Nick Cohen

Freedom of speech is one thing but can you write what you like? Are we really living in an age of unprecedented freedom? Are the traditional opponents of freedom of speech stronger than ever?

Columnist for The Observer, author of What’s Left? How the Left Lost its Way, Nick Cohen argues that, in terms of writing what you like, no one is free, everyone is being watched, and a pernicious form of censorship is thriving. He has dared to write You Can’t Read this Book, which passionately and persuasively describes how we in the liberated West find ourselves in a situation in which you can write a novel and risk ending up financially ruined, or even dead.