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Connolly is also back in the news following an eye-opening exposé by Allison Pearson in the Telegraph, detailing Connolly’s swift and punitive treatment by the authorities as racist riots ripped across England. Her case will be in the Court of Appeal next month, with the support of the estimable Free Speech Union.
Tom Slater, Spiked, 7th April 2025.
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As pressure mounted to weaken the bill, the Free Speech Union—a mass-membership UK organisation that had been campaigning for it—organised a letter in November 2022, signed by over fifty prominent UK academics, urging the government to stand firm. But on 7 December 2022, following intensive lobbying from university vice-chancellors and their representatives, the House of Lords voted to remove the statutory-tort clause completely.
Abhishek Saha, Quillette, 6th April 2025.
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Toby Young, founder of the Free Speech Union, said: “You’d think someone with such a weak heart that a loud noise can trigger cardiac arrest would avoid Scotland Yard altogether.”
Claudia Joseph, Daily Mail, 6th April 2025.
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The head of the Free Speech Union has raised concerns about the government’s proposed definition of Islamophobia. Conservative peer Lord Young of Acton warned of a “two-tier justice risk” if the planned definition were incorporated into advice given to police or authorities.
Joe Rossiter, Express, 4th April 2025.
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Toby Young, the founder and director of the Free Speech Union, said his organisation was helping half a dozen people who were being prosecuted for section 127 or section 1 offences.
Charlie Parker, Yennah Smart, George Willoughby, The Times, 4th April 2025.
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The Free Speech Union’s Director, Lord Young of Acton, said in his maiden speech that people were right to be concerned that pubs “might have to employ ‘banter bouncers’” as one of the “reasonable steps to protect employees”.
The Christian Institute, 3rd April 2025.
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Lord Young, of the Free Speech Union, added: “I would have thought that if your ideology is so rigid it justifies you punishing toddlers for not complying with it, that’s a powerful argument for discarding it in favour of something less dogmatic.”
Bill Bowkett, Standard, 2nd April 2025.
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On Monday, I joined Lord Young’s Free Speech Union.
It seemed like the right thing to do in the current political climate, where you are expected to “toe the line” or else pay the price of being attacked and cancelled by the self-appointed guardians of the truth.
Charlie Mullins, The Telegraph, 1st April 2025.
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This intolerance even extends to behaviour outside stadiums. Newcastle United supporter and Free Speech Union member Linzi Smith was banned from attending home matches for the rest of this season and the next two. Her ‘crime’ was to express gender-critical views online. In 2023, Smith wrote on X that ‘it’s like they’re trying to trans the gay away’. An anonymous complaint made to Northumbria Police said trans people would ‘not feel safe sitting next to her’ as a result of the post. Newcastle excommunicated Smith as soon as they found out about the police investigation.
Freddie Attenborough, Spiked, 30th March 2025.
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Bryn Harris, Chief Legal Counsel at the Free Speech Union, which supported the case, said: “They’re meant to be fighting world wars not culture wars.”
The Christian Institute, 28th March 2025.
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