Lord Young, co-founder of the Free Speech Union, is pushing for amendments to a new harassment bill in the UK. He argues the bill places an unreasonable burden on businesses like pubs and universities to monitor and prevent potentially offensive conversations.
The proposed changes aim to prevent pub owners from acting as "banter police" and relieve them of the responsibility of protecting employees from overhearing potentially offensive conversations, provided the opinions are not indecent or grossly offensive. Lord Young highlights the impracticality of such expectations, suggesting it would require extensive monitoring of customer interactions.
The concerns extend beyond pubs, including universities, where Lord Young fears "woke activists" could misuse the legislation to silence speakers. He also expresses concern about the potential impact on sports venues, suggesting that enforcing silence to prevent staff from being upset by chants would be impractical.
Lord Young believes his proposed amendments have a strong chance of success, given previous criticism of the bill's third-party harassment clause by fellow peers. The amendments aim to ensure that pubs and universities are excluded from the stricter regulations.