We must fight the Thought Police

THE surest way of losing something important is to take it for granted.

In this country most of us grew up assuming that freedom of speech, thought and assembly were a natural part of our lives.

So we have tended to scoff at suggestions that this liberty was under threat. How wrong we have been.

Censorship has been spreading like a slow stain through our country for years.

But it has not been called that. Bad things wear disguises to make us less vigilant. It has advanced under the banner of combating ‘offence’ or

‘hate crime’.

Speakers have been denied platforms even at universities, supposedly the places where freedom of debate is most protected. Individuals have been pursued and driven from their jobs as a result of remarks made at work or on Twitter. An embryonic Thought Police, alarmingly like the sinister undercover spies predicted by George Orwell in his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, has begun to take shape in our midst.

But unlike previous tyrannies, the new dictators do not make the mistake of making martyrs of their targets.

Rather than trying to throw them into prison, which might alarm even the most complacent among us, they punish them by public shame and by taking their jobs away.

It has gone much too far. The Mail on Sunday strongly disapproves of crass and insulting behaviour towards anyone.

But such problems must be dealt with without resorting to the forcible silencing of dissent. The Free Speech Union, whose formation is explained on the facing page by Toby Young, deserves the support of every man and woman who wishes to preserve our ancient liberty for future generations.