Do you want free speech to thrive? Then it has to be regulated, now more than ever | Simon Jenkins

The online safety bill in the UK is shaping up to be a censor’s nightmare, but we need to take this debate seriously

Responses to the assault on Salman Rushdie have combined personal sympathy with a general defence of free speech. Sympathy should come first. The second remains controversial. Sticks and stones may break your bones, but what of “words can never hurt you”? Witness the Iranian government’s blaming of Rushdie himself and his supporters. It is he, not Iran, that lies hurt.

Freedom of sp...