The Manifesto Club supported the Free to Disagree campaign against the Scottish Hate Crime Bill – legislation that meant you could be imprisoned for being ‘hateful’ in your own home. Here is a guest post by Stuart Waiton, a Scottish academic who was one of the leading figures in the campaign. It’s difficult to know what to make of the Hate Crime Act in Scotland. It was launched with such stupidity and so many own goals that by the end of the first day of its existence the first minister Humza Yousaf had received more ‘hate’ complaints than any other individual in…

A letter has been launched defending freedom in the arts, against what it calls ‘a culture of self-censorship and groupthink which are fundamentally damaging to the arts’. Signed by artists, choreographers, composers, writers, musicians, filmmakers, and others, the letter says that: Art schools, galleries, theatres, dance and music stages, and film sets were once platforms that nurtured diverse ideas and contrasting perspectives. Today, many of these institutions actively discriminate against artists and audiences who do not subscribe to their views. This repressive atmosphere has given rise to numerous boycotts and protests. Artists and art workers have become the subjects of cancellations, denunciations,…