The Free Speech Union

COMING BACK FROM CANCELLATION with Kate Clanchy

In 2021, the award-winning author, teacher and poet Kate Clanchy suffered one of the most public and aggressive cancellations in the cultural world. In a series of vicious attacks, online critics accused her bestselling memoir, Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me, of ‘racism’ and ‘ablism’, provoking an unprecedented pile-on. Shamefully, her own publishers, Picador, sided with the accusers.
A new seven-part podcast, Anatomy of a Cancellation, has been acclaimed for its in-depth analysis of the whole Salem-like affair, in this interview, the FSU’s Jan Macvarish asks Kate for her reflections on the story it tells. How has she survived the almost total destruction of her reputation? Books on cancellation that are mentioned in the interview include Helen Garner’s The First Stone, Mark Lawson’s The Allegations and Phillip Roth’s The Human Stain. 
You can read more of Kate’s most recent writing here.  

Disciplined for telling the truth at the BBC – Cath Leng

Cath Leng is a former BBC journalist who has spoken out amidst the BBC bias scandal. Disciplined for raising serious concerns about lack of impartiality on the reporting of transgender stories and censorship of gender critical perspectives, Leng reveals how she was forced out of the BBC for simply doing her job. Speaking to External Affairs Officer Connie Shaw, they explore why balanced and impartial broadcasting is essential for public discourse and debate. 
 
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"It was like a HORROR film!" Maxie Allen

Watch Connie Shaw speak to Times Radio producer Maxie Allen who reveals the behind the scenes of his and his partner’s arrest for private WhatsApps. With the help of the Free Speech Union, Maxie and his partner Rosalind have received £20,000 in compensation from Hertfordshire Police who have admitted to wrongful arrest. 
 
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Police Scotland DROP investigation into Susan Smith

Susan Smith is one of the founders and directors of For Women Scotland, the grassroots women’s rights campaigners who took the Scottish government all the way to the Supreme Court and won, with the ruling that a woman is defined by being biologically female under the Equality Act 2010.
 
Susan Smith had been ordered to accept a Police Recorded Warning, or else be charged with a minor vandalism offense following a disputed incident involving alleged damage to an umbrella. The footage of the incident was captured on camera which raised significant questions about what exactly Susan had done to deserve such treatment.  
 
Now, following media pressure, Police Scotland have dropped their investigation and Susan will not receive a warning or any charges. She can now comment on the ordeal…
 
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Edited by Jason Clift

Does Free Speech Have a Place at Work?

This week’s podcast guest is CEO, journalist and author Tanya de Grunwald.
Tanya has been making waves in the world of HR with her This Isn’t Working podcast. Tanya talks to FSU’s Jan Macvarish about the free speech issues arising in workplace culture and the network she is building of employees and employers who want to make things better.
Subscribe here to listen and here to watch.
Edited by Jason Clift

Julie Bindel: Non-Crime Hate Incident Investigations SCRAPPED

Julie Bindel joins Connie Shaw to discuss the Metropolitan Police’s announcement that non-crime hate incidents (NCHIs) will no longer be recorded following Graham Linehan having no further action taken against him. 
 
Julie is a journalist, feminist and co-host of the podcast the lesbian project. She has campaigned against violence against women and girls for over 40 years. She was one of the first journalists to ever write about trans ideology with her famous article in the Guardian in 2004. From that point Julie has been a target for transactivist, being deplatformed from universities, at one point by a local council and on the receiving end of smear campaigns, including having a visit from the police in 2019. 
 
Edited by Jason Clift
 
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Battle of Ideas Festival 2025: What is the Problem with Defining Islamophobia?

This week’s episode is a bit different — a live recording of an especially timely event hosted by the FSU as part of the Battle of Ideas Festival 2025.
Titled, ‘What is the Problem with Defining Islamophobia?’, this lively discussion, features fascinating comments from the audience, but first you’ll hear from a expert panel of speakers who have been at the frontline of debating the issue in parliament.
Professor Khalid Mahmood Former Labour member of Parliament for Birmingham Perry Barr, visiting professor at Birmingham City University, Director of KN Strategic Solutions Ltd.
Nick Timothy MP Member of parliament for West Suffolk, former special advisor to the UK Home Office, author and comment writer.
Baroness Amanda Spielman Conservative peer, former chief inspector for Ofsted.
Toby Young General Secretary of the Free Speech Union, associate editor of the Spectator, editor-in-chief of the Daily Sceptic.
Chaired by Dr Jan Macvarish, Education and Events Director of the Free Speech Union.
Edited by Jason Clift

Claire Fox: The Battle of Ideas and the Answer to the Free Speech Crisis

FREE SPEECH UNION MEMBERS GET 20% DISCOUNT ON BATTLE OF IDEAS TICKETS! Find them here: https://freespeechunion.org/event/battle-of-ideas-festival-2025
 
Baroness Fox of Buckley founded the Academy of Ideas 25 years ago and it continues to put on the UK’s biggest freedom of speech festival every year. Claire explains how we must go about tackling the free speech crisis, and what better place to do that than at the Battle of Ideas. 
 
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Standing up to Backdoor Blasphemy Law

This week, Jan Macvarish speaks to the FSU’s Director of Projects Stephen O’Grady about the continuing case of Hamit Coskun, the asylum-seeker from Turkey who the FSU is helping appeal his conviction for a public order offence.
As an act of political protest, against the Turkish government that had previously tortured and imprisoned him, Hamit burned a copy of the Quran, outside the Turkish consulate in London. He was immediately the victim of a violent attack by a man armed with a large knife, who recently received a suspended sentence, despite his declared intention to kill Hamit.
Jan and Stephen delve into the case, the reason why it is a priority for the FSU and why it has resonated so much with our members and the wider public.
You can donate to our fundraiser for Hamit’s case here https://freespeechunion.org/hamit/?v=7885444af42e

Can universities ever recover from the free speech crisis?

Connie Shaw
 
18:54 (11 minutes ago)
 
 
 
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In this week’s That’s Debateable!, hosts Vinay Kapoor and Connie Shaw discuss:
The new academic year in a post-Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act world, and what needs to be done to restore the university experience.
They relay their visit to LSE campus where they spoke to a variety of students from different causes, including both pro-Palestine and pro-Israel, and what their perspectives were on the state of freedom of speech at university 
Vinay explains how his time at the University of Warwick has helped his work at the FSU, and what the FSU offers for students who wish to promote freedom of speech on their campuses.
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