Toby Young, General Secretary of the Free Speech Union and editor of The Daily Sceptic, talks to Documents’ Kathrine Jebsen Moore about the state of free speech in the UK and the work the Free Speech Union does for ordinary Britons.

«Free speech is in a precarious state in this country,» says Young.

Young is speaking from the ARC Forum, which just took place in London. ARC is an annual conference where western values, including freedom of speech, are argued by speakers such as Jordan Peterson, Douglas Murray and Young himself, among many others. The conference attracted 4,000 people from around the world, and Young, or Lord Young of Acton, as he is now officially known, believes that it was not just conservatives who attended.

Free speech is not a conservative value either, it is universally Western, and there are plenty of examples of people on the left being censored, cancelled and arrested – so-called gender-critical feminists are a good example, Young said.

Young also highlighted all those arrested and jailed after the Southport massacre this summer who, under Keir Starmer’s regime, have been treated as serious criminals, even though many of them only posted their thoughts on Facebook. Fortunately, the Free Speech Union has helped many of them. Documents readers will be kept informed of developments in the UK through a series of articles and TV programmes.

Young says Free Speech Union is keen to offer assistance to those who want to set up their own branches of Free Speech Union in other countries and can offer financial and practical help. Just get in touch for further information: john@fsu.world.

The interview is subtitled in Norwegian (can be switched on to the left of the gear in the video player)