I think I believe freedom of speech to be non negotiable. I am troubled by my view not being a fan of non negotiable anything and thus inevitably the debate between theory and practice could cause this polemic to implode. That said…

The terrorist acts in France. The rights of the terrorists to express their views in the media are no different from those of the journalists who were murdered. The right of the footballer / convicted rapist to claim his innocence is no less than the right of the victim to claim his guilt. We must not allow the state, any state or group of individuals to dictate what can and cannot be said however dangerous or offensive it is. This means offence will inevitably occur to those individuals who do not subscribe to the fundamental principle of freedom of speech. I am afraid that must be the case and we will have to endure the consequences. The French cartoons should be republished by the BBC. There can be no bounds to freedom of speech.

Am I a fool?