Time to take a Stand against cultural censorship

SNP MP Jo Cherry’s “no platforming” for her gender critical views is unlawful and violates freedom of expression

Last year it was the celebrated comedian Jerry Sadowitz who was cancelled by the blue hairs at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe - for being offensive, something he’d been doing to great acclaim at the Fringe for decades. The Pleasance unbooked him because he  “didn’t align with our values” . This year it is the lesbian SNP MP Joanna Cherry who has been “no-platformed” by the Stand comedy club for her belief in human biology.  Pretty soon the only people allowed at the Edinburgh Fringe will be India Willoughby and the Cabaret Against Hate Speech - the egregiously misnamed band of zealots who prevented Edinburgh University showing the film Adult Human Female, twice.

Bizarrely, one of Cherry’s closest political colleagues, SNP MP for Edinburgh East Tommy Sheppard, is the founder-proprietor of The Stand, Scotland’s leading “alternative” chain of comedy clubs. Stand ups like Stewart Lee cut their teeth here at past Edinburgh Festivals. But being alternative isn’t what it used to be. A grim and humourless orthodoxy has afflicted the world of politically correct humour. 

But how did we get here and is Cherry right to threaten to sue the Stand for “unlawful discrimination”?