FREE speech is a foundation stone of our democracy. It is vital we fight those who would destroy it.
Their assault is on several fronts.
Take, first, the war on the Press that has raged for a decade.
Look at the SNP reaction this week as The Scottish Sun prepared to reveal that their Finance Secretary Derek Mackay bombarded a boy of 16 with creepy messages, called him “cute” and invited him out.
The story was entirely legitimate, its public interest blindingly obvious given the doubts it raised about the judgment of the man running Scotland’s finances.
The SNP threw up every roadblock to stop it. They demanded the boy’s name, how the story came about, our justification for running it — and even tried to claim “intrusion”.
Mackay later quit. But the first instinct was to silence The Sun.
And free speech is under attack elsewhere, in our universities and online, where the Left wages war to crush dissent. They pretend even mildly conservative views are extreme. Those holding them are “no platformed”.
The young Left don’t believe in free speech — merely in hearing their opinions confirmed and amplified.
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson intends to act against universities which cave in to this folly. Good.
But the real pushback must come from the adults running colleges, schools, public bodies and companies.
They can neuter the outrage mobs which aim to “cancel” those with the “wrong” views, by growing a spine and refusing to buckle to their blackmail.
If an 80-strong Tory majority and the ballot box destruction of the hard-Left last December 12 doesn’t give them the strength, what will?
Free speech is for ALL. For the Press. For all sides of the political divide.
Let’s all stand up for it.
THE Sun is proud to have helped tame the worst rip-offs of the Big Six energy firms.
Gas and electricity bills will get a little cheaper again this summer thanks to the price cap launched after our People Power campaign.
That’s great news for those on standard tariffs protected by the cap. But remember . . . it’s cheaper still to switch to lower ones.
Which begs the question:
Why are the energy giants still allowed to fleece those who don’t?
IT takes guts for any married father of two to come out at 57, after years of anguish about his sexuality.
Even more so when he’s a TV fixture as famous as Phillip Schofield.
So we salute his honesty and courage — and the kindness of his wife and daughters.
Good luck to them.
It must be an immense relief for the truth to be out.
