Reviewed by Lily Andrews
“No Free Speech Hate” by Stephen Ford is a thought-stirring dystopian political thriller set in a near-future Britain. This is in a period when free expression is tightly restricted under the slogan “No Free Speech Hate” and when universities, schools, workplaces, and even families are monitored for “toxic influences.” Additionally, status isn’t determined by one’s skills but by one’s acceptance of society’s ideologies, and historical figures are being erased or rewritten if their pasts don’t align with the new ideological standards set by a web of overlapping powers. Purchase Here.
The protagonist, Jim Hubbings, is a middle-aged pharmacology professor who, at the beginning of the story, strongly believes that his field is “safe” from political battles. Sooner than expected, however, he discovers otherwise when, at his university, administrators force him to erase the work of Herbert Pethering, a pioneering figure in pharmacology, and replace his contributions with those of Enid Clompton, Pethering’s secretary, who is retroactively elevated as the “real” contributor.
At home, Jim’s world tightens just as much as it does at the university. His daughter Amelia becomes the target of the school’s “safeguarding” regime when her tablet is found to contain a suspicious material named Category-A Toxic Influence. In reality, the material is a simple romance novel in her room that gets flagged as unsuitable for her age because it depicts “sexist and heteronormative stereotypes.” Even a framed photo in the lounge raises suspicion because the woman in it resembles the banned writer Kate Stillworthy. Kate is stated as “one of the most notorious terfs, a trans-exclusionary radical feminist whose material could cause severe mental anguish to any trans pupil in the school, scarring their young lives, possibly even ending their lives, should the trauma drive someone to suicide…” Officials imply that if the household is found to harbor “toxic influences,” Amelia could be marked “educationally unsuitable,” cutting off her future prospects. Here we see Jim’s safe haven turn into another battleground where compliance is demanded and resistance could destroy everything he cares about.
This is a book that accurately represents a society caught between competing forms of authoritarianism, each claiming moral legitimacy. It serves a warning against sacrificing liberty for safety while employing irony, exaggeration, and bureaucratic absurdities to deliver dark humor that sharpens its critique. It is well-layered, and beneath the politics includes personal struggles that give it an emotional anchor that readers can readily connect with.
Ford doesn’t shy from tackling hot-button issues like gender politics, colonial history, identity, and surveillance, and has hence offered the world an integral read whose impact will remain both relevant and provocative for a long time. “No Free Speech Hate” themes resonate globally, and any society grappling with balancing tolerance and liberty will see itself reflected therein. Readers who enjoy fiction that collides with real-world debates and forces them to question their own stance on freedom, safety, and truth will also not want to miss this one.