FREEDOM OF SPEECH IS PARAMOUNT
Posted on 25th November 2023
This week the Minister for Justice brought a smile to my face by sweeping aside the last vestiges of the absurd and draconian censorship regime that applied in this fine Republic during my youth. I can still remember my mother’s fury when her name was taken at Dublin Airport when she arrived bearing a copy of Harold Robbin’s book The Carpetbaggers. The book was confiscated and to her mortification her name was taken. If one thinks back on it, the censorship applied was outrageous and it was substantially relaxed by Brian Lenihan when he was Justice Minister in 1967. It was after all very strange to live in a land which banned the works of some of the most famous Irish writers including John McGahern, who was published by Fabers, a publishing house where I held my first job. I believe in freedom of speech and censorship in only the most extreme of circumstances. In this respect I would like to join the many voices who have expressed concern about the legal action being taken by Sinn Fein T.D. Chris Andrews against the Irish Times and its political correspondent. What astonishes me is that the Sinn Fein leadership failed to understand how damaging this issue can become. Younger voters may not remember the dark days of the Troubles and not see the shadows it casts over Sinn Fein, but they do believe in freedom of speech and would fight vigorously to defend it.
Such is the horror being inflicted on the people of Gaza one can forget the horrendous acts of Vlad the Bad. He has just pardoned a soldier called Nikolai Ogolobyak, who served in one of Vlad’s Storm Z Assault units, made up of released prisoners. However, Nikolai is not a regular thug. He is a satanist in a cannibalistic cult who murdered and dismembered teenagers and then ate their hearts. Although he was wounded, he is now home recovering. I wouldn’t like to be his neighbour. This week President Zelensky said prisoners were providing most of Russia’s fresh troops. It is thought that since February, Russia has released 100,000 prisoners to fight in the war.
Further afield Argentina has a radical new President, Javier Milei, nicknamed “ The Crazy” or “The Mad-man”. Renowned for taking a chainsaw to his rallies, he won 56% of the vote. A fan of Al Capone, he wants to replace the peso with the dollar. The Argentinian people are in for a bumpy ride.
