I suppose it's really Toby Young's first post that I'm arguing against here. My problems with it are twofold.
1) He seems to assert that the Guardian failing to endorse/publish or withdrawing endorsement/publishing is censorship/an attack on free speech. As I argued above, that's just not true.
2) He neither comes right out and supports Burchill's piece, nor clarifies that he is presenting without endorsement, which I think is a somewhat cowardly attempt to have it both ways. He is certainly rude about people who dislike hate speech ("professionally offended Left-wing lobby groups")
All that said, I do agree that it was inappropriate for Ms. Featherstone to comment (though I'd be a lot more approving if she'd added a "Speaking as a private citizen rather than a minister"-type prefix).
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1) He seems to assert that the Guardian failing to endorse/publish or withdrawing endorsement/publishing is censorship/an attack on free speech. As I argued above, that's just not true.
2) He neither comes right out and supports Burchill's piece, nor clarifies that he is presenting without endorsement, which I think is a somewhat cowardly attempt to have it both ways. He is certainly rude about people who dislike hate speech ("professionally offended Left-wing lobby groups")
All that said, I do agree that it was inappropriate for Ms. Featherstone to comment (though I'd be a lot more approving if she'd added a "Speaking as a private citizen rather than a minister"-type prefix).
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