Writing in the New English Review, Dalrymple argues that the greatest threat to free speech in Britain now comes not from law alone but from the revival of a culture of denunciation: a readiness, both institutional and personal, to inform on others for expressing heterodox opinions.
Threats to free speech come from many directions, which governments can either encourage or protect against. We are not free to speak our minds just because the government says that we are, but we are not free to speak our minds unless the government says that we are.