Freedom of speech in the UK?????

This wasn't about working on any sensitive information. It was about speaking at a conference attended by international delegates.

Kaszeta is free to publish anything he has discovered about chemical weapons anywhere he wants.

ronib

Z holds dual nationality American and British in the interests of accuracy

So what? He would have been speaking as a scientist. There are international speakers - many without even dual nationality.

Did you actually read Kaszeta's article, ronib?

My mistake. Kaszeta isn't a scientist, but a political scientist.

Why would any government offer a platform to speakers who might speak against that government in a public setting?
Those speakers will find other ways of expressing themselves. They have not been silenced. In fact K has just increased his message spread and profile.

Kaszeta isn't involved with producing chemical weapons, but in defence against them. I'm struggling to understand how his aims could be any different from the UK government's aims.

Well look at some of the speakers who have been heckled/uninvited/cancelled from universities by the woke/PC brigade. Im glad I no longer work in the corporate world or accademia any more. I heard of someone being disciplined for being "insufficiently anti racist". What the hell does that mean?

ronib

Why would any government offer a platform to speakers who might speak against that government in a public setting?
Those speakers will find other ways of expressing themselves. They have not been silenced. In fact K has just increased his message spread and profile.

In what way would he have been likely to speak against the government? What could he have said?

Have all the international delegates been vetted? I expect most of them are too busy to spend time criticising the UK government in public. Who knows what they think in private? If they really are undercover agents working against the UK government, I'm sure they'd be far too savvy to express themselves in public.

This smacks of paranoia.

biglouis

Well look at some of the speakers who have been heckled/uninvited/cancelled from universities by the woke/PC brigade. Im glad I no longer work in the corporate world or accademia any more. I heard of someone being disciplined for being "insufficiently anti racist". What the hell does that mean?

How is that relevant?

@growstuff

The title of the thread was Free Speech so try reading my posting a little more carefully my dear!

Growstuff yes I think 8 speakers have been prevented from speaking at the MoD conference.
I am inclined to think that the new rules, introduced by Jacob Rees Mogg? , may be poorly drafted and badly applied. I think K upticked a comment about Liz Truss and the lettuce.
I don’t know what else K said.

biglouis

@growstuff

The title of the thread was Free Speech so try reading my posting a little more carefully my dear!

Don't patronise me! I'm not your "dear"!!!!

ronib

Growstuff yes I think 8 speakers have been prevented from speaking at the MoD conference.
I am inclined to think that the new rules, introduced by Jacob Rees Mogg? , may be poorly drafted and badly applied. I think K upticked a comment about Liz Truss and the lettuce.
I don’t know what else K said.

It's not actually advertised as a government or MoD conference.

www.wired-gov.net/wg/news.nsf/articles/Register+for+2023+Chemical+Weapons+Demilitarisation+Conference+30012023102000?open

Growstuff read on …. Organised on behalf of the Ministry of Defence

Don't patronise me! I'm not your "dear"!!!!

If you dont want to leave yourself open to being patronised then read all the postings (including the ones which mentioned speakers being dis-invited to unis) rather than just the one you wanted to troll.

ronib

Growstuff read on …. Organised on behalf of the Ministry of Defence

I know. I assume you know what the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory is and how it's funded.

It's being advertised as the 25th Chemical Weapons Demilitarisation Conference. The Dstl is the hands-on organiser.

It isn't a government or even a MoD propaganda event. One of its aims is to"discover and offer fresh thinking, new ideas, and different approaches". Nobody is going to do that if all they hear is views from within a bubble.

Growstuff I imagine that a sufficient number of ‘sound’ ‘approved’ speakers will come forward.
I have just seen footage of Just Stop Oil spraying orange powder all over a garden at Chelsea Flower Show . I suppose vetting speakers is a sign of the times?

No it's a sign of a desire to control. And a complete lack of understanding of the consequences.

Galaxy does your comment apply to Just Stop Oil as well? Or just the government?

Also students at Oxford and Cambridge have been preventing free speech and banning speakers so why can’t the government?

ronib

Also students at Oxford and Cambridge have been preventing free speech and banning speakers so why can’t the government?

Since when has what students at Oxford and Cambridge do been the model for government behaviour?

You do say the weirdest things, ronib

I have been utterly opposed to what has been happening at Oxford etc, it would be hypocritical in the extreme to then cheer the government for doing similar.

ronib

Growstuff I imagine that a sufficient number of ‘sound’ ‘approved’ speakers will come forward.
I have just seen footage of Just Stop Oil spraying orange powder all over a garden at Chelsea Flower Show . I suppose vetting speakers is a sign of the times?

When you say "sound", I assume you mean government sycophants.

What on earth do you imagine this man was going to say which would have contradicted anything the government wants in the context of chemical weapons?

Do you imagine this man is some kind of Putin agent who was going to deny the existence of Novichok?

The UK hasn't use chemical weapons in warfare since WW1. It stopped experimenting with them in the 1980s. They're on the same side.

I have no idea how influential he is in his field, but he was asked by the organisers to make a presentation and they even waived the fee which presenters at this kind of conference usually pay. He's written a book. Presumably it was thought he had something important to say.

He was uninvited as a result of some anti-government tweets. AFAIK those tweets had nothing to do with the government's chemical weapons policy. He wasn't banned because it was thought he was going to say anything controversial or "political" but because he isn't one of an arse-licking clique.

Growstuff that’s quite an impassioned response from you. First of all, Dan Kaszeta admits to being anti the Government’s policies on asylum and immigration so there’s no way of knowing what he would actually say on the public stage.

He was to have addressed a conference of civil servants. Jacob Rees Mogg had introduced a system of vetting social media accounts before giving a platform to individuals to express views which may be anti government to civil servants. It’s a bit like the Labour Party inviting David Cameron as an after dinner speaker at their party conference…. it’s not going to happen.

One potential speaker had tweeted an offensive diatribe against Priti Patel and this caused a rethink of who should be given a public platform to access civil servants.

My husband pointed out why on earth would you not use a pseudonym if you wanted to engage in anti government comments and you were a high profile scientist? Comments are easily misinterpreted and it’s better to separate out your professional life from your political one.

I am not an apologist for the Cabinet Office’s policy decision on this but tried to work out how it happened. The civil service does pride itself on its political neutrality and maybe this needs to be upheld?

Galaxy no one is cheering the government over this. No one cheers government full stop.

The government’s vetting process is meant to be done according to impartial set rules I believe - unlike the way Cambridge University chose to invite, uninvite and re-invite Jordan Peterson for example. Must be quite confusing for him by now - and what guidelines were in place for this? And will he risk it?