In The New Criterion, Wilfred M. McClay suggests that a genuine commitment to freedom of speech requires choosing a “regime” (i.e., legal and social framework) of constant trial, one marked by two-way dialogue rather than a self-referential repetition of one’s own views, and one oriented to attaining a social end rather than merely making noise for its own sake.

In Vino Veritas – Or, Whatever It Takes to Get the Truth Out of Such a Crew
Winston Churchill drank his way to saving the world from Nazism and, according to Alec Marsh in Spiked, the old bulldog would fit right in with certain current Parliamentarians enjoying a tipple to endure late-night sittings in Westminster. “Well, why not?” Marsh asks. “Politicians wouldn’t be human if they didn’t.” This news doesn’t, however, sit well with certain neo-puritan scolds from – you guessed it – the Green Party, which on the other hand does support providing free narcotics to welfare recipients.


