Free speech is for scumbags, too

It doesn’t take much to get you censored these days. You don’t even need to be that controversial. Believing in biological sex is usually enough. Gender-critical feminists have not only been sacked from jobs and cancelled on campus, but also arrested and dragged through the courts. Sticking up for free speech these days often means defending the rights of eminently reasonable people to air utterly mainstream views.

But now and again we free-speech warriors are still confronted with some genuinely difficult cases involving unsavoury individuals. Manchester United fan James White is one such individual. Earlier this month, the 33-year-old from Warwickshire showed up at the FA Cup final at Wembley wearing a vile, offensive replica shirt, mocking the dead at Hillsborough. Above the number 97 – a reference to the Liverpool fans killed on that horrifying day in 1989 – were the words ‘Not Enough’. Images of White soon shot around social media, leading to complaints to police and his prompt arrest.