🌊 Free Speech Dies at the Pub

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By Max Frost

At 7:33 PM on July 14, a debate began in the House of Lords, the UK’s upper chamber of Parliament. According to those involved, the debate is about no less than the future of English civilization.  

The man who began the discussion is Lord Young of Acton, a Conservative member of the House of Lords and founder of the Free Speech Union, a non-partisan group that “campaigns for free speech.”

The subject of the debate was this: Should people be punished for making inappropriate jokes at pubs?

The UK is considering passage of the Employment Rights Bill. The House of Commons, Britain’s lower parliamentary chamber, has already passed it, and the House of Lords may soon do the same. If enacted, the law would become the latest and one of the most aggressive efforts by the UK’s government to regulate speech. 

Among various components, the law says this: Employers must “take all reasonable steps” to protect their staff from experiencing “harassment.” It does not distinguish between “direct” harassment (i.e., insulting a bartender) and “indirect” harassment (i.e., insulting someone and having a bartender overhear it). “Harassment” means “indecent or grossly offensive” speech, but UK rulings have established a broad definition of what this means.

The politician leading the fight against this law is Lord Acton, who has dubbed it the “banter ban” and warned that it will chill speech at businesses, universities – which will now be legally obliged to ensure that speech doesn’t offend their students – and, most problematically, the pub.

In Britain, pubs aren’t just bars. In the Middle Ages, pilgrims and merchants would stop at them to exchange stories from the road; in the Industrial Era, workers would commiserate about their conditions and plot how to organize. Today, they are a “third place” between work and home, where communities gather to have fun, commiserate, and discuss life, sports, and politics. Some say that pubs are the “nation’s living room”; others that “every pub is a parliament.” Pub literally means “public house.”

Yet the pub is dying.  

Last week, the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) issued a report that estimated 378 pubs will close this year across England, Wales, and Scotland – equivalent to over one per day. To blame is a combination of inflation, taxation, and a shift away from pub drinking. Independent pubs are now struggling to stay afloat, handing the industry over to big business. Today, just half of UK pubs are independent, per government data. Four large pub companies and a handful of brewers own the rest.

Acton began the debate about the law by warning that its burden would kill independent pubs and proposed several amendments to protect them. One change would protect “conversation or speech involving the expression of an opinion on a political, moral, religious or social matter, provided the opinion is not indecent or grossly offensive”; another would exempt “indirect harassment”; and a third would exempt the hospitality sector, sports venues, and higher education settings.

Acton began, “I ask noble Lords, when considering my amendments, to spare a thought for the great British pub.”

He then asked the Lords:

From here, the debate took off, culminating in a vote that could define pub banter for years to come.

Editor’s Note

A long story today but, we hope, an interesting one. Thank you for reading. We’re curious to hear your thoughts, particularly those of our British readers. What do you think about the “banter ban” and British attempts to regulate speech more broadly?

Let us know by replying to this email.

And see below for more of our recent reporting, including a three-part series on Robert Maxwell:

• The Robert Maxwell Story Pt. 3

• The Robert Maxwell Story Pt. 2

• The Robert Maxwell Story Pt. 1

• Inside Silicon Valley’s $50M Frat House

• Trump’s Plot to Control Brazil

See you tomorrow,

Max and Max