Edited By Jason Clift

Lucy Connolly, the child minder who was jailed for 31 months for a single tweet, has been released from prison.

The Free Speech Union funded her appeal in May 2025. In this episode, Toby Young answers some common questions surrounding Lucy Connolly’s case.

Edited by Jason Clift

This week on That’s Debatable…

The Free Speech Union had a trip to Margate beach to protest Thanet District Council’s new Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO). Being so broad and over-reaching, the PSPO is likely unlawful and has the effect of banning swearing in public and taking the mickey! The FSU are threatening legal action if Thanet District Council does not alter the wording of the PSPO.

Along with JD Vance’s visit to the UK came a report from the US state department which referenced a decline in human rights regarding free speech. 

Labour Cllr Ricky Jones was acquitted by a jury after being charged with encouraging violent disorder which has caused considerable outcry from those who disagree with the treatment Lucy Connolly received for her tweet.  

Scottish army veteran, David Toshack, was sacked from his role as a police custody officer due to his ‘strong views’ being incompatible with company policy and ‘the law’. His strong views? That sex is real, immutable and important. Support his case here: freespeechunion.org/david-toshack-l/

Edited by Jason Clift

This week Connie and Jan discuss the Public Spaces Protection Order that has been passed by Thanet District Council (TDC). In the summer of 2024, the FSU threatened legal action when TDC proposed a similar measure. This is their second attempt, and there are still serious concerns that it will infringe on speech rights and is likely to be unlawful – the swearing ban!

https://www.kentonline.co.uk/thanet/news/council-launches-fresh-bid-to-fine-people-for-swearing-327075/

Jon Farley was arrested under the Terrorism Act for holding a satirical image made and published by Private Eye magazine about the proscription of Palestine Action. He was held for 6 hours and was eventually told no further action would be taken. The FSU has offered to look into helping the protestor with securing an apology from Leeds police.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/23/private-eye-cartoon-arrest-ian-hislop-protest

Lord Toby Young has called for Akeela Ahmed to step down from the government’s  Islamophobia Working Group due to a conflict of interest. Ms Ahmed is the incoming Chief Executive of the British Muslim Trust which aims to monitor incidents of Islamophobia and “raise awareness” of hate crime with the help of £1 million a year donation from the government, we argue that her position calls into question the ability of the working group to objectively assess the merits of an official definition of Islamophobia.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/07/21/conflict-interest-row-over-rayners-islamophobia-definition/?mc_cid=ced63ae64a&mc_eid=ad5cde99a7

Finally, some good news. Lord Chris Smith, a supporter of free speech and academic freedom, has been elected to the Chancellorship of Cambridge University! You can read his responses to a survey sent to all candidates in the election  by Alumni for Free Speech here.

This week, Connie and Jan discuss a new report released by the Government’s Commission for Countering Extremism (CCE). The CCE Freedom of Expression Survey asked 2000 people in England and Wales about their views on free speech with regard to politics, religion, race, immigration, climate change and transgender issues. It claims to reveal a ‘nuanced landscape of public opinion on free speech’ and highlight ‘the challenges of navigating free speech in a diverse society’, but Jan and Connie question whether it really provides valuable insights when it fails to explore why free speech matters to people, weights the sample to include more Muslim respondents than are present in the general population and unhelpfully pitches those who care about free speech against those who wish to protect people from ‘threats and abuse’.

They go on to relate some of the findings to the FSU’s most recent intervention in debate over whether an official, non-statutory definition of Islamophobia will having a chilling effect on free speech and actually protect Muslims from prejudice—a letter from 30 members of the House of Lords to the Chairman of the working group tasked with interrogating the merits of a definition.

Finally, Connie updates us on the cases of Scottish nurse Sandie Peggie, who was disciplined by NHS Fife for questioning the presence of a male nurse in the female changing room of the hospital where she works and Newcastle United fan Linzi Smith, who has succeeded in challenging Northumbria Police’s active participation in a Pride parade that declared itself hostile to gender-critical people.

In a special episode of That's Debatable, FSU founder and General Secretary Lord Young talks to Fiyaz Mughal, the founder of Tell MAMA and Faith Matters, about the government's determination to adopt an official definition of 'Islamophobia/Anti-Muslim Hatred' and the chilling effect it is likely to have on free speech.

That's Debatable is edited by Jason Clift

Connie and Jan begin by discussing the furore arising from last week’s Glastonbury Festival, when rap duo Bob Vylan led a crowd of thousands in chanting ‘Death, death to the IDF’. Some commentators have demanded that police investigate the rapper for incitement to violence while others greeted his words as a morally impassioned politically justifiable performance. Many drew parallels with Lucy Connolly, imprisoned for 31 months for a tweet, and called for consistency in the treatment of Bob Vylan. However,  the FSU issued a very clear statement making the case for consistency that leans towards rather than away from free speech – in other words, neither Lucy Connolly nor the rapper should face criminal sanction. You can read our statement here and watch an interview between Toby Young and Ash Sarkar here.

Connie then introduces the second part of the Sullivan Review, a piece of research which catalogues the multifarious ways in which gender critical academics have had obstacles placed in the way of their research. One of those academics, Professor Jo Phoenix, wrote about the findings in the Critic.

The latest developments in the FSU’s campaign against ‘the banter ban’, as we’re describing Clause 20 of the Employment Rights Bill are then discussed and listeners are urged to make use of our campaigning tool to write to a member of the House of Lords in support of Lord Young’s amendments, which will be proposed on 14th July. For a live discussion about workers’ rights, you can come along to our event on Monday 14th July

Moving to a global perspective on free speech, Connie and Jan consider the findings of the Global Expression Report 2025, produced by  Article 19, which assesses the status of free expression and access to information across 161 countries. The report found a global decline in free expression and just as disturbingly, demoted the UK to a second-tier rank – lower than most other Western European countries. What dragged down our score was an increase in government censorship efforts (as opposed to restrictions on press freedom or on civil society organisations).

'That's Debatable' is edited by Jason Clift

That’s Debatable! is the weekly podcast of the Free Speech Union. Hosts Lynsey Metcalfe and Jan MacVarish – both staffers at the FSU – talk about the free speech controversies that have erupted in the past week. Please like, subscribe and share.

Jan is joined this week by FSU Case Officer Lynsey Metcalfe. They discuss stories of more ‘rainbow refuseniks’ – in this case, two footballers who have been punished by the French footballing authorities for blacking out rainbow-related insignia on their kit – and Lynsey tells how the FSU caseload reflects similar instances of resistance to the Pride agenda, in particular amongst those of religious faith.

While the football examples involve players of various faiths, there is a strong perception at present that when professed by Christians, conservative beliefs are more likely to be policed than when others of different faiths say similar things. For example, research conducted by the FSU into the policing of street preachers seems to confirm this perception, with Christians found to be only faith group subjected to arrest, despite the researchers actively searching for cases involving other religion.

Finally, Lynsey and Jan consider the profoundly isolating effects of having to conceal one’s beliefs when others are invited to express theirs, in workplaces, institutions and other areas of life.

That's Debatable! is edited by Jason Clift

That’s Debatable!’ is the weekly podcast of the Free Speech Union. Hosts Connie Shaw and Jan MacVarish – both staffers at the FSU – talk about the free speech controversies that have erupted in the past week. Please like, subscribe and share.

This week Jan and Connie discuss the robust guidance issued by the Office for Students in relation to free speech, and the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 which comes into force on 1 August this year. The Office for Students accepted the FSU's recommendation that all legal speech should be protected at universities and that legal speech should not be regulated at all. It should change the culture at universities, with students told to be ready to be shocked and offended.

Also discussed is the new working group set up by the government to establish a non-statutory definition of 'Islamophobia'. A call for evidence was issued on the same day that Baroness Casey’s National Audit on Group-based Child Exploitation was published and Yvette Cooper made a statement on the national inquiry into grooming gangs. The issue has long been suppressed as an allegedly racist or Islamophobic dog whistle, including by a 2018 All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) report which established a definition that the Labour Party adopted. The chair of the new working group, Dominic Grieve, wrote the forward and welcomed the findings of the 2018 APPG report. The Free Speech Union has not been asked to give evidence.

In similar news, they discuss the amendment tabled by Nick Timothy MP to the Crime and Policing Bill 2024-25 designed to secure the freedom to criticise religion by extending the free speech protections of the Public Order Act 1986.

Office for Students guidance https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/news-blog-and-events/press-and-media/ofs-publishes-free-speech-guidance-as-polling-shows-one-in-five-academics-do-not-feel-free-to-teach-controversial-views/#:~:text='This%20guidance%20emphasises%20that%20freedom,can't%20ban%20ideas.'

John Jenkins’ article 'Has the Islamophobia 'Working Group' already made up its mind?’ https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/has-the-islamophobia-working-group-of-mps-already-made-up-its-mind/ 

Politics Home reports on the questions being asked by the Islamphobia working group https://www.politicshome.com/news/article/government-seeks-input-including-racism-islamophobia-definition 

Freddie Attenborough article ''Islamophobia' and the grooming gangs scandal' https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/islamophobia-and-the-grooming-gangs-scandal/

Freddie Attenborough article 'The grooming gangs scandal shows the importance of free speech' https://thecritic.co.uk/the-grooming-gangs-scandal-shows-the-importance-of-free-speech/?mc_cid=c6de95ce3d&mc_eid=2190e49a54

Exchange between MPs Jess Phillips, Shockat Adam and Nick Timothy https://x.com/nj_timothy/status/1935738036983042508?s=46&t=YZKdwC8hdWThZq-sxVV0Fw

That's Debatable is edited by Jason Clift

That’s Debatable!’ is the weekly podcast of the Free Speech Union. Hosts Tom Harris and Jan MacVarish – both staffers at the FSU – talk about the free speech controversies that have erupted in the past week. Please like, subscribe and share.

In this week’s episode, Jan Macvarish and Connie Shaw discuss the FSU’s campaign against the ‘banter ban’. Connie describes legislative reforms that are being proposed as part of the government’s Employment Rights Bill and the problems the FSU has identified with them for free speech. FSU General Secretary addressed the audience at last week’s Comedy Unleashed gig and interviewed comedians including Andrew Doyle, Josh Howie and Francis Foster, about the prospect of ‘banter bouncers’ in venues, clubs and pubs. You can find out more and watch the video here.

Toby also appeared on Sunday’s Free Speech Nation (around 1 hour 35 minutes in) to discuss the bill with Andrew Doyle. Connie encourages viewers and listeners to use our special online tool to alert members of the House of Lords to the dangers of the Bill and to encourage them to support Lord Young’s amendments. It’s not just the FSU that has identified problems - the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has also warned of the ‘risk of unintended consequences’ and counselled the need to ‘balance…rights to freedom from harassment and freedom of expression’. You can read their briefing  here.

Connie then introduces a news story she spotted about a US school-teacher who has been threatened with the sack for reading an unedited passage of To Kill A Mockingbird to pupils. She and Jan discuss how children need to be able to understand the context in which words gain their power and the role of teachers in guiding them through linguistic taboos that have changed over time. They then go on to talk about Ray Bradbury’s dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451, written in 1953, which imagines a future America where books are banned and destroyed by fire. The novel explores the impact on memory, imagination and the ability to think and experience emotion that this has.

And finally, they return to the ‘banter’ question with an article reporting that a university researcher went undercover at his own golf club to analyse how jokes, innuendo and laddish banter forged a bonded but potentially exclusionary culture amongst golfers. The story raises questions about freedom of association, the role of humour in human relationships and research ethics.

Edited by Jason Clift