Freedom of speech
Sassy Trucker stuck in Dubai after clash with car rental company
American influencer Tierra Young Allen has been stuck in Dubai for months in the latest case showing the limits of speech in the United Arab Emirates.
- by Jon Gambrell
Latest
Opinion
Culture wars
Wake up, lefties, and reject wokeness
Fear of being publicly shamed, bullied, cancelled or even fired is stifling sincere dialogue – and there’s nothing left-wing about that.
- by Clive Hamilton
Hanson’s legal dream team to fight Faruqi ‘racism’ case
Senator Pauline Hanson has engaged two of Australia’s top lawyers, who will argue a law banning offence on a racial basis is unconstitutional.
- by Paul Sakkal
Protesters storm Sweden’s embassy in Baghdad in protest over Koran burning
The Iraqi security official said the man who burned the Islamic holy book was an Iraqi Christian who had previously fought in Iraq.
- by Ali Jabar and Qassim Abdul-Zahra
Morrison warns against age of self-loathing, Western guilt
The former PM used a speech to Britain’s Oxford Union to voice concern that digital echo chambers and so-called cancel culture have fuelled enthusiasm for society to disown past transgressions.
- by Rob Harris
Exclusive
China relations
China lobbies press club against Tibetan appearance
The Chinese government is seeking to block the head of Tibet’s government-in-exile from making a scheduled appearance at the National Press Club.
- by Matthew Knott
Philosophers cry freedom in gender wars
A group of leading Australian academics says universities must do more to create conditions for rigorous, informed discussion of unorthodox ideas.
- by Chip Le Grand
‘Notorious’ speaker threatens to bring Oxford’s famed debating club to its knees
After inviting a speaker with controversial views on gender, a 200-year-old debating society is fighting for survival.
- by Rob Harris
Explainer
Web culture
The secret service agents had a message: take down the app or go to jail. How is the internet splintering?
Cracking down on the net was like nailing jelly to a wall, Bill Clinton said in 2000. But governments have found myriad ways to filter, block or slow it. And now some nations want nets of their own. Why?
- by Sherryn Groch and Nick Bonyhady
BBC backs down and reinstates presenter Gary Lineker
The corporation said on Monday that it would hold a review over how presenters can use social media, including freelancers outside news and current affairs, after Lineker was taken off air over a tweet criticising the government’s immigration policy.
- by Sarah Young
Opinion
UK
There’s a statue of George Orwell outside the BBC. They should heed his advice
Gary Lineker’s tweet about asylum seeker policy has sparked a debate about free speech, journalistic independence and political cronyism within the beloved BBC.
- by Geoffrey Robertson