It's vital those with the power act to defend democracy

THERE are few more vital pillars of democracy than free speech.

- Stephen Pollard

The right to say what we think, and thus to protest, is fundamental to T our Western way of life. But we have always understood that free speech isn't absolute. Laws against incitement, for example, could be an infringement. But, as a society, we have decided that inciting people to commit a crime should not be allowed.

It's a worrying fact that there are people and organisations within our society who seek its destruction. All too often they use terror as a tool of their ideology as in the Manchester Arena bombing in 2017. The police and security services work to discover and disrupt terror plots. And then, in theory, we prosecute those who are working to destroy us.

In practice, however, there are two huge problems. First, we are not tackling some of the most egregious and obvious extremists. Appallingly, we grant them what is, in effect, untrammelled free speech. Many Islamists, for example, are open about their views and what they want. And all too often mosques are the forum for preachers who celebrate terrorism and seek to draw young Muslims into extremism.

This has been particularly bad since the October 7 Hamas massacre of 1,200 Israelis but it long pre-dates that. You can see for yourself online, where many such sermons remain.