The Sunday Reflection #63 - Free speech and the truth

This week we saw the launch of a new publication, set up by former Observer journalists

Former Observer big-hitters inc @carolecadwalla @sarah_donaldson @JaneFerg @ImogenCarter launch title with redundancy payouts

After Observer sale "We decided to launch a title that the journalists themselves would own, that would be truly independent" https://t.co/pa7pTKUL8d pic.twitter.com/qYUKMDjFKm

— Press Gazette (@pressgazette) September 26, 2025

Carole Cadwalla's blog logo

Anyone who has followed the trials and tribulations of Carole Cadwalla and her battles with the rich and powerful will wish them every success.  This week, I've been binge watching The Hack on ITV. If you've not seen it, I recommend it. A brilliant series. I followed the story in the Guardian and I also worked with a member of Hacked Off at The Passage, so I was more than familiar with the story. Even so, it was shocking. Perhaps the thing which I found most upsetting was the huge effort the Murdoch empire put into getting stories that were largely tittle tattle. Scoops on celebrities private lives was of no interest to me. It might have been excusable had they been  exposing scandals that truly were of public interest, but the NOTW seemed more interested in ruining the lives of people, rather than improving them. Another story in the news this week was the fact that Her Ladyship Michelle Mone's dodgy dealing will require a repayment over a hundred million pounds. I doubt this will happen as the company that supplied the dodgy kit to the NHS has gone bust and needless to say, having pocketed the profits in dividends, she is under no personal liability to pay the money back. I have a deep interest in the story. A whistleblower approached me with the story before any news outlet had picked it up. They were deeply sceptical of the mainstream media, not least becuase of the hacking story. We met and the evidence was truly shocking. I started writing a blog partly to expose such shenanigans. However, I also have become painfully aware of the limitations of a personal blog.  Occasionally, people have given me tip offs of things that have become larger stories, the Barnet Freedom pass scandal being one such story. But none of these are national scandals, concerning hundreds of millions of pounds. Such stories are well beyond the resources of a blog such as this one to manage. I am not poor, but I am not in a position to face down the legal teams of multi millionaires. My advice was to approach the Guardian. Through my contacts with Hacked Off, I am of the opinion that the newspaper is the one most likely to run with such a story. The person I spoke to was an intermediary for the actual whistle blower. Like me, they were aware of the pitfalls of facing down the rich and powerful.

I was pleased to see the Guardian take and develop the story. I deleted the emails and the trail, as a precaution and suggested my contact do the same thing. Their main concern was the consequences of taking on the rich and powerful. I explained that The Guardian has a legal team and understand the protocols of anonymity. The editor will not lose their house if the story goes pear shaped, although they may get the sack. The people who are always most at risk are the actual Whistleblowers, who get no proper legal protection. About six months after our conversation, odd things started to happen. It became clear that I was being followed. To this day, I have no idea why. My assumption was that it was related to my opposition to various local developments and that they were looking for dirt to lean on me to shut up. It was all a bit strange. Nothing really happened. One dodgy character, who I saw repeatedly lurking around started to get on my nerves. As I know the local geography pretty well. I was able to sneak around the back and sneak up on him. I invited him in for a cup of tea and suggested that he just told me what he was looking for, as it would save us all a lot of bother. I also took a few pictures. I suggested that if he didn't bugger off, I'd put them on my socials and blog. That sort of ended that. More recently, I wondered if it was related to the Mone scandal. I have no idea. I have rattled a fair few cages over the years. If ever you think someone is following you, it is pretty easy to spot, especially if you walk a dog! I took great delight in putting on wellies and doing the waterlogged Darlands trail. If you are ever planning to meet someone and you don't want to be seen, arrange to meet someone on a super long dog walk in muddy fields in February. 

Yesterday, I mentioned my old blog sparring partner Brian Coleman. Mr Coleman  took great delight in tainting me about my prostate cancer, when I announced it. Many people told me stories of Coleman that I have never been able to publish due to the fact that I'd get sued. I believe the sources implictly, but don't have the requisite level of proof to defend a legal challenge, if he decided to sue. I always said that if I discovered I had terminal cancer, I'd leave a forward dated blog, with all the worst stories on, change all of my blog passwords, and let that be my deathbed present to him, to pay him back for his gloating. When he got ejected from public life, following his criminal conviction for assaulting Helen Michael, I lost interest in him. Brian will be pleased to know that he is such a non entity now that I really wouldn't want that to be blogging legacy anymore.

My experiences made me reflect on one of the key themes in the Gospels. Jesus said that someone can only really be a follower if they give up all of their possessions and follow him. I used to think this was to show their commitment to the cause. I now realise that it was something entirely different. If you follow a difficult and dangerous path, the less you own and the less people you love, the less people can lean on you. If I really wanted to publish all of the terrible stories that I've been told and would love to publish, I'd get divorced, give my wife and kids every and live under a tree in Mill Hill Park, writing the blog on the computer in the library.

That is why I salute Carole Cadwalla and her colleagues. She's braver than I am!

"Jesus is the slave of Allah"

I awoke to see this article on the front page of the Daily Express today http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/88642/Sick-Extremists-welcomed-our-troops-

It seems that Islamic groups organised a protest against a parade through Luton by the Anglian regiment. Reading the placards it is quite interesting to see what message the protestors are conveying. In the picture the leftmost one says "Illegal war in Iraq". Interestingly I'd say that most people in the UK probably would agree. The one next to it says "British Government Terrorist Government". A sentiment some may agree with, but not really sustainable. Then we have "Anglian Soldiers Butchers of Basra". Whatever one may think of them, it is ridiculous to compare them with the way Saddam Hussein treated the citizens of this city. The most offensive is the placard saying "Anglian Soldiers Cowards Killers Extremists". This is such a crassly ignorant thing to put on a poster. Whilst the Anglian soldiers risked life & limb in Basra, the chap holding the poster does so in the knowledge that he is living in a free tolerant society. He won't get beaten up by the police or the army for waving such a ridiculously insulting poster. Who is the coward?

There are 1.5 million Muslims in the UK. At this protest it appears that there are 15 people at most. The Luton branch of the UK Trainspotting society would probably get a better turnout at their coffee morning than this mob. It is clear to me that they are doing their best to be offensive and cause trouble. How should we deal with them in a free society? Should we arrest them, beat them up, deport them? Not in my opinion. We should ignore them. The Daily Express is being highly irresponsible putting 15 malcontents on their front page. This is exactly what they want and what they hope for. To put this in context, Arsenal's football ground holds 68,000 people. Given the 100,000 to 1 ratio of protestors to Muslims, if you filled it with a randomly selected crowd made entirely of Muslims, statistically you wouldn't have even 1 person who attended this rally there.

In another recent protest, Islamic supporters waved posters proclaiming "Jesus is the Slave of Allah". Knowing that I'm a Roman Catholic, a friend asked if I found this offensive. It is quite an interesting point. Recently London buses were adorned with the message "There probably isn't a God". Now strictly speaking, of the two, from my viewpoint I suppose that the first statement is actually the more correct. Christians and Muslims believe in the same God. Muslim's call him Allah and Christians believe that Jesus was sent to serve his will. Does someone waving a placard aggresively in my face, stating something with which I agree with offend me. Nope. Does the Athiest message offend me, again No. It's an hoestly held viewpoint.

You see when it comes down to it, free speech isn't about tolerating those you agree with. It's about tolerating those who say things you find rather offensive. It's about dealing with their arguments in a rational manner and making yours in a civilised fashion. That's why ultimately, in this clash of cultures I believe that the Western Liberal Democratic model will always win. That is why this mob only has 15 people in it. That's why I get so upset when people start employing censorship to try to win arguments. Preacher's of hate don't worry me. What does worry me is the publicity they get and the effect it has. What worries me most is when people use them as an excuse to curb our freedoms and liberties.

Update: 19:55 11 March 2009

Immediately after finishing the blog, I started to upload my Boris blog. Looking for a picture to illustrate it, I happened upon the British Numpty Parties (BNP) Simon Darby blog (click here and hold your nose). He tells us what would happen to these protestors with a BNP government :-

Since the British National Party cannot really have any direct impact on Government policy at present, although indirectly we certainly do, I'll have to provide you with an image of what would have happened if this act had taken place on our watch. After viewing the BBC video, which you can find by clicking on the graphic below (sorry no link - too lazy - Rog), imagine a supplementary thirty or so seconds of video tagged on the end. That material would have been shot at nearby Luton airport where every single one of those "demonstrators" would have been filmed boarding a military aircraft, placards still in hand. That plane would then be filmed taxiing on the runway before its four giant turboprops propelled it off the ground on its journey towards some fly-infested desert in Afghanistan.

That is how the BNP win arguments. That is the force of their logic. They claim to support "British Values" but forget that the most cherished value of all is Free Speech. Judge for yourself.