Issue 1 Of Free Speech And Issue 4 Of Liberty & Nation Out Soon!

Anyone with the slightest interest in the concept of civil and religious liberties for all should get hold of Mick Hume’s book Trigger Warning: Is the Fear of Being Offensive Killing Free Speech?

THE NATIONAL LIBERAL PARTY can confirm that two new publications will soon be available. One has been produced by new FREE SPEECH – Civil & Religious Liberties For All Facebook group – the other is an official NLP publication.

Although initiated by members and supporters of the NLP, the Free Speech Facebook group is open to all those who want to promote, protect and preserve civil and religious liberties for all. Free Speech is interested in all aspects of freedom – however, it is especially interested in instances whereby elements of the State try to restrict freedom of speech, assembly and so on.

You can check out Free Speech here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1607711629485795/

Issue 1 of Free Speech is based on a review of Mick Hume’s book, Trigger Warning which recently appeared on the Facebook site – as well as being reproduced on the well-known and popular Counter Culture web-site here: http://countercultureuk.com/2015/07/26/trigger-warning/

For those who don’t know, Mick Hume is a journalist and author. He is editor-at-large of Spiked – https://www.facebook.com/spikedonline?fref=ts – and writes regularly on free-speech issues. He had a weekly column in The Times for ten years, and was described as ‘Britain’s only libertarian Marxist newspaper columnist’. More recently he has written in defence of freedom of speech and a free press in The Times, the Sunday Times, the Independent and the Sun.

In Trigger Warning, Hume claims that freedom of speech is under threat, mainly because many of us don’t want to offend anyone. Indeed, politeness or fear of causing offence is undermining the hard-won rights of freedom of speech and thought that we like to think are the foundations of our society.

The folks behind the Free Speech Facebook site hope to produce Free Speech on a regular basis. The first issue will be in pdf format – although they hope that later issues will appear as hard copies as well. They’re also interested in producing leaflets which promote the concept of civil and religious liberties for all. Anyone who can help out in any capacity should simply leave a message in the comments section of the Free Speech Facebook site – https://www.facebook.com/groups/1607711629485795/ – as soon as this article appears.

Issue 4 of the NLPs Liberty & Nation will follow soon after Free Speech. It’ll appear in both pdf and hard copy. L&N will look at the threats made by Prime Minister David Cameron and Home Secretary Theresa May to dump the European Human Rights Act – EHRA – and replace it with some form of ‘UK Bill of Rights.’

Whilst the NLP views the EHRA as far from perfect, we view it as a progressive piece of legislation which defines Human Rights. This is one area in which we’re more than happy to acknowledge goes beyond any one nation, and should not be decided at an inter-national level.

Importantly the EHRA ensures that the individual has some protection against the excesses of the State – no matter who they are or what they’re accused of.

L&N will propose a formal constitutional bill of rights, the cornerstone of which will be the concept of civil and religious liberties for all. A civil rights watchdog should also be established to protect the people’s ability to make use of their rights.

Look out for more information about issue 4 of L&N in due course.

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