Have you ever been grossly insulted on national radio?<\/p>\n
I have. In July last year, I took part in a debate on BBC Radio FiveLive, on the topic of British National Party leader Nick Griffin\u2019s invitation to Queen Elizabeth\u2019s garden party. I was set up in opposition (as these things go) with journalist James MacIntyre<\/a>, then of the New Statesman<\/a>, now at Prospect magazine<\/a> (more of which here<\/a>).<\/p>\n Anyway, MacIntyre chose to counter my argument — that it would unnecessarily politicise the Queen\u2019s garden party protocol to uninvite Griffin, and ultimately play into the BNP\u2019s martyr mythology — with the accusation that I was an apologist for fascism. To be fair, I wasn’t the only person MacIntyre insulted (he told one caller he was probably a BNP member, despite the fact that the caller had opened his point by saying he despised the BNP\u2019s racism and would never vote for them).<\/p>\n Nonetheless, I was a bit upset by the whole thing. I asked MacIntyre to retract during the course of the interview, and he declined. I later considered requesting a formal retraction, but then figured it really wasn\u2019t worth it, as it was unlikely any sensible listener would take MacIntyre seriously. As far as I know, no one complained to Ofcom about it.<\/p>\n A similar course would appear to have been taken by Councillor Michael Stark of Redbridge, who was called a \u201cNazi\u201d a \u201chealth Nazi\u201d and an \u201cignorant pig\u201d by radio talk show host John Gaunt in an interview on TalkSport in November 2008 concerning the suitablility of smokers as foster parents. Stark himself, while arguing vehemently with Gaunt on the air, did not complain further.<\/p>\n So other people were offended by Gaunt\u2019s insulting Stark.<\/p>\n Today the High Court ruled<\/a> that Gaunt’s right to free expression had not been violated by his subsequent suspension and sacking, along with an Ofcom ruling against TalkSport.<\/p>\n