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The Free Speech Union offers examples. In 2021, Cambridge created a “reporting tool” designed to allow students to make anonymous allegations of racism, discrimination and “micro-aggressions” against academics. One historian noted that the policy reminded him of tactics employed by the Spanish Inquisition.
Tim Luckhurst, Evening Standard, 1st September 2023.
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Toby Young, director of the Free Speech Union, said: “According to the most recent UK census, only 0.26 per cent of the population of England and Wales identify as trans or non-binary. Why, then, is Kent Fire and Rescue insisting firefighters address members of the public as ‘they’ or ‘them’? How is it ‘inclusive’ to pander to 0.26 per cent of the population by using language that will confuse 99.74 per cent?”
Connor Stringer, Daily Mail, 29th August 2023.
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The most recent and perhaps the most shocking case is that of Almut Gadow, who was sacked from her role teaching criminal law at the OU after she challenged new requirements to teach gender identity theory as an uncontested truth. Gadow is being supported by the Free Speech Union, whose founder and director is Michael Young’s son Toby.
Alice Sullivan, The Spectator, 28th August 2023.
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Director of Data and Impact at the Free Speech Union (FSU) Thomas Harris says Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) policies – which are often compulsory for employees – could “further erode freedom of expression”.
Georgina Cutler, GB News, 18th August 2023.
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The Free Speech Union (FSU) reports that one in 20 of its cases are directly related to EDI training. For many, these cases have involved the loss of their livelihoods, and for others disruption to their financial lives. When you see de-banking banks talking about “purpose” and “values”, or HR departments dragging an employee through the wringer for wrongspeak, if you follow the trail far enough, you will likely reach ESG.
Emma Webb and Thomas Harris, The Telegraph, 14th August 2023.
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The Free Speech Union have plausibly argued that the girl’s words shouldn’t have amounted to an arrestable offence in a technical as well as moral sense, but as long as the police think they have the power to arrest people, people will be arrested.
Ben Sixsmith, The Critic, 14th August 2023.
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At a railway station outside Edinburgh this week I saw a sign stating ‘…will not be tolerated’. That particular instruction was for trespassers daft enough to risk getting smashed like a tomato with a baseball bat by a racing train if they opted for the live track shortcut instead of the stairs. That seems a worthwhile warning. Unfortunately, it isn’t just railway trespassers that aren’t tolerated north of the Border. This intolerance now extends to vast swathes of our language.
Fraser Hudghton, MailOnline, 13th August 2023.
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Last night, Toby Young, general secretary of the Free Speech Union, said: “The notion that describing someone as a ‘grumpy old man’ or a ‘callow youth’ should be a hate crime is ludicrous. How does the Scottish Government propose to police this? It still hasn’t activated the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act because Police Scotland doesn’t have the resources to investigate the deluge of complaints it will receive, with thousands of neighbours and ex-lovers accusing each other of hate crimes. Not a single ‘hate crime’ set out in the Act has been prosecuted. Adding ‘ageism’ to the list is therefore just meaningless blather, typical of this zombie government.”
Georgia Edkins, MailOnline, 13th August 2023.
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Campaigners from the Free Speech Union (FSU), in a report on B Corp, claim the move, if successful, could lead to controversial social justice and EDI policies being cemented in UK companies.
The FSU says that the amendment would impose “a legal duty” on company directors to operate the organisation “in a manner that benefits the members, wider society and the environment”.
James Beal, The Times, 11th August 2023.
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Toby Young, director of the Free Speech Union, said: “People are sick to the back teeth of this obsession with policing people’s speech. Do these woke warriors really think they’ll dismantle the patriarchy if people start referring to policemen as police officers? The Magistrates Association should be focusing on getting through the backlog of cases and making sure anti-social behaviour is properly punished.”
MailOnline, 9th August 2023.
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