It’s odd being lionised for something you did so long ago you’d almost forgotten you were there. But this is what has been happening to me on social media these last few days, as a result of clips of me on a 2014 BBC3 political debate programme called Free Speech going viral.
Free Speech was one of those slightly cringey ‘let’s make politics relevant to da yoof’ programmes once satirised on Not The Nine O’Clock News in a sketch called ‘Hey Wow’. Hardly anybody watched it at the time and I never expected it to resurface again. But it has suddenly become topical – and been seen by an order of magnitude more viewers – because of the moment where I dared to raise the issue of Pakistani Muslim rape gangs, only to be closed down by the moderator, booed by the audience and accused of ‘spreading lies’ by one of my fellow panellists.
Lots of people now are saying how terribly brave I was.
Get Britain's best politics newsletters
Register to get The Spectator's insight and opinion straight to your inbox. You can then read two free articles each week.
Already a subscriber? Log in
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in