Perhaps it is time for a revised version of Eliot’s play, in which Beckett is done in by the Knights in the nearby local leisure centre. This to avoid possible offense to those for whom cathedrals are holy places. In the words of the First Knight: freedom of speech is not, after all, an absolute (brandishes sword admonishingly).

I suppose I would have to agree that freedom of speech is not an absolute; that it depends. But there are certain things it cannot depend on without ceasing to be freedom of speech as conventionally construed. Freedom of speech is not unconditional, but its conditions are necessarily few and narrow, relating to the possibility of direct harm to persons and their reputations, and do not, to my mind, include the condition that one not give offense, even offense of the gravest sort.

The trouble is partly that freedom of speech, as conventionally construed is, precisely, a matter of convention; and the conventions in question are not universally agreed upon. In most parts of the world if you want freedom of speech, as Western liberals understand it, then you will probably have to struggle for it (and good luck to you if you do). But it is a relatively novel and decidedly unpleasant development that if you do want it you now stand the additional risk of being accused of racist-cum-imperialist domination and insensitivity.

I suppose it’s only to be expected that authority figures within minority religious communities in the UK would resort to that argument, as it’s a sure-fire way to paralyse liberal opposition (the willingness of liberal opposition to be paralysed in this manner may one day cease to amaze me). They are perfectly correct to argue that liberal arguments for free speech disempower those whose authority rests on the unquestionable sanctity of certain symbols and ideas. But I cannot be persuaded to feel bad about taking power away from such people. I feel quite strongly that they should have less power; and that saying the sorts of things that tend to piss them off is a thoroughly worthy activity.