Sunday Lecture: The Need to Offend
February 10, 2013 Category: Shoutout No Comments 
Date/Time
Date(s) - 10/02/2013
11:00 am
Location
Conway Hall
Category(ies)
[Description]
Nick Cohen speaks on freedom of speech, censorship and the need to offend.
From the fall of the Berlin Wall to the advert of the Web, everywhere you turn you are told that we live in age of unparalleled freedom. From the revolution in Iran that wasn’t, to the Great Firewall of China and the imposition of super-injunctions from the filthy rich protecting their privacy, the traditional opponents of freedom of speech – religious fanaticism, plutocratic power and dictatorial states – are thriving, and in many respects finding the world a more comfortable place in the early 21st century than they did in the late 20th. We still live in a time where you can write a book and end up destroyed or dead.
Nick Cohen is a columnist for the Observer, and also writes Time, the Spectator, Standpoint and many other publications. He is the author of What’s Left and Waiting for the Etonians.
His latest book is You Can’t Read This Book: Censorship in an age of freedom examines the threats to free speech in the 21st century.
Entry is £3 on the door/ Free for Ethical Society Members.
Free tea, coffee and biscuits will be available.
