Freedom of speech in the UK?????

Yes MaizieD and he will carry on weeping.

ronib

True MaizieD and since Kaszeta wasn’t going to be paid for talking to the civil servants, he is clearly not out of pocket.

However he seems to have set himself up as an arch critic of the government so I guess he will become reliant on book sales. He also tweets that even if comments are made using a pseudonym, the originator can be traced. Shows a remarkable lack of understanding of how to play the system with technology! Good luck to him though.

Jesus wept.

Germanshepherdsmum

Their conference, their decision on who to invite.

Our money!

It's not a Conservative Party conference, its set up by a government we all pay for.

It's is certainly not OK to invite someone because they disagree with they way you vote on this matter. This is actually a matter of grave concern in a democracy.

winterwhite

Still haven't grasped the nature of the event and the intended audience.
If it's to "discover and offer fresh thinking, new ideas, and different approaches" as someone quoted above, that isn't going to be achieved if all the speakers think the same way in the first place. But if it's a learning event to disseminate govt thinking of course all the speakers will be acolytes and you can see why they wouldn't want K. But that wouldn't really be a conference would it?

I think that is right. But judging by the link maizie put up, this is the preferred modus operandi of the Tory party. Crush all dissent.

Doesn’t everyone want acolytes?

Still haven't grasped the nature of the event and the intended audience.
If it's to "discover and offer fresh thinking, new ideas, and different approaches" as someone quoted above, that isn't going to be achieved if all the speakers think the same way in the first place. But if it's a learning event to disseminate govt thinking of course all the speakers will be acolytes and you can see why they wouldn't want K. But that wouldn't really be a conference would it?

True MaizieD and since Kaszeta wasn’t going to be paid for talking to the civil servants, he is clearly not out of pocket.

However he seems to have set himself up as an arch critic of the government so I guess he will become reliant on book sales. He also tweets that even if comments are made using a pseudonym, the originator can be traced. Shows a remarkable lack of understanding of how to play the system with technology! Good luck to him though.

ronib

Dan Kaszeta is also posting that if you want to support him, buy one of his books.

Um ….. I know publishers have some pretty strange ideas but …..

So what?

Lots of people do that. You don't have to buy their books.

Dan Kaszeta is also posting that if you want to support him, buy one of his books.

Um ….. I know publishers have some pretty strange ideas but …..

Mr Kaszeta is not taking this lying down!

He has managed to get a copy of the apparent 'guidelines ' for vetting speakers placed in the House of Commons Library. He's posted a twitter thread on it.

Worth a read. It's worrying.

twitter.com/DanKaszeta/status/1664192737631956994

I said 'apparent' because the 'guidelines which have been made available don't seem to apply to the conference from which he was stood down. Though he says that he was assured that these are the applicable guidelines...

It's entirely for the conference organisers to decide - government in this case but it makes them look foolish to reject an expert on irrelevant grounds. Most experts can distinguish between their expertise and their political views.

Philippa111

If you missed Mhairi Blacks speech in 2022 on Fascism in the government... here it is.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVZ3QwA5wy8

Thank you *Phillipa". As a Scot and a Unionist, I have never been a fan of Mhairi Black, but I have to agree with every point she makes in this important speech.

If you missed Mhairi Blacks speech in 2022 on Fascism in the government... here it is.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVZ3QwA5wy8

Yes Galaxy Peterson did return and speak. I read one lone demonstrator dressed up as a lobster and shouted ‘feminism’ and left.

And one last point - Angelo Sanchez, Leicester Sth CLP spoke at the Labour conference to oppose sending more weapons to Kiev. Another delegate had felt too intimidated to speak against the motion after seeing the way he was attacked. Mr Sanchez was suspended from the Labour Party.
As reported in the Morning Star.
So wouldn’t want to encourage a culture of not speaking out would we even on Gnet?

I think Peterson did speak didnt he? I think I listened to an interview he did about it.

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?

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?

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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?