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2022-08-26

Lord Sumption hardly needs any introduction, but the curious may satisfy their curiosity here.

His contributions to the Spectator are almost enough to persuade me to subscribe to this weekly (but you can read the occasional article without a subscription).

In this article he explains his views on the Online Safety Bill.

"The real vice of the bill is that its provisions are not limited to material capable of being defined and identified"

"Harm is defined in the bill in circular language of stratospheric vagueness"

"As applied to adults, the whole concept of restricting material which is entirely legal is a patronising abuse of legislative power"

In other words, we have a situation where, like Humpty Dumpty, words mean whatever whoever chooses them to mean:

" 'When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’

’The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.’

’The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master — that’s all.' "

Quite prophetic really.

Lord Sumption takes a bit longer to explain much the same point, but he had an article to write.