Wednesday 3 September 2008

Counsel of despair

"Counsel" is the impeccably liberal house magazine of barristers (or to use the correct term, "utter barristers"). In the most recent issue, the question is raised (but not answered) - "Is it an incitement to religious hatred [and therefore a criminal offence - JM] to denounce as abhorrent the Islamic principle in some traditions that apostasy be punished by death?" There is also discussion of the publication of the Danish cartoons which nowhere considers, or even mentions, the idea that no-one has a right not to be offended, nor the principle of freedom of expression.

That whirring sound you hear is John Stuart Mill turning in the grave.

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