Can Speech Ever Really Be Free? Five Factors To Consider

Some of my more idealistic fellow bloggers tend to think of free speech being a case of being allowed to say whatever you want, end of, with "counter-speech" on offer as an antidote to hate speech. In an ideal world this would work but in fact it does not. It's complicated. Allow me to explain.

2017 - Fear, Uncertainty, And Doubt

The way we see each other

I wish you all a happy new year. May it be a prosperous one for all of us. Such sentiments are expected but already 2017 is turning into a nightmare, hence the photo. This is the view that many of us have of each other due to divisive see-saw politics and slanted news reports. Expect it to get worse. If 2016 is any kind of indicator, people are going to work harder for less and hate each other more. I'm hoping for a light at the end of the tunnel but I can't see it yet. Let's take a look back at 2016 to get an idea of where we're going this year.

Theresa May Is UK PM - Now What?

The cartoon on the left is my abiding image of our new PM Theresa May; an authoritarian intent on violating our privacy for our own good. She wants rid of the Human Rights Act, and either will or won't invoke Article 50, the one that begins the process of getting us out of the EU. Okay, now what?

Where Does Privacy End And Free Speech Begin?

I've been wrestling with the idea of the expectation of privacy for many years. It seems that we civilians have a double standard; privacy for me, but if you're a celebrity, none for thee, particularly if it's juicy. We need to talk about this in the light of the surveillance debate and the risks to freedom of speech if we push too hard in the opposite direction.

Honey, I Started A War - When Collateral Damage Hits Home

If there is anything more creepy than a Tony Blair fanboi, I honestly don't want to know. Anyone who can blithely dismiss the deaths of hundreds of thousands with "Which law was broken by Tony Blair, again?" or "Just an honest mistake" leaves me checking my neck for puncture marks, I'm telling you. I seem to be finding a lot of examples of giants in the playground lately. Let's take a look at some of them.

How Mass Surveillance Trickles Down

Mass surveillance is no longer the talk of the tinfoil hat brigade. It is all-encompassing and all-pervasive. Laws enacted in the wake of the 9/11 atrocity that were intended to prevent terrorism are now being used for a plethora of purposes. Let's take a closer look at the main ones.

Happy New Year 2016: Lessons To Learn, Battles To Fight

Happy new year, everyone. I'm writing this post with a mix of hope and fear: hope that we will finally turn the corner and avert the threat of sinking deeper into a police state poisoned by fracking and suffering from economic and environmental woes and fear that apathy will keep us on our current course. Here's a round-up of 2015 as I experienced it along with some projections of what this year will bring.

NOW Can We Get Off The Left/Right See-Saw?

I've been mulling over the results of the recent general election here in the UK and have come to the conclusion that I was right all along; we really do need a new kind of political thinking.

The question is, how am I going to persuade ANYONE to get off the left/right see-saw when they're unwilling to consider other options?