There was a time when I’d be awestruck by national columnists because of their stature and the belief that they had cast-iron arguments. There was even a point when I had high regard for Catherine Bennett.

But it strikes me that when your article compares lil’ ole me to the Chinese Communist Party on the premise that I was calling for the “gagging” of Rod Liddle – then I can’t help but question the author’s sanity.

But, you may have read her column in the Observer today. In it, she says:

For some on the left, progressiveness is denoted by the denial of platforms for one or more of the following: the BNP, Islamists, Israeli academics, climate change deniers, arrogant BBC comedians, newspaper columnists pushing their idea of “free speech” that bit too far. Last week, the progressive website Pickled Politics was enjoying the humbling of its current bête noir: “[Rod] Liddle doesn’t believe in free speech,” declared Sunny Hundal, “he simply believes in his right to say what he wants without regard for facts or any blowback.” Blowback? As in a critical response to one’s opinions? If so, it seems Tory commentators are apt to be equally heedless. At ConservativeHome, Tim Montgomerie has counselled offenders that “there is constructive criticism and there is destructive criticism. There is a time for debate on the right and a time to either be silent or gun for Labour”.

God knows what reassures such speakers that their high-minded support for gagging has absolutely nothing in common with, say, that of the Chinese communist party and, moreover, that they will never suffer the consequences of their own selective approach to free expression.

Bennett has attacked me before, and I replied back at the time to point out that criticising anyone isnt not the same as censoring them or even “gagging” them.

Sarah Ditum and Anton Vowl also made some excellent comments at the time.

It really is getting ludicrous when some self-important national columnist tries and defend her mate, who is a columnist on a national newspaper and a high-profile magazine, from a blogger on the basis that he is “gagging” her mate.

It’s more ludicrous because Bennett doesn’t seem to understand the difference between criticising someone and calling for a ban to stop them saying anything or chucking them in prison like the Chinese Communist Party is prone to do.

It’s even more ludicrous given that Bennett neglects to mention that her friend Rod Liddle, the self-styled defender of free-speech, threatened us with libel lawyers on two separate occasions when we ran a campaign questioning his suitability as editor of the Indy. Twice! Once on Facebook and later on the Millwall football site. People who value free speech don’t use the threat of libel law to shut it down.

Earth calling CB – are you still in the vicinity? How’s that parallel universe looking?

It’s also worthwhile noting that a few years ago Bennett wrote this silly article attacking bloggers and Guardian website comments, describing them as people who, “who can dish it out, but they can’t take it” — the naked hypocrisy of these people boggles. At that time it was ok to generalise about bloggers and deride them for saying things you didn’t like. But the minute they actually start criticising your mates, people like Catherine Bennett start crying about how they all feel bullied and victimised.

On the other hand, I’ve frequently written on why free speech is important, especially for minorities, and why religious hatred laws are crap. I’ve faced stick and even threats from religious groups because I’ve opposed their pro-censorship stances:
- Muslims should embrace free speech
- We need a clash over free speech
- Muslims and free speech can go together
- Sikh leaders are not without blame for Behzti controversy
- The religious hatred law will end up hurting Asians instead of protecting us
- The filming for Brick Lane cannot stop.

But I have to keep pointing this out because people like Bennett and Liddle want to pretend they are the victims simply because they get criticised for spouting nonsense.

[On a related note: next week I'll be speaking at an event hosted by Index on Censorship marking 5 years since the Behzti controversy (in which I took a strong free speech stance). 10th April, Coventry]

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