I have been thinking quite a bit about blogging in the last few days. One reason will become apparent this week, but it's a bit prosaic compared the more existential issue that has been troubling me the most. That is whether blogging in the \u00a0way that I do it is something that will be possible in the future.<\/p>\n
It is more than a decade ago now that John Christensen of the Tax Justice Network and I identified fascism as the biggest potential threat we faced. \u00a0I wish that prospect did not seem more likely now than it did then, but \u00a0I have to admit that it does. \u00a0When Hungary and Poland are both cracking down on free speech and removing the right of their elected oppositions whilst Turkey is actively suppressing any potential criticism of its President you realise that there is something deeply pernicious going on. And these things have a habit of spreading.<\/p>\n
And it is already not just in those places. \u00a0 We all know the loss of freedom that we have suffered in the UK over that intervening period. There has been the gagging law. Trade union rights have been diminished, considerably. \u00a0In many places \u00a0in the UK it is now illegal for three people to meet together in public \u00a0without prior permission under devolved powers now used by many local authorities. Libel law has supposedly been reformed; \u00a0I have not been noticing anybody celebrating. \u00a0The right of free expression, traditionally enjoyed by the UK's academics, appears to be at risk. And that is by no means all the threats that have arisen.<\/p>\n