Toby Young and Free Speech in New Zealand

I went to see 'Tobes' (as Delingpole calls him) 'on tour'. I came away with more questions than ever about who he is and what he stands for.

The Free Speech Union NZ is a self-proclaimed ‘sister’ organisation to Toby Young’s UK entity. And Toby is currently on a speaking tour in NZ; heading to Australia next week. Strange timing, don’t you agree? Considering how the demolition of Free Speech over the last five years is a crucial (but largely absent) debate in the imminent UK Election (#independentsday) on July 4th. So because of this, motivated by curiosity, I reserved a place at the Hamilton gathering.

Briefly, Toby Young (who incidentally is on Substack as

The Pride of West London

) is from a very privileged background. Unusually for Wikipedia, a fair-ish overview is available. And there’s your first clue. He’s NOT labelled as ‘far-right extremist, disinformation, anti-vaxxer…blah blah’ - which suggests he could be an ‘approved’ counter-narrative voice? Contrast that to so many others fighting for our inalienable Human Right to Free Speech now deplatformed. He IS described as a wealthy, well-connected, ‘award-winning’ journalist, who still isn’t blacklisted from writing in any of the Legacy Media outputs like the Daily Telegraph. Maybe that’s because he sticks vehemently to that old trope ‘laziness and incompetence was at the root of the covid era fraud’. Even though it’s obvious to most of us by now, as

Margaret Anna Alice

points out so eloquently, Mistakes Were NOT Made.

Being well-connected from birth, Toby inevitably went on to study ‘the degree that runs Britain’ - that’s the famous Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) course at Oxford Uni completed by all the wealthy ‘cruelites’ in positions of power. Toby is Associate Editor of The Spectator (the longest-running weekly news magazine) which presents Conservative political views and seen as essential career-foundation for those seeking senior roles in British politics. He is also Co-Director (interestingly, with Laura Dodsworth) of recently-formed UK company British Friends of Israel Ltd which could, I imagine, restrict his interpretation of ‘Free Speech’ when critiques of the genocide in Gaza crop up? Toby also founded and runs The Daily Sceptic (previously Lockdown Sceptics) which is a great resource for those ‘controversial’ articles which counter the never-ending propaganda in legacy media. Contributors include familiar names like Neil Oliver and

Thinking Coalition

/ Thinking Slow’s Alex Kriel.

So here’s the paradox: How can Toby Young simultaneously be working for Them Lot (the propagandists, the legacy media, the UniParty, the captured regulators etc) AND be promoting the antithesis of Them Lot’s aims, Free Speech and independent media?

Image from Toby at a FSU UK event in Edinburgh

But firstly, the good stuff.

I see lots of good in the UK FSU’s work. For instance, here is an excellent summary of the case of Canadian broadcaster Mark Steyn, who was forced out of GB News after raising awareness of ‘vaccine’ harms. And the UK FSU supported a whistleblower at the UK Dept of Work and Pension, who was eventually awarded compensation for being sacked after criticising the Critical Race Theory ideology in her workplace. Academic freedom is also in the FSU’s sights, supporting individuals to report authentic research outputs, rather than being forced to stick to institutionally-agreed agendas like multiple gender ideologies.. There’s even a link on their website to Bob Moran’s film, which (paradoxically considering Toby’s roles) describes Bob being forced out of his job at The Daily Telegraph. But in the Daily Sceptic (comment by subscribers only) Toby sets out his position about the covid era very clearly:

The temptation when debunking ‘the Science’ behind these policies is to see sinister cabals at work, bent on some secret plot to subvert democratic institutions and usher in a New World Order in which they control every aspect of our lives. But as someone who’s earned his living as a journalist for over 35 years, occasionally with a front row seat on the inner workings of government, I’m a subscriber to the cock-up theory of history. I don’t doubt that plenty of clever, successful people seized upon opportunities during the coronavirus crisis, enriching themselves or consolidating their power and status in some other way, and a fair few are now doing what they can to prolong it. But that’s a far cry from the ‘Plandemic’. History can in rare circumstances be bent to the will of an extraordinary individual, but it is never planned. (my emphasis)

Really, Toby? Maybe you need to get out more and speak to your members about this? Have you not even read the WEF website?

To turn to the New Zealand FSU, undoubtedly good outcomes here too:

“We protect, expand, and fight for New Zealanders’ rights to freedom of speech, conscience, and intellectual inquiry. We envision a flourishing New Zealand civil society that values and protects vigorous debate, dissenting ideas, and freedom of speech as cultural cornerstones.”

I always flinch a little when I see that word ‘flourishing’ - it’s used often by Jordan Peterson and was used in the ARC rhetoric that I wrote about with

Michael Ginsburg

here. But back to Toby Young’s visit, which was presented thus:

“Toby’s tour is timely for New Zealand after the recent free speech victory of the Department of Internal Affairs abandoning the proposed online content regulator. […] As a journalist, political commentator, frequent TV and radio guest, and author, Toby brings expertise in education, media, and contemporary politics. His tour is from 14-27 June and takes place during the UK’s lead-up to their general election.” (my emphasis)

Toby’s ‘expertise’ in education mentioned above, presumably comes from his role as Trustee for a small-scale UK charity Knowledge Schools Trust, which seems to focus on promoting a curriculum of equity with high expectations for students. It relies on donations from parents and guardians. The other ‘education’ experience was that short-lived (but conveniently well-publicised) incident where Toby was appointed non-Executive Member of the Board of the Gov-funded ‘Office for Students’. Which perhaps understandably in view of his background, didn’t go down too well at the time with the students themselves - leading to his resignation.

Hamilton NZ FSU event

The venue was beyond dreadful. The front ‘lobby’ area of a restaurant had been ‘reserved’ for us. We were divided from the main eating area with a drab curtain. Now I need to explain quickly that NZ is renowned for restaurants without ambience, and poor quality service - and this place was no exception. To conjure-up the atmosphere, imagine a massive school hall as a dining area, at the height of a busy lunchtime, with long tables and benches for seats, high ceilings and floors without carpets. You get the gist. Pop music loud enough to prevent a normal conversation (hence lots of people raising their voices); cheap, uncomfortable, wooden chairs repeatedly screech across bare floors; teenagers sing Happy Birthday; the smell of cheesy pizzas and burnt steaks floats over the tables. It’s not clean or warm - psychologically or physically. We arrived on time but there was standing-room only - about 15 people had already taken the available chairs and got themselves a drink from the bar. (Did the RSVP not work, I thought?) With no host(ess) in sight, we grabbed chairs from a nearby ‘reserved’ table, got ourselves a drink and waited.

The audience was an eclectic bunch of about 30. There was an (NZ Gov coalition) ACT Party member (identifiable by her lapel badge). (Toby later told us he’d had dinner last week with ACT Party Leader, David Seymour). An NZ Loyal Party supporter in his yellow T-Shirt (distributing Save Marsden Point Oil Refinery stickers). And I sat next to a Council Planner who was moaning about the carparking fees and told me his workplace woes of newly-qualified woke designer-colleagues, with no critical thinking skills. I needed more wine.

Eventually, NZ FSU rep Nathan, introduced Toby. But no microphone. Noise from the main restaurant was increasing. Toby stood on a chair and projected his voice - thank God he’s an experienced speaker with charisma. Did we hear anything new from Toby? Nope. (I haven’t even listened to him much). Embarrassingly, he hadn’t done his homework - eg he didn’t know about our high levels of personal debt, low GDP or even how to pronounce [The Treaty of] Waitangi. The audience laughed (at him) when he naively claimed NZ was a fabulous land of racial equity and cultural sensitivity. Q: How can anyone claiming to advocate for Free Speech not know anything about these crucial socio-economic contexts?

He didn’t explain why he’s here, across the globe, without his family, during what will likely be THE most significant UK General Election in living memory. And where was the NZ FSU Chief Exec Jonathan Ayling? Apparently he was ‘taking a holiday for the first time in his life’ - what NOW? When his mentor/inspiration was in NZ for the first time, speaking with his own members? For interest, here’s a clip from the evening (1m37s):

Thankfully, Toby reinforced how important it is to overcome censorship in the academy. But even after some probing on this point (after his speech), he has a very naive view of the challenges we face. Is Toby unaware of how the ‘elite’ universities (of which he has been, and continues to be, an integral part) are the machinery that maintains the propaganda of the Corporate Playbook? The universities like Cambridge with Gates-funded Buildings and Scholars censor independent critical thinking in ironically what should be the ‘critic and conscience of society’. Its institutions like these that run the fake fact-checkers; control the narrative.

Cambridge Uni UK: Photo by Divyansh Jain on Unsplash..

I’ve written elsewhere how universities control the narrative, and also how Education was captured by Google and other corporates. So how can Toby Young, Founder of such a ‘successful’ Free Speech advocacy company, be unaware of these well-established strategies? Has he not legally ‘represented’ targetted academics in court, written extensively about this problem, spoken with Prof Dennis Hayes at the UK’s growing Academics for Academic Freedom group? Where is the breakdown in understanding and how can this happen, including how the Government is the source of censoring truths. Or is there something more nefarious going on?

Like many such ‘high profile’ self-proclaimed ‘heroes’ of counter-narratives, their acknowledgment of how utterly broken our democracy is, has limits. For instance, I noticed that on a recent interview for the Hoover Inst, Toby claimed that the Canadian Truckers #holdtheline protest was against lockdowns (?) No mention of the harmful genetic injections. Was this Toby self-censoring (for YouTube?). He claimed it was PayPal that froze the Truckers’ bank accounts. But of course it wasn’t. It was Trudeau’s Government which illegally instructed the banks to freeze the funds of the Truckers and their supporters. Toby makes an incorrect comparison with PayPal freezing the FSU income for ‘violating community standards’. Luckily for him, he managed to reverse that action by pulling strings within his Tory Party pals, like GB News Presenter Jacob Rees-Mogg.

And on the subject of MP Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, we can see from FSU UK’s website, how Legatum-funded GB News - where pro-Brexit Sir Jacob conveniently presents a regular programme - plays a major part in getting Toby’s message as ‘Free Speech’ advocate ‘out there’. According to captured UK media regulator OfCom, MPs are not allowed to be ‘News Presenters’ propagandists because of impartiality laws.

Screenshot from UK FSUs Media Page

I’ve already pointed out how investment bankers Legatum are promoting their election strategy via GB News on their own YouTube site. Money buys publicity. And votes. And nice country estates, too. Like this grand mansion from Rees-Mogg’s estate:

Ston Easton Park Mansion - a Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg estate via Wikipedia

I will write soon about other related events that have come to my attention that are dressed-up as ‘Free Speech’ conversations, but ironically are being carefully managed and interactions, controlled. As A Curious Girl noted back in Feb last year:

“…there is a Five Eyes nations-wide coordinated response with tailored activities taking place in each jurisdiction, of which New Zealand is an active participant, as revealed under the Official Information Act recently.”

Things aren’t getting any easier. The propaganda and censorship is intensifying. Does this explain why the crucially un-scripted Q&A elements of so many of these (pseudo)conversations are also being censored, edited or cut short? Or in the case of the NZ FSU event I attended, rudely drowned-out by loud muzak and plates of cold cheesy chips?

I left early. Tragically, I walked passed the increasing numbers of Hamilton’s homeless, outside the restaurant. The fight for Free Speech seems hard enough for those without the wealth and senior political networks of people like “The Honorable” (but he ‘chooses’ not to use his title) Toby Young. But it’s completely impossible for those sleeping rough on our streets in Winter.