Historian David Irving, and leader of the British National Party Nick Griffin. Two extremely odious men whose right-whinge political views are often beyond the pale. Yet they must be allowed to speak their minds in public and should never be censored.
Both men are due to give a debate at the famous Oxford Union tonight. This has led to the usual outcry from the mainstream and hard left, demanding that the debate should be cancelled. But the debate- on free speech- is essential in any democracy (Britain, despite efforts by the government to turn the country into a one-party state, is still one, just about). We do need people who are prepared to go against the grain to air their views…. even if they are rubbish ones. If one doesn’t like their views, they can either ignore them, or argue their point in a public forum.
The real threat to the fragile social cohesion in Britain does not come from the likes of Irving and Griffin. It comes mainly from the very government who should be serving the people. In recent months, the very basic administrative functions are breaking down, and their determination to censor people and ideas they don’t like could lead to the threat of public disturbances not seen in the country since they reached their height in the 1980s.