This week, Connie and Jan discuss a new report released by the Government’s Commission for Countering Extremism (CCE). The CCE Freedom of Expression Survey asked 2000 people in England and Wales about their views on free speech with regard to politics, religion, race, immigration, climate change and transgender issues. It claims to reveal a ‘nuanced landscape of public opinion on free speech’ and highlight ‘the challenges of navigating free speech in a diverse society’, but Jan and Connie question whether it really provides valuable insights when it fails to explore why free speech matters to people, weights the sample to include more Muslim respondents than are present in the general population and unhelpfully pitches those who care about free speech against those who wish to protect people from ‘threats and abuse’.

They go on to relate some of the findings to the FSU’s most recent intervention in debate over whether an official, non-statutory definition of Islamophobia will having a chilling effect on free speech and actually protect Muslims from prejudice—a letter from 30 members of the House of Lords to the Chairman of the working group tasked with interrogating the merits of a definition.

Finally, Connie updates us on the cases of Scottish nurse Sandie Peggie, who was disciplined by NHS Fife for questioning the presence of a male nurse in the female changing room of the hospital where she works and Newcastle United fan Linzi Smith, who has succeeded in challenging Northumbria Police’s active participation in a Pride parade that declared itself hostile to gender-critical people. That's Debatable is edited by Jason Clift

In a special episode of That's Debatable, FSU founder and General Secretary Lord Young talks to Fiyaz Mughal, the founder of Tell MAMA and Faith Matters, about the government's determination to adopt an official definition of 'Islamophobia/Anti-Muslim Hatred' and the chilling effect it is likely to have on free speech.

That's Debatable is edited by Jason Clift

Connie and Jan begin by discussing the furore arising from last week’s Glastonbury Festival, when rap duo Bob Vylan led a crowd of thousands in chanting ‘Death, death to the IDF’. Some commentators have demanded that police investigate the rapper for incitement to violence while others greeted his words as a morally impassioned politically justifiable performance. Many drew parallels with Lucy Connolly, imprisoned for 31 months for a tweet, and called for consistency in the treatment of Bob Vylan. However, the FSU issued a very clear statement making the case for consistency that leans towards rather than away from free speech – in other words, neither Lucy Connolly nor the rapper should face criminal sanction. You can read our statement here and watch an interview between Toby Young and Ash Sarkar here.

Connie then introduces the second part of the Sullivan Review, a piece of research which catalogues the multifarious ways in which gender critical academics have had obstacles placed in the way of their research. One of those academics, Professor Jo Phoenix, wrote about the findings in the Critic.

The latest developments in the FSU’s campaign against ‘the banter ban’, as we’re describing Clause 20 of the Employment Rights Bill are then discussed and listeners are urged to make use of our campaigning tool to write to a member of the House of Lords in support of Lord Young’s amendments, which will be proposed on 14th July. For a live discussion about workers’ rights, you can come along to our event on Monday 14th July

Moving to a global perspective on free speech, Connie and Jan consider the findings of the Global Expression Report 2025, produced by Article 19, which assesses the status of free expression and access to information across 161 countries. The report found a global decline in free expression and just as disturbingly, demoted the UK to a second-tier rank – lower than most other Western European countries. What dragged down our score was an increase in government censorship efforts (as opposed to restrictions on press freedom or on civil society organisations).

'That's Debatable' is edited by Jason Clift