“John Stuart Mill said that one of the best reasons for opposing censorship was “that which seems the height of absurdity in one generation often becomes the height of wisdom in the next”. Ban what seems ridiculous today, and you could look ridiculous tomorrow.
“Unfortunately for us, the converse is also true. We do not have to wait for the future to know that ideas which seemed the height of wisdom to supposedly sensible people in our generation already look absurd.”
In a collection of articles written for Standpoint since the magazine’s launch five years ago, Nick Cohen challenges the so-called truths that appear to be self-evident in 21st-century Britain, and are unthinkingly parroted by politicians, economists, religious leaders and the custodians of our cultural life: public intellectuals.
Since the great crash of 2008 the public’s trust in our political and business leaders has sunk to its lowest point in living memory. Journalism has become a dirty word. The political Right is fractured; the Left is cowardly and rudderless.
In this selection of 11 essays Cohen exposes self-censorship at the BBC, the British Left’s unspoken alliance with Jihadist Islam, the disturbing truth about Boris and Ken, and the threat to freedom of speech posed by the Leveson Inquiry.
'Living with Lies' is a wake-up call: our society cannot postpone necessary change any longer.
“Unfortunately for us, the converse is also true. We do not have to wait for the future to know that ideas which seemed the height of wisdom to supposedly sensible people in our generation already look absurd.”
In a collection of articles written for Standpoint since the magazine’s launch five years ago, Nick Cohen challenges the so-called truths that appear to be self-evident in 21st-century Britain, and are unthinkingly parroted by politicians, economists, religious leaders and the custodians of our cultural life: public intellectuals.
Since the great crash of 2008 the public’s trust in our political and business leaders has sunk to its lowest point in living memory. Journalism has become a dirty word. The political Right is fractured; the Left is cowardly and rudderless.
In this selection of 11 essays Cohen exposes self-censorship at the BBC, the British Left’s unspoken alliance with Jihadist Islam, the disturbing truth about Boris and Ken, and the threat to freedom of speech posed by the Leveson Inquiry.
'Living with Lies' is a wake-up call: our society cannot postpone necessary change any longer.
