In the Media

Articles That Mention the Free Speech Union

Employees have the right to be gender-critical

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The Free Speech Union has recently launched an FOI investigation into the transgender policies of various public sector bodies. For anyone concerned to protect freedom of speech in the workplace, they make for grim, deeply dispiriting reading. But the document released to us by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is arguably the most egregious we’ve found to date.

Frederick Attenborough, The Critic, 24th January 2024.

The Brussels-led Pathologization of Speech

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On January 18th, the European Parliament (EP) will vote on a resolution that proposes extending the list of EU-wide crimes to include all forms of ‘hate crime’ and ‘hate speech’.
If, as looks likely, the resolution is passed, the only thing standing in the way of these dubious categories of speech being added to the EU’s list of particularly serious crimes that “have impact beyond national borders” will be a vote in the Council of the European Union.

Frederick Attenborough, The European Conservative, 17th January 2024.

British Government Launches “Marketing Campaign” To Get Children Back to School

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Welcoming the back-to-school ad campaign, Toby Young—General Secretary of the Free Speech Union and Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Sceptic (formerly Lockdown Sceptics)—told The European Conservative: “For those of us who criticised the government for closing schools during the pandemic, this is a welcome change. The pity is it’s taken almost four years for the government to issue the correct advice.”

Michael Curzon, The European Conservative, 10th January 2024.

The man sacked for quoting the n-word

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With backing from the Free Speech Union (FSU), Borg-Neal fought back against Lloyds and won. Last week, an employment tribunal ruled that he was unfairly dismissed and discriminated against on the grounds of his dyslexia, earning him a whopping £500,000 payout.

Tom Slater, Spiked, 9th January 2024.

White middle-aged men are “bottom of everything” says bank worker sacked over N word

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Mr Borg-Neal was only able to take the case on after signing up to the Free Speech Union (FSU), a campaign group that – to use common parlance – rails against modern day “wokery”.
Karolien Celie, the FSU’s legal officer, said: “Mr Borg-Neal was treated abysmally by his employer and we are delighted that justice has been served in his case. Mr Borg-Neal’s case is a timely reminder for employers not to be blinded by dogma but to treat each employee fairly in accordance with the law and in a spirit of tolerance, open-mindedness and good faith.”

Robert Mendick, The Telegraph, 5th January 2024.

Debanking: a corporate war on the unwoke

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A headline in the Telegraph in November read: ‘Nigel Farage helps get new word into the dictionary.’ That word, of course, is ‘debanking’. Though I’m pretty sure it was me who coined it when my PayPal accounts were closed in 2022.
Nevertheless, Farage has certainly played his part in popularising it after he was kicked out of Coutts last summer. Thanks to his masterful handling of that dispute, the CEOs of both Coutts and its parent bank, NatWest, had to resign. And now everyone knows what debanking means.

Toby Young, Spiked, 1st January 2024.

Cosmetic surgery firm sues customers over negative reviews

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Bryn Harris, the FSU chief counsel, said it was alarming that abusive litigation tactics were being deployed against consumers sharing honest opinions about services they had paid for.
“Unlike journalists and authors, who are the usual targets of Slapps, our members did not have legal representation or the backing of a publisher. I don’t think it would occur to anyone posting an online review that they would ever need legal advice.”

Fiona Hamilton, The Times, 18th December 2023.

Cosmetic surgery chain Signature Clinic SUES customers who left bad reviews online for defamation – as company comes under fire for “using legal action to try to silence critics”

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Toby Young, General Secretary of the Free Speech Union, told MailOnline: ‘Unhappy customers should be able to tell people about their bad experiences on sites like Trustpilot without fear of being sued for defamation.
“My father Michael Young started Which! magazine, so defending people’s right to write reviews of consumer goods and services without fear or favour is following in the family tradition.”

Tom Cotterill, MailOnline, 18th December 2023.