In the Media

Articles That Mention the Free Speech Union

Diversity, equity and exclusion

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The Free Speech Union racked up another significant legal victory at the employment tribunal (ET) last month, securing what promises to be a significant pay-out for a dyslexic Lloyds bank manager sacked in a free speech row.

Freddie Attenborough, The Critic, 6th September 2023.

Firefighters urged to “embrace diversity” and use gender-neutral language during emergency callouts

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Toby Young, director of the Free Speech Union, said: “According to the most recent UK census, only 0.26 per cent of the population of England and Wales identify as trans or non-binary. Why, then, is Kent Fire and Rescue insisting firefighters address members of the public as ‘they’ or ‘them’? How is it ‘inclusive’ to pander to 0.26 per cent of the population by using language that will confuse 99.74 per cent?”

Connor Stringer, Daily Mail, 29th August 2023.

What went wrong at the Open University?

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The most recent and perhaps the most shocking case is that of Almut Gadow, who was sacked from her role teaching criminal law at the OU after she challenged new requirements to teach gender identity theory as an uncontested truth. Gadow is being supported by the Free Speech Union, whose founder and director is Michael Young’s son Toby.

Alice Sullivan, The Spectator, 28th August 2023.

Corporate wokeness is becoming a deeply sinister threat to our freedom

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The Free Speech Union (FSU) reports that one in 20 of its cases are directly related to EDI training. For many, these cases have involved the loss of their livelihoods, and for others disruption to their financial lives. When you see de-banking banks talking about “purpose” and “values”, or HR departments dragging an employee through the wringer for wrongspeak, if you follow the trail far enough, you will likely reach ESG.

Emma Webb and Thomas Harris, The Telegraph, 14th August 2023.

What are the police good for?

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The Free Speech Union have plausibly argued that the girl’s words shouldn’t have amounted to an arrestable offence in a technical as well as moral sense, but as long as the police think they have the power to arrest people, people will be arrested.

Ben Sixsmith, The Critic, 14th August 2023.

Ageism, the latest thought crime in the SNP’s finger-wagging, moralistic Scotland

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At a railway station outside Edinburgh this week I saw a sign stating ‘…will not be tolerated’. That particular instruction was for trespassers daft enough to risk getting smashed like a tomato with a baseball bat by a racing train if they opted for the live track shortcut instead of the stairs. That seems a worthwhile warning. Unfortunately, it isn’t just railway trespassers that aren’t tolerated north of the Border. This intolerance now extends to vast swathes of our language.

Fraser Hudghton, MailOnline, 13th August 2023.

Scots could face criminal records for calling someone a “grumpy old man” under SNP’s plans for barmy new laws that make ageism a hate crime

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Last night, Toby Young, general secretary of the Free Speech Union, said: “The notion that describing someone as a ‘grumpy old man’ or a ‘callow youth’ should be a hate crime is ludicrous. How does the Scottish Government propose to police this? It still hasn’t activated the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act because Police Scotland doesn’t have the resources to investigate the deluge of complaints it will receive, with thousands of neighbours and ex-lovers accusing each other of hate crimes. Not a single ‘hate crime’ set out in the Act has been prosecuted. Adding ‘ageism’ to the list is therefore just meaningless blather, typical of this zombie government.”

Georgia Edkins, MailOnline, 13th August 2023.