Tom,

I was wondering whether you’d pick up this one.

One the one hand, I despair.

The link you provided isn’t specific, but the length of the sentence handed down makes me assume this was a jury trial. So presumably the jury was OK with convicting these people for the opinions they expressed and nothing more, as well as OK with them being sent to prison for five years in consequence.

Judging from the lack of coverage elsewhere in the media, most other people seem OK with it too. I’ve not read any thundering editorials equating the sentence with what used to happen in the Soviet Union, that something similar happening in the UK is nothing short of a disgrace. Indeed, I only heard about it because of a commenter on another libertarian website.

At times like this I feel libertarians have completely lost the argument. People like big government; they like free money and free stuff. They like the idea that someone will take care of them. They may not like government’s increasingly bossy and authoritarian nature, but they seem to accept it. Sort of like how children do not like being punished for being naughty by a parent, but are happy so long as the lollipops keep coming.

And yet, and yet …

On the other hand there was a furore last week when the leadership of a mosque in Birmingham refused to allow a discussion about gays and Islam. Perhaps there still is a constituency which believes in free speech. A lot of bloggers seem to think so, while Mark Steyn has done some truly sterling work in this area. Is it possible for the libertarian bloggers, like yourself, to get together and form a society promoting free speech, with no ifs, no buts and no maybes.

In Britain, you get a longer sentence for saying something than you do for killing someone. I've yet to meet anyone who thinks this is a good idea... and yet it keeps happening?
What is going on?

There was recently a report in the Torygraph of a speech by Lord Justice Neuberger in which he said that no one has the right not to be offended.
I haven't seen a copy of the speech so don't know if it is correctly reported, however Neuberger always gave commonsense advice when at the Bar.
His own family was, of course, driven out of Germany in the 30s, so no doubt the right to free speech is much prized, rather than taken for granted.

Couldn't have put it better myself!

Serving military.

That is utterly insane and a perversion of what we used to regard as British justice.

I may vehemently disapprove of the git's opinion but, well, as Longrider said - we've lost something.

Yes. This is what we have come to and yes, free speech has died in the UK. The only speech allowed is that which is deemed "acceptable". In other words, inoffensive to everyone. We lost something along the way this past few decades and now have a society that does not comprehend the significance of "I disagree with everything you say, but defend to the death your right to say it".