The Totalitarian Urge to Censor

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Those who favour restrictions on free speech ally themselves with dictators, argues Jennifer Oriel.

Like many a journalist past, Nick Cohen has raised the battle flag against censors. The reason is simple; people who love language should never salute its executioners. Five-time author and resolute liberal, Cohen hedges his bets by writing for the left-of-centre Observer newspaper and right-of-centre Spectator. But the message of this variegated sympathy is perennial; liberty is the fullest expression of humanity, and freedom of speech its principal arbiter.

Cohens latest enterprise, You Can't Read This Book: Censorship in an Age of Freedom, depicts a celebrity censors' ball …