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The Free Speech Union, which represents Burchill, said it will be taking up her case. It called the cancellation of her book “a new low”, adding: “Appeasement is like feeding a crocodile in the hope he will eat you last.”
Jack Wright, MailOnline, 16th December 2020.
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The Free Speech Union which has been vocal in its support for Mr Knowland, said he intended to refer Eton’s trustees to the Charity Commission and the Attorney General. His complaint will accuse school bosses of “failing to discharge their duty to protect Eton’s reputation and to ensure it is pursuing its charitable object, which is to advance education for the benefit of its students”.
Andrew Young and Rory Tingle, MailOnline, 15th December 2020.
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In a statement, the union said: “The Free Speech Union is disappointed to learn that Eton’s governing body has decided to uphold the decision to sack our member Will Knowland. [… We] will be referring Eton’s trustees to the Charity Commission and the Attorney General for failing to discharge their duty to protect Eton’s reputation and to ensure it is pursuing its charitable object, which is to advance education for the benefit of its students.”
James Robinson, MailOnline, 14th December 2020.
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There are important lessons here. One is the powerfully disparate nature of the victorious coalition. Its eloquent moving spirit, Dr Arif Ahmed, is a libertarian atheist philosopher, but his cause gathered support from feminists persecuted by transgender activists, Christians, conservatives and many scientists angry that their rigorous search for truth might fall foul of identity politics. The role of the Free Speech Union was also significant.
Charles Moore, The Daily Telegraph, 15th December 2020.
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The pandemic was just beginning to rumble when I agreed to be on the advisory board of the Free Speech Union, run by Toby Young. It had become increasingly clear to anyone with half a brain that freedom of speech – including perfectly reasonable as well as horrible exercises of it – was badly imperilled.
Zoe Strimpel, The Sunday Telegraph, 13th December 2020.
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Alarmed at the implications, a philosophy don called Arif Ahmed decided to take a professional risk. He was already on the advisory council of an outfit called the Free Speech Union (as am I), but he had not yet done anything to attract special attention from woke activists. Nonetheless, he set about gathering 25 signatures from fellow academics needed to force a vote on the matter. Doing so was not easy. Academics were afraid of being attacked by the same mob who had gotten Dr Carl fired. Eventually, however, he reached his target.
Juliet Samuel, The Daily Telegraph, 11th December 2020.
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The journalist Toby Young said he would be writing, as a director of the Free Speech Union, to Cambridge’s vice-chancellor, Prof Stephen Toope, to ask for the invitation to Peterson to go ahead following Tope’s welcome of the vote this week as “an emphatic reaffirmation of free speech in our university”.
Ben Quinn, The Guardian, 10th December 2020.
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Toby Young, general secretary of the Free Speech Union which has been supporting Mr Knowland, said they will petition Parliament to pass a Personal Bill to intervene in his case if Eton does not reinstate him. “There’s so much at stake here, Parliament must be given an opportunity to make its feelings known,” Mr Young said.
Camilla Turner, The Daily Telegraph, 8th December 2020.
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In a letter seen by MailOnline, the Free Speech Union has disputed the College’s claim that a failure to dismiss Mr Knowland for not removing his 30-minute YouTube video could expose Eton to potential liability under the Equality Act. Director-general Toby Young accuses the school of “overstating its legal risk in relation to the Equality Act” to the exclusion of it primary duty as a charity to “provide a broad, open-minded, challenging education”.
Jack Wright, MailOnline, 6th December 2020.
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After raising a £55k war chest to fight a potential employment tribunal, Knowland also received backing from the Free Speech Union (FSU), of which he is a member. The FSU have posted ten probing questions to Eton College.
Matt Archer, The Conservative Woman, 8th December 2020.
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