High price of losing free speech

ETHANK heavens for JK Rowling, Sharron Davies, Professor Kathleen Stock and Julie Bindel - among others - for standing up for free speech and common sense; for knowing what a woman is and not being afraid to say it; and for fighting to protect women's and girls' safe spaces, the integrity of women's sport and for defending biological sex.

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Who'd have thought it would be so dangerous to state the obvious, that men and women are physically and biologically different. To be cancelled and lose your job - and now in Scotland to be potentially arrested for a so-called "hate crime" - for simply stating a fact about what a woman is, makes the mind boggle.

Free speech is essential, and the most precious aspect of a functioning liberal democracy. Allowing people to freely assert their opinion allows people to understand one another and the choices they are making, and you need to hear different sides of an argument to get the full picture from which to draw your own conclusion.

That is why a report by Dr Hilary Cass, which came out this week, is so important. She is the consultant paediatrician who was asked to look into how the NHS should care for children and adolescents who are questioning their gender identity.