“If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be in silencing mankind.” (John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, 1859)

“We can never be sure that the opinion we are endeavoring to stifle is a false opinion; and if we were sure, stifling it would be an evil still.” (John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, 1859)

“We value freedom of expression precisely because it provides a forum for the new, the provocative, the disturbing, and the unorthodox. Free speech is a barrier to the tyranny of authoritarian or even majority opinion as to the rightness or wrongness of particular doctrines or thoughts.” (Yale University, Freedom of Expression Report, 1975)

Following on from my posting of yesterday [‘Hypocrisies’, July 22], I must commend to you this outstanding defence by Hamish Mykura, Channel 4’s excellent Head of Documentaries, of Channel 4’s right to have screened The Great Global Warming Swindle, along with his splendid rebuttal of the dangerous nonsense on Ofcom’s ruling written by George Monbiot: ‘It'’s not we who make the public sceptical on climate change’ (The Guardian, July 23):

“It is arguable that it is not the Great Global Warming Swindle that has bred public scepticism, but the desire of some environmentalists - evidenced by the identikit complaints orchestrated against the film - to stamp out dissenting voices. This intolerance undermines confidence in the rightness of the cause. As does Monbiot’s selective reporting of Ofcom’s ruling.

Ofcom found the film did not materially mislead viewers and that we were within our rights to broadcast it. The regulator stressed the importance of broadcasters being able to challenge orthodoxies. This is, in large measure, what the channel is for.”

Absolutely. Bravely said. We must never forget John Stuart Mill (1806 - 1873) [pictured and quoted above], our eternal bulwark against the tyranny of both the majority and the individual would-be dictator.

For, while I have no fears over ‘global warming’, by George, I find the self-righteous intolerance of the ‘global warming’ bigots truly terrifying.