Threat to free speech is our new challenge
IT’S FAR from a revolutionary thought to suggest that as we start to put Christmas behind us, we face enormous challenges going into a new year – but what might not seem as blindingly obvious is that one of the most unspoken of those challenges could, in time, very easily prove to be as defining as any other that awaits us in 2022. Let’s get the simple ones out of the way. Many of us went into this Christmas hugely deflated, most likely because last year’s less than “festive season” had left us yearning for a return to normal times.
And until relatively late in the year it looked as though that could be on.
Then the spectre of the Omicron virus did for those hopes what Australian bowlers are currently doing to English batsmen Down Under in the Ashes.
So, the drive to at least get the wretched Covid to a position where we are trying to live with it, rather than live in fear of it, is of supreme importance.
The day you can plan a foreign trip to see relatives or just for a break, or even plan a party without wondering if the whole thing will be junked, have to come to an end soon for our sanity, as much as our economy.
Staying with the economy, after a bounce back that was the strongest in Europe and a jobs recovery, the menace of inflation has to be quickly and robustly combatted as soon as is possible.
If it’s not, the hike in the cost of everything from your weekly shop to filling up the car with fuel will feel as if you’ve been robbed.
Factor in energy price rises and a lift in National Insurance that means most people will be paying a tax rate of at least 33.25 per cent, and it’s easy to see the pressure that will build on our wallets and purses.
But here’s another challenge that must be faced, yet one that could easily slip under the radar.
It is the threat to free speech, with the insidious growth of celebrities being “cancelled”, or indeed anyone who might have a view with which the mob – usually fuelled by social media – does not agree.
This was brilliantly articulated last week by Dame Maureen Lipman who was responding to a poll that revealed almost half of Britons feel they must censor their opinions to ensure they don’t offend someone they have just met.
That rises to almost two thirds if a conversation switches to a highly charged subject such as trans rights or immigration.
Humour has been a spectacular victim to this. I’ve written before that comedy on BBC radio and TV is no laughing matter.
But if you allow that everything from Fawlty Towers to Round The Horne and
WITHOUT any doubt, this was the outstanding newspaper picture of the year. Indeed, in a poll on my LBC breakfast show 90 per cent of my listeners agreed it was the image they would put on the front page of a magazine that chronicled the tumultuous events of the past 12 months.
In truth, it would probably be the best photograph of whatever the year in which it was taken, but let’s reflect on the importance of it.
This was our monarch bidding a final farewell to her husband of 73 years when Prince Philip’s funeral was held in April.
She could have chosen to ignore any or all of the restrictions in place and had her family with her. She could have flouted every (temporary and draconian) Covid restriction in place at the time.
Yet she did nothing of the sort. Instead she bore what must have been the most unbearable grief stoically on her own.
Politicians take note: this is what is called “leadership”. Few understand it, even fewer possess it. The Queen is one who does and rarely has her devotion to duty been so brightly illuminated.
from Monty Python to Absolutely Fabulous could be forced to carry a content warning as it’s aired, it’s easy to see why this area is a minefield.
Dame Maureen warned: “We are on the cusp of wiping out comedy.”
If you’ve any doubt about the veracity of those remarks ask yourself this: do you really think shows such as The Office or Extras could be commissioned now?
An equally troubling aspect of this posturing holier-than-thou attitude is how quickly people rush to ditch former close acquaintances the moment they get tarnished with a potential scandal.
Take actor Chris Noth, famous for playing Mr Big in Sex And The City.
He faces sexual assault allegations from three women and if his guilt is proved he would deserve to never work again. Currently, though, he denies the charges.
Yet his former “friends” from the hit
show, Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis, wasted little time before offering their “support” to his alleged victims. Does he not even deserve a trial?
Some are also seeking to erase Harry Potter creator JK Rowling.
Two of the stars she helped create – Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint – have clearly distanced themselves from her controversial views over trans women which have enraged that powerful lobby. In her hour of need, they are nowhere to be found.
Fortunately JK Rowling is too smart, robust and articulate to be beaten by this. But others are nowhere near as strong and this ever-present menace has to be rolled back for the sake of a free society.
That would be a piece of true “magic” for the start of the new year.