Julie Bindel: Non-Crime Hate Incident Investigations SCRAPPED
Julie Bindel joins Connie Shaw to discuss the Metropolitan Police’s announcement that non-crime hate incidents (NCHIs) will no longer be recorded following Graham Linehan having no further action taken against him.
Julie is a journalist, feminist and co-host of the podcast the lesbian project. She has campaigned against violence against women and girls for over 40 years. She was one of the first journalists to ever write about trans ideology with her famous article in the Guardian in 2004. From that point Julie has been a target for transactivist, being deplatformed from universities, at one point by a local council and on the receiving end of smear campaigns, including having a visit from the police in 2019.
Edited by Jason Clift
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Battle of Ideas Festival 2025: What is the Problem with Defining Islamophobia?
This week’s episode is a bit different — a live recording of an especially timely event hosted by the FSU as part of the Battle of Ideas Festival 2025.
Titled, ‘What is the Problem with Defining Islamophobia?’, this lively discussion, features fascinating comments from the audience, but first you’ll hear from a expert panel of speakers who have been at the frontline of debating the issue in parliament.
Professor Khalid Mahmood Former Labour member of Parliament for Birmingham Perry Barr, visiting professor at Birmingham City University, Director of KN Strategic Solutions Ltd.
Nick Timothy MP Member of parliament for West Suffolk, former special advisor to the UK Home Office, author and comment writer.
Baroness Amanda Spielman Conservative peer, former chief inspector for Ofsted.
Toby Young General Secretary of the Free Speech Union, associate editor of the Spectator, editor-in-chief of the Daily Sceptic.
Chaired by Dr Jan Macvarish, Education and Events Director of the Free Speech Union.
Edited by Jason Clift
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Claire Fox: The Battle of Ideas and the Answer to the Free Speech Crisis
FREE SPEECH UNION MEMBERS GET 20% DISCOUNT ON BATTLE OF IDEAS TICKETS! Find them here: https://freespeechunion.org/event/battle-of-ideas-festival-2025
Baroness Fox of Buckley founded the Academy of Ideas 25 years ago and it continues to put on the UK’s biggest freedom of speech festival every year. Claire explains how we must go about tackling the free speech crisis, and what better place to do that than at the Battle of Ideas.
Follow Baroness Fox on X: x.com/Fox_Claire
Follow the Academy of Ideas on X: x.com/acadofideas
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Standing up to Backdoor Blasphemy Law
This week, Jan Macvarish speaks to the FSU’s Director of Projects Stephen O’Grady about the continuing case of Hamit Coskun, the asylum-seeker from Turkey who the FSU is helping appeal his conviction for a public order offence.
As an act of political protest, against the Turkish government that had previously tortured and imprisoned him, Hamit burned a copy of the Quran, outside the Turkish consulate in London. He was immediately the victim of a violent attack by a man armed with a large knife, who recently received a suspended sentence, despite his declared intention to kill Hamit.
Jan and Stephen delve into the case, the reason why it is a priority for the FSU and why it has resonated so much with our members and the wider public.
You can donate to our fundraiser for Hamit’s case here https://freespeechunion.org/hamit/?v=7885444af42e
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Can universities ever recover from the free speech crisis?
Connie Shaw
18:54 (11 minutes ago)
to me
In this week’s That’s Debateable!, hosts Vinay Kapoor and Connie Shaw discuss:
The new academic year in a post-Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act world, and what needs to be done to restore the university experience.
They relay their visit to LSE campus where they spoke to a variety of students from different causes, including both pro-Palestine and pro-Israel, and what their perspectives were on the state of freedom of speech at university
Vinay explains how his time at the University of Warwick has helped his work at the FSU, and what the FSU offers for students who wish to promote freedom of speech on their campuses.
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Welcome to ‘That’s Debatable!’, the weekly podcast of the Free Speech Union. Hosts Connie Shaw and Jan Macvarish – both staffers at the FSU – talk about the free speech controversies that have erupted in the past week. Edited by Jason Clift. Please like, subscribe and share. Thank you.
UK