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In the Media

Articles That Mention the Free Speech Union

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.

Lecturers face backlash as report could encourage silencing of gender-critical speakers on campus

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Dr Bryn Harris, chief legal counsel at the Free Speech Union, told The Telegraph: “This paper ought to come with a prominent disclaimer, ideally along the lines of ‘Ignore this paper – it’s largely wrong’. It focuses on harassment but refuses to engage with the relevant statutory test – when is it reasonable in an academic context to perceive conduct as harassment? ‘Very rarely’ is the likely answer. It is comically ungenerous in its depiction of gender-critical beliefs.”

Ewan Somerville, The Telegraph, 10th December 2022.

Freedom of speech at universities dealt a blow by Lords rebellion

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Toby Young, founder of the Free Speech Union, said: “The Government amended the Bill to defang the statutory tort in the hope of winning round its critics in the Lords. Plainly, that hasn’t worked, so I very much hope the Government will restore the statutory tort in its original form when the Bill returns to the Commons.
“One thing is clear from today’s defeat: universities really don’t want students and academics to be able to sue universities if their speech rights are violated. Why? Because it would force them to put their house in order. To my mind, that’s the best argument for restoring the tort.”

Louisa Clarence-Smith, The Telegraph, 7th December 2022.

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