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In the Media

Articles That Mention the Free Speech Union

Student unions who “cancel” speakers on campus could be fined £500,000 under Boris’s new free speech law allowing “de-platformed” people to take institutions to court

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Free Speech Union general secretary Toby Young said: ‘It’s great to see that the Government is following through on its pledge to better protect free speech in English universities. In the past year the Free Speech Union has dealt with over 100 campus free speech cases, an average of almost two cases a week. Anyone who thinks speech protections in universities don’t need strengthening hasn’t been paying attention. Cancel culture has spread like a virus across university campuses in the past few years and this Bill will act like a vaccine to protect at-risk students and academics.”

Jemma Carr, MailOnline, 12th May 2021.

Free speech campaigners welcome Boris’s war on woke after PM reveals “cancel culture” victims denied platforms by universities can now seek compensation in courts

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The Free Speech Union, today welcomed the plan, saying in a post on Twitter: “Great to see the Government following through on its pledge to better protect free speech in universities. In the past year we’ve dealt with over 100 campus free speech cases. Anyone who thinks speech protections in universities don’t need strengthening hasn’t been paying attention.”

David Wilcock, MailOnline, 11th May 2021.

Revealed: How Oxbridge has spent £10,000 on controversial unconscious bias training for staff since 2015 – after “ideological snake oil” practices were scrapped by public and private firms

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General Secretary of the Free Speech Union Toby Young told MailOnline: “It is disappointing that Cambridge university, where I was a graduate student, is pushing this expensive ideological snake oil on its staff. Cambridge is a world-leading university and its students and staff don’t need to be spoon fed this pabulum by people who, quite frankly, would have struggled to get into Cambridge themselves.”

James Gant, MailOnline, 6th May 2021.

Children’s Harry Potter book festival event is cancelled over JK Rowling transphobia row after discussions with the LGBTQ community

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Last night Toby Young, founder of the Free Speech Union, which is due to open its first branch in New Zealand next week, said: “J. K. Rowling is one of Britain’s most influential and respectable contemporary writers. This is why the decision by the Wairarapa book festival to cancel a children’s Harry Potter quiz because of comments J. K. Rowling made during an important debate on women’s only spaces is chilling. If the creator of our most successful export since James Bond can be declared persona non grata, anyone can.”

Sanchez Manning, The Mail on Sunday, 2nd May 2021.

Priti Patel must tread carefully when lecturing police on hate crime

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Following a concerted campaign from, among others, Fair Cop and the Free Speech Union, Priti Patel on Saturday let it be known that in her view this would not do. She would be pressing the College to revise its guidance and drop the official recording of any incident that did not in fact amount to an offence. She clearly meant business: as a Home Office source put it, presumably with her blessing, “if people are found to have done nothing wrong, the police shouldn’t punish them.”

Andrew Tettenborn, The Spectator, 26th April 2021.

Free speech needs a law: Face the problem as it is — the modern academy is running on different train-tracks to liberal humanist thinking

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The Free Speech Union, of which I’m the Chief Legal Counsel, assists many young university students who are punished for having opinions not to the taste of those with power and the unscrupulousness to abuse it. To be fair, some university administrators are well-meaning but misguided. It is certain too that many administrators are simply terrified witless — disregard a claim that someone, somewhere is offended, and who knows what denunciation may follow?

Bryn Harris, The Critic, 25th April 2021.

Terror law will be used for woke agenda and stop freedom of speech, says report

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The Free Speech Union (FSU) founded by journalist Toby Young has warned that the government’s Digital Harms Bill is “a serious threat” to journalists, online debate and discussions. It also hands sweeping new powers to the watchdog Ofcom which has already raised alarms this year by significantly expanding its definition of hate speech to include offence to transgender groups and other controversial areas where people may be offended.

David Maddox, The Daily Express, 24th April 2021.

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