Yes and to think that the speaker didn't actually mind being heckled. He was ready to deal with it but before he could do so they were giving the old man the old heave-ho.
I don't see how saying "Nonsense" in a conference for heckling over Iraq will earn you the right to be arrested, and using these 'anti-terrorism laws' as well. Now thats what I call civil liberties gone mad.
Why on earth did we vote New Labour in AGAIN??
Not only are they totalitarian in their use of draconian anti-terrorism powers, but they're useless economically as well. Don't believe the propaganda about our 'flourishing economy'. We've been lied to, our growth was less than 1.5% this last quarter. Brown inherited an economy with £125bn reserves from the Conservatives, and we're now over £25bn in debt!! You'd fire your accountant for being such a bad steward, but for some crazy reason we just keep reelecting these people.
censorship is the most offensive word
Well, if terrorism is damaging the government, then stating rightly that the government is wrong is sort of damaging them... it's still stupid though.
Freedom of speech should not be taken as a given. Once a upon a time, it was considered to be a sign of rebellion agaist authority and was strictly suppressed.
Speech is a powerful tool and can serve to waver the mass and give rise to racial/religion division. Hence, freedom of speech should not be used to put other people down.
Freedom of speech gives the speaker the right to express his/her thoughts, but not the the right to mislead other people or the right to put down a minority group. We should exercise this right responsibily.