A graph of FSU membership growth up to the end of August was shared on our social media channels this week and it is impossible to miss the moment at which the new government began its crackdown on free expression in Britain. As listeners and viewers will already know, one of this government’s earliest anti-free expression decisions was to shelve the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act. The Telegraph revealed this week that Professor Arif Ahmed, who was to be the first director for freedom of speech and academic freedom at the Office for Students, has been named as an interested party on the FSU’s application for a Judicial Review of the Education Secretary’s decision. This means that he will be able to make written submissions to the High Court and also appear in person with a barrister to challenge the Government on its arguments. The FSU’s chief legal counsel, Dr Bryn Harris, is quoted in the article, “These proceedings are of the highest constitutional importance. For almost 350 years, the governance of this country has rested on a golden premise: ministers of the Crown may not set aside the law made by Parliament”. Underlining the urgent need for the (now paused) Higher Education Act to be activated, the Telegraph has also reported on the extent to which students on campus are scared to speak their mind for fear of being cancelled. Meanwhile, yet another ludicrous speech code was revealed this week in the Mail, this time at the World Intellectual Property Organisation, a UN agency. The latest target of the speech police is gendered language, meaning no more fishermen, Englishmen or, rather oddly, lumberjacks. Finally, two religious groups have independently raised concerns about the All Party Parliamentary Definition of Islamophobia that appears to be looming ever larger on the legislative road ahead. The Network of Sikh Organisations has written to the Deputy Prime Minister saying that this definition would negatively impact the ability of people to freely discuss religion, speak openly about historical truths, and cause an amplification of a government hierarchy for different faiths. Separately, Christian Today raises concerns that Christians who deny Islam is a saving faith could also fall foul of the law.  

‘That's Debatable!’  is edited by Jason Clift.