The Free Speech Union

The UK government's draft Conversion Practices Bill would criminalise people who criticise trans ideology, says women's rights campaigner Helen Joyce. Helen is the Director of Advocacy at Sex Matters, a charity which supports women's sex-based rights. In conversation with the Free Speech Union's Connie Shaw, she explains in detail how the draft bill would reverse recent legal victories and could i...

A religious studies teacher at Batley Grammar School was forced into hiding in 2021 after being accused of blasphemy by some local Muslims.  Five years on he is still in hiding.  His friend and local activist Paul Halloran joins David Rose on the Free Speech Union podcast.  "He can never go home," says Paul. They discuss how a religious studies lesson approved by the school's managment triggered s...

Connie Shaw speaks with Dr Zoe Hollowood, chair of Liberal Voice for Women. Zoe, a LibDem activist, scientist and gender critical feminist, spoke at her party's 2026 conference. She argued that women's sex based rights should continue to be recognised under the Equality Act. The conference rejected her plea. According to Zoe, most LibDem members and voters agree with her but much of the party's to...

In October 2026, the Free Speech Union passed two major milestones: membership exceeded 50,000, while the number of cases it had handled since Lord Young founded the organisation in 2020 surpassed 7,000. In this special edition of the podcast, recorded live at the 2026 Battle of Ideas festival, senior members of the FSU team take questions from the audience and discuss the organisation’s rapid gro...

Andrew Lownie is the author of a best-selling exposé about the former Prince Andrew. When the FSU's David Rose asks Lownie whether we have free speech about the Royal Family, his answer is blunt: “No, absolutely not.” In this wide-ranging conversation, Lownie explains how access, patronage, legal threats and secrecy shape public discussion of the monarchy — and why he believes his determination to...

Is Britain sleepwalking into a new censorship regime? In this episode, Lord Young talks to Free Speech Union policy and research director David Rose about his new briefing paper, Misinformation about Misinformation, and the weak evidence being used to justify ever-tighter controls over what people can say and see online. David argues that claims about the threat of “misinformation” are being exagg...

The Free Speech Union's Connie Shaw is joined by her friend and fellow activist Maeve Halligan. They met through free speech, gender critical networks in London while undergraduates at different universities. At university, both found themselves at odds with a woke orthodoxy which seemed particularly popular among female students. When Maeve Halligan spoke against trans activism at a Cambridge Uni...

Is Donald Trump undermining press freedom? Veteran US journalist and SpyTalk editor and podcast host Jeff Stein joins David Rose on the Free Speech Union podcast to discuss Trump’s clashes with the media and the million-dollar defamation lawsuit that could have cost Stein his home. He explains how Substack Defender funded his successful legal defence, why costly libel actions can silence independe...

A shocking video of police turning up on the doorstep of a teenager's home went viral in 2025. Officers demanded devices, barged into the house, and seized a young girl's phone over an unverified social media allegation. Jake Hurfurt of Big Brother Watch investigated what happened next. What he uncovered is shocking. In this episode of the Free Speech Union podcast, Jake joins the FSU's David Rose...

In this episode of The Free Speech Union podcast, Connie Shaw speaks with Reverend Dr Bernard Randall, who underwent a seven-year battle after delivering a sermon encouraging pupils at Trent College in Nottinghamshire to think critically and respect diverse viewpoints on sex and gender. Trent College was a Christian school and had employed Bernard as its chaplain. But the school had adopted a woke...

Stephen Gray, a retired police officer and foster parent, tells Connie Shaw how a reposted Facebook joke led to police at his door, the seizure of his shotgun certificate, a prosecution under the Communications Act and a criminal conviction. He explains why he believes the joke made a political point about child marriage in Islam, why he is appealing the conviction with the Free Speech Union’s sup...

The death of Jason Arday has triggered calls for press regulation and censorship, including an “Arday’s Law” to limit the number of articles written about one person. Graeme Wood is a free speech absolutist and a staff writer at The Atlantic. He joins the Free Speech Union’s Director of Research and Policy, David Rose, to discuss the Jason Arday plagiarism scandal, the backlash against journalists...

Collin May had a successful academic and professional career, culiminating in his appointment in 2022 as chair of the Human Rights Commission for the Canadian province of Alberta. But May's 2009 review of an academic book about Islam was about to destroy his career. The National Council of Canadian Muslims, a lobby group with links to the Muslim Brotherhood, claimed that passages in May's review w...

The Charlie Hebdo attack divided Prof Matei Candea's friends. It also prompted him to embark on an anthropological study of free speech. The result is "Reason, Carnival and Honour: An Anthropology of Free Speech", a book which explores the hidden assumptions behind free speech debates. Professor Candea discusses his book with Dr Jan MacVarish, the Free Speech Union's director of national engagemen...

Comedian, author and commentator Andrew Doyle joins FSU General Secretary Lord Young to discuss a little-noticed government-commissioned report on misinformation and its implications for public debate. The report's Orwellian proposals include "psychological inoculation", "pre-bunking" and game-based "interventions" to steer the public towards state-approved political messages. Andrew Doyle and Lor...

Sentenced to 31 months in prison for a tweet posted in anger after the Southport murders in 2024, Lucy Connolly pleaded guilty to inciting racial hatred. But should she have opted for a jury trial instead? One year after her release from prison, she talks to the FSU's Connie Shaw about her new life as a free speech campaigner and the author of A Tweet Too Far? #freespeech #twotierpolicing Support...

Leaked documents obtained by investigative journalist Paul Holden revealed an anti-free speech project at the heart of the Starmer government. In this edition of the Free Speech Union's podcast, Holden tells the FSU's David Rose why he fears free speech and online privacy could be further eroded under incoming Prime Minister Andy Burnham. #freespeech #onlineprivacy #labourparty Support the Free Sp...

The latest threat to free speech on trans issues has been published by the government. The draft Conversion Practices Bill purports to protect gay and trans people from abuse. It creates a new criminal offence, punishable with up to five years in prison. Minister for Equalities, Emily Bailey MP, claims it won't stop parents and therapists talking openly to children with identity issues. She says i...

The UK government plans to ban social media for under 16s. Is it digital ID by stealth? The Free Speech Union's general secretary, Lord Young, answers this and other questions sent in by FSU members. *Will VPNs might be banned? *Is it true that the ban won't apply to Bluesky? *How will it be enforced? *How has a similar ban worked in Australia? *Will it lead to more censorship and regulation of th...

Investigative reporter Nick Wallis played a leading role in exposing the Post Office scandal. His BBC documentaries helped uncover the biggest miscarriage of justice in British legal history and led to a public inquiry. Now Nick's turning his journalistic skills to exposing the medical and safeguarding harms caused by trans ideology. But this time, he doesn't have the backing of the BBC. "I got in...

Former UK government Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho MP reveals how civil service "group think" stopped questioning of Net Zero. From misleading costings to attempts to silence dissent, Coutinho reveals why she believes the Climate Change Act needs a total reset. #freespeech #netzero #climatechange Support the Free Speech Union: https://freespeechunion.org/join Follow the Free Speech Union X/Twit...

Is the 'vibe shift' real? Or are we kidding ourselves that we are past “peak woke”? Bestselling novelist Lionel Shriver joins the Free Speech Union’s general secretary Lord Young to explain why the 'long war' on free speech is just beginning. They discuss *Immigration: the subject of Lionel’s latest novel “A Better Life” and why immigration has become the litmus test for progressives. *The Trans D...

Ex-cop Rick Prior worked in the Met police's Culture, Diversity and Inclusion department. He reveals how he witnessed the adoption of the sort of woke ideologies that lead to two-tier policing and situations like the arrest of dying victim Henry Nowak. #freespeech #twotierpolicing #henrynowak Read the Free Speech Union's briefing "With Fear and Favour: Britiain's Policing Emergency": https://frees...

Former BBC editor Rob Burley talks about his recent Unherd investigation: "Inside the capture of the BBC How transgenderism killed impartiality."   This is an insider account of how bosses at one of Britain’s most important institutions became scared of young, woke employees and speaking freely. #freespeech #bbc #bbcnews Read Rob's article for Unherd: https://unherd.com/2026/05/inside-the-capture-...

Journalist Janet Murray tells Connie Shaw how her views about trans impacted her community choir. The "Singing Striders" were dropped by disability charity Scope from performing at the London Marathon. Scope objected to Janet's views, even though they were unrelated to her work with the choir. Scope backed down at the last minute, but too late for the show to go on. The choir row is just the lates...