Freedom of speech lies at the heart of British democracy. Indeed, without it, there isn’t much point in the other liberties. The freedom to say, write, think and at times shout is vital not just for newspapers, but for each and every one of us.
That is why the Evening Standard has been running a months-long campaign to champion free speech. We have published articles from some of the great writers and thinkers of our day, including Suzanne Moore, Richard Dawkins, Hadley Freeman and Lionel Shriver. Tomorrow we run a comment piece by Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was detained in Iran for five years.
And last night, the Standard’s proprietor, Lord Lebedev, delivered a speech in Parliament in which he defended not only his right to free speech, but those with whom he disagreed. For history has demonstrated that the creep of censorship, self-censorship and the narrowing of publicly acceptable views leads to dark and dangerous places. We must step back from that intellectual cul-de-sac.
Whether in these pages or elsewhere, we hope our readers will encounter views with which they disagree, perhaps even vehemently. But a pluralistic society demands that debate should flourish and those of a different persuasion not be banished from polite society.
Asylum rethink
Migrants who come to Britain on small boats may be small in number, but they have an outsized influence on the way many people feel about immigration. It is quite reasonable not only to have control over our borders, but to demonstrate it. The Prime Minister has placed “stopping the boats” at the core of his agenda. But his headline policy — sending some asylum seekers to Rwanda — has now been found unlawful by the Supreme Court.
Rather than persevering with an expensive, unworkable and inefficient system, we must continue to work with the French authorities and at the same time accelerate processing times for asylum seekers. The temptation may now be for some in the Tory Party to leave the European Convention on Human Rights. This would not circumvent today’s judgment and would only endanger the Good Friday Agreement as well as the Trade and Cooperation Agreement with the EU. Calmer heads must prevail.
Oxford Street revival
Oxford Streetis worth saving, and these efforts appear to be paying dividends. Estate agents Savills expects the proportion of vacancy levels on what was once Europe’s busiest shopping street to more than halve by the end of the third quarter 2024 to 3.6 per cent.
Oxford Street is once again becoming a destination in and of itself.
