Monday 25 October 2010

Oh To Be In England, The Land Of Free Speech!

Muffled Vociferation posts on the police preventing a Rabbi 'holding forth' at Speaker's Corner, to which I couple a report by the BBC about the fact that two complaints caused Clarkson's comment to be deleted from repeats and the iPlayer version, and the BBC then apologised for causing offence. FFS!

It may well have been the presence of the EDL that caused the police to take the stance they did - but since when have the police had the power to prevent use of Speaker's Corner? And Ofcom 'act' after two complaints? WTF! Since when did two people have the power to prevent the enjoyment of the hundreds of thousands who enjoy watching Top Gear?

The sad aspect of this is that those who are supposed to uphold our right of free speech debate in a chamber where their right to free speech cannot be challenged - unlike ours!

2 comments:

James Higham said...

If that is so, it's an amazingly dismaying precedent. We're in trouble.

john in cheshire said...

WfW, I know nothing about this incident. However, based on your posting, it prompts me to consider :

How did plod know these people were going to Speakers Corner; was plod following their movements? Where were they stopped?

Who gave plod on the beat the instruction to prevent them going to Speakers Corner? Because I no longer believe that these incidents just happen.