeding its £5,000 initial target. The appeal was due to close last week but has been extended until the end of January.
The group admit some of their own members cannot stomach the thought of backing Kelly, but they still insist they are right to support him.
They said: “We know this is a tough case and not all our members will support us. But if you do, please consider donating to the crowdfunder for Joe Kelly.
“The case Joe’s counsel will make focuses on ensuring this ‘deterrence’ on free expression does not materialise.” They added: “This case goes beyond obtaining justice for Joe, it is about challenging the arbitrary use of power to interfere with lawful free speech and halting the development of blasphemy law by another name.”

Stuart MacDonald and John Glover, Scottish Daily Express, 28th December 2022.

Ex-Durham donor cuts off university cash to fund fight for free speech

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Mark Hillery, a retired hedge fund manager who donated more than £7 million to his alma mater between 2015 and 2021, told The Telegraph that he will not donate to any university again until “they get their free speech house properly in order”.
This year, he has instead gifted £400,000 to the Free Speech Union, a campaign group whose work includes protecting cancelled academics.

Louisa Clarence-Smith, The Telegraph, 27th December 2022.

Crowdfunder for Captain Sir Tom Moore troll who tweeted “burn auld fella” raises almost £20,000

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In a statement, the Free Speech Union said: “We know this is a tough case and not all our members will support us. But if you do, please consider donating to the crowdfunder for Joe Kelly.”
“Having had his appeal denied by the Scottish courts and having been labelled an ‘example case’ to deter others from ‘pressing the blue button’ and posting allegedly offensive content, Joe is now seeking to take his case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg – and the FSU is supporting him.”

Stuart MacDonald, The Scottish Sun, 27th December 2022.

Free speech bill fans urge ministers to force home right to sue

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Bryn Harris, chief legal counsel at the Free Speech Union, likely to be at the forefront of legal challenges to universities, said he hoped the government “would realise that the Lords are unwilling to compromise” and reinstate the tort, noting that ministers had offered an “extensive concession” by proposing that all complaints should be considered by the OfS before heading to the courts.
“As there is demonstrably nothing to gain by the government offering further compromises, we hope the government will stick to its guns and reinstate the statutory tort,” he said. “It was right to introduce it, and the evidence on the ground supported it as a necessary proportionate measure to secure free speech and academic freedom at English universities.”

John Morgan, Times Higher Education, 19th December 2022.

Writers defect from Society of Authors to rival union after it was engulfed in freedom of speech row over claims it has not properly defended gender-critical authors from being “cancelled”

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The Free Speech Union, founded by Toby Young, announced: ‘It has become increasingly clear to us that freedom of expression is under severe pressure within the literary world, with publishers and literary agents often failing to defend their authors when their speech rights come under attack.”
“The freedom of authors to express themselves and of people to read their work without interference or mediation by self-appointed censors is a fundamental human right.”
The Free Speech Union said they are providing an alternative to the Society of Authors that will allow authors “to protect themselves, to defend their peers or to build a public voice capable of putting the case for freedom of expression as robustly as possible”.

Miriam Kuepper, Mail Online, 18th December 2022.

Writers join rival union that aims to defend free speech after trans row

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The Free Speech Union, founded by Toby Young, announced: “It has become increasingly clear to us that freedom of expression is under severe pressure within the literary world, with publishers and literary agents often failing to defend their authors when their speech rights come under attack.”
“The freedom of authors to express themselves and of people to read their work without interference or mediation by self-appointed censors is a fundamental human right.”

Craig Simpson, The Telegraph, 18th December 2022.

The app that could make you look like an anti-Brexit left-winger

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Toby Young, general secretary of the Free Speech Union, says that Visible might help those who haven’t yet realised just how left-leaning social media can be.
“In one respect,” he says, “this app will be quite useful because posting right-of-centre content on social media can get you cancelled, particularly by teenagers and young adults”.
On the whole, however, he thinks using Visible as an online self-censorship tool to fit in might not be the best answer.
Mischievously, Young says his union considered publishing a self-help guide titled “How to Speak Woke-ish” but shelved the idea because it would encourage people to hide their true selves.
“We concluded this would just strengthen the taboo against saying anything unorthodox or unfashionable,” adds Young, “when what we really want to do is broaden the Overton Window. That, in essence, is the problem with this app”.

Gareth Corfield, The Telegraph, 16th December 2022.

Cambridge Dictionary redefines “man” and “woman”

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Toby Young, Founder and Director of The Free Speech Union, said the change is an example of “identity politics creeping into the way a dictionary defines words”.
He added: “I suspect this new definition has been introduced as a result of lobbying by political activists, a slippery slope that no dictionary should go down.”

The Christian Institute, 16th December 2022.

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