Salman Rushdie moved to the US because of the first amendment.

He explicitly allowed a pro-fatwa movie to be screened in the UK (when state censors wanted to prohibit it).

In fact, he spends much of his time defending the First Amendment

Yeah, I don’t think the first amendment is why Trump won.

And if anything anti-speech norms (particularly around purity) on the left are why we have Trump.

I think the Rushdie affair highlights the value of strong protections for free speech.

It’d have been good if Britain had a First Amendment culture when the Satanic Verses was published.

I do however think it’s reasonable to deport people where appropriate in such cases.

Yeah, we should allow the very silly Westboro Baptist people to practice their faith.

Is there a problem at US stadiums with this?

First Amendment protections do not prevent private organisations from restricting speech on their own property.

I don’t care about what’s popular. I care about what’s good policy.

Yeah, they’re wrong about that.

Yes, but my point was the piece claims it would pass the Supreme Court’s tests. It clearly doesn’t.

The US Supreme Court are right on free speech and this wouldn’t be a crime in the UK if we had proper protections for free speech.

Yes, there’s no way that would pass the test in the US.

There are much closer cases which don’t still pass the bar.

The key point is that her crime simply isn’t a crime in the US due to the first amendment.

There is no constitutional law against stirring up racial hatred.

Strange piece. Rightly endorses the US Supreme Court definition of incitement and then claims that Connolly’s tweet would meet that standard.

Has he spoken to any US experts because it almost certainly wouldn’t meet the tests.

Want the blueprint for building trams cheaply and quickly?

Read this Britain Remade/ Create Streets paper.

britainremade.co.uk/backontrack

The prize if we can cut costs to European levels is efficient (and reliable) public transport across the country.

France has built 21 tramways since the year 2000.

Every French city with more than 150,000 people has a tram. In Britain, there are 30 bigger cities that don't.

If you're unconviced devolution equals speed, compare Birmingham and Dijon.