Chinese state visit: Five times China has proven it doesn’t value free speech

With UK-China relations warming, the President of The People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping, will pay a state visit to the UK

Padraig Reidy: When it comes to public figures, we should err away from caution

This week's intervention by Lord Ashcroft might not be the best example of the old speak-truth-to-power schtick, but being rude about powerful people is very important and even cathartic

David Cameron wants to promote good speech and ban the bad. Prime Minister, that’s not how free speech works

Free expression is not a “nice-to-have” add-on, a mere luxury principle tacked on the end of other more basic rights

Day of action for Raif Badawi

To mark three years since the arrest of Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, staffers at Index on Censorship headed to Downing Street to deliver an open letter to the UK Prime Minister and join others in protest

Padraig Reidy: We cannot choose which free speech we will defend and which we will not

If we are to imagine free speech as a defining value of democracy (as David Cameron has said he does) then we cannot just choose which free speech we will defend and which we will not (as David Cameron has said he wants to)

Jodie Ginsberg: “I believe in free expression, but…”

The decision by six authors to withdraw from a PEN American Center gala in which Charlie Hebdo will be honoured with an award once again emphasises the dangerous notion that some forms of free expression are more worthy than others of defending

Padraig Reidy: Life in paranoid Erdoganistan, where every day brings a new censorship story

Another week, another social media ban in Turkey. Such is life these days in Erdoganistan, where every day brings a new censorship story, greeted now with what my Turkish friend calls “the humour of desparation”.

Chris Ames: Who’s behind the Chilcot Inquiry delay?

Despite his repeated assertions that it is nothing to do with him, it is now clear that British Prime Minister David Cameron not only has the power to hold back the long-awaited Chilcot Inquiry into the UK’s involvement in the Iraq war until after the election – but may actually do so. The prime minister who championed free […]

Padraig Reidy: When truth is stranger than fiction

Three years ago this week, David Cameron announced that a public inquiry into phone hacking would be set up, under the guidance of Lord Justice Leveson. It may be difficult to imagine now, but this was generally seen as a positive step.

Cameron’s obsession with porn

Ben Jennings on David Cameron's war on online pornography.

Filtering in the UK: The hinterland of legality, where secrecy trumps court rulings

A slip during an interview revealed the sneaking suspicion of free thinkers. The UK government was no longer restricting itself to censoring web content which was illegal. It was going to start censoring content which it simply didn't like, Ian Dunt writes

Criminalising kink: Cameron’s porn crusade

The UK government is sneaking through a vast extension to pornographic prohibition. It’s so vaguely worded that it could cover 50 Shades of Grey (if filmed), Game of Thrones or Florentine statues. Jonathan Lindsell reports