The Free Speech Union

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...

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 impart...

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.    Join the Free Speech Union:  freespeechunion.org/join   Follow the Free Spe...

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 off...

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...

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 firs...

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 parlia...

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...

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 consul...

Connie Shaw   18:54 (11 minutes ago)       to me               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 bo...

This week, Connie and Jan discuss the extraordinary level of interest in the  case  of Deborah Anderson, the Free Speech Union member and American citizen who filmed a visit from a British police officer who wished to talk to her about her ‘upsetting’ Facebook posts. The video has been viewed over 6 million times on X alone. Deborah’s indignant defence of her speech rights in the face of state ove...

This week on That’s Debatable… Charlie Kirk, a bastion for free speech and open debate, was tragically assassinated last week. Everyone at The FSU is still holding the wife and young children of Charlie Kirk in our thoughts and prayers. Jan describes her experience witnessing The Unite the Kingdom march for free speech that took place on 13th September, where many Free Speech Union members were pr...

Jan Macvarish is joined by Vinay Kapoor who runs the Free Speech Union’s funding stream for students and young people, the  Ian Mactaggart Programme . They begin by responding to the outrageous arrest of comedy writer Graham Linehan by five armed police officers at Heathrow Airport. Graham has not yet been charged but police are investigating him for three tweets posted earlier this year. The FSU...

Celeste, an FSU Case Officer, and External Affairs Officer Connie discuss what goes on behind the scenes at the FSU, what case officers do when they receive your emails to the  help@freespeechunion.org  line, and what tactics they deploy against those who try to silence you.    Cases and news of note include: The Islamophobia definition delayed down to the FSU’s pressure on the government  Disable...

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. A...

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/t...

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’ an...

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 Con...

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 be...

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 Speec...

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...

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...

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. This week, the Free Speech Union’s Education and Events Director Jan Macvarish takes the steering wheel as Tom Harris is away. She is joined by the Free Speec...