A breath of fresh airwaves

A couple of decades back the Radio Society asked me to moderate a debate for its summer festival. ‘Between who?’ I asked them and was delighted when they replied: ‘It’s entirely up to you.’ I chose the charismatic hook-handed Muslim cleric Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Masri and the then leader of the British National party, Nick Griffin. They were quite big news at the time — but were not really allowed on the airwaves, still less television. Hamza wasn’t allowed on because ‘mainstream’ Muslim organisations objected and we always did what we were told by them. Griffin wasn’t allowed on because he was a ‘fascist’. In fairness, he got an occasional interview slot, but only on the condition that the interviewer could scream abuse at him and not let him say anything. This was the beginning of cancel culture, I think.

My point was simply that the general public had a right to hear the viewpoints of people in the news, regardless of how unpleasant their opinions might be.