Greetings from London. As you know, last year my first and second Statements of Claim against the UK media censor Ofcom were accepted for judicial review by the High Court of England. The hearing was supposed to be held in March, but Ofcom were washing their hair that month so it was postponed for a few weeks - until today in fact, starting at 10.30am in the Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand:
Before MRS JUSTICE FARBEY DBE | COURT 2 | At 10:30 AM AC-2023-LON-001656 The King (on the application of STEYN) v OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS FOR HEARING.
At The Conservative Woman, Kathy Gyngell writes:
TODAY'S the day that Mark Steyn, the finest, the most talented and acute of journalists and broadcasters to have graced our TV screens in recent years, takes the UK's state censor Ofcom to court. When Ofcom ruled against him (after only four complaints) for misleading his audience, every news outlet under the sun reported it. None queried it challenge it or stood up for him. Just us. Our article heading made clear what we thought of Ofcom's selective targeting of the one broadcaster questioning the vaccination programme and reporting vaccine injuries. We said 'Mark Steyn wears his Ofcom "death sentence" with pride but this is a tragedy for British broadcasting'.
Justice has to be seen to be done, so...
In person hearings before the Masters are open to the press and public, but the rooms are located in secure areas of the building. If you wish to attend an in person hearing, please arrive in the Bear Garden in good time before a hearing and make yourself know [SIC] to the usher.
I seriously doubt any members of the press will be in attendance. Certainly, GB News (despite being named as an "interested party") will not be. But my friend Naomi Wolf, likewise convicted by Ofcom with no right to defend herself, will be there.
By the way, the Bear Garden is the area next to the rooms of the Masters of the High Court. It was so named by Queen Victoria after a visit to the Royal Courts. It does not, to the best of my knowledge, contain any actual bears, although for a Granite Stater such as myself that would be more congenial company than a roomful of Ofcom executives and their media toadies.
Once you get through the Bear Garden, Court Two is on the first floor (in the non-American sense):
Many readers have inquired about how to support this landmark free-speech lawsuit against Commissars Michael Grade and Melanie Dawes over their throttling of honest discussion of the Covid and the vaccines. Well, there are several ways to lend a hand, including:
a) signing up a friend for a Steyn Club Gift Membership;
b) buying a near-and-dear one a SteynOnline gift certificate; or
c) ordering a copy of my latest book, The Prisoner of Windsor (you won't regret it - ask Kathy Gyngell).
With the first two methods, one hundred per cent of the proceeds goes to a grand cause - and, in the third, a significant chunk thereof save for shipping costs. And, in all cases, you or your loved one gets something, too.