“Free speech, anyone?”
The usual suspects in the right-wing press flew into predictable hysteria this week, over Gary Neville’s comments on the Union Jack and St. George’s flags. Once again, the self-appointed champions of ‘free speech’ revealed how little they actually value it, especially when it comes from voices they dislike.
The former Manchester United and England footballer sparked a frenzy after posting a video in which he suggested that patriotic symbols like the Union Jack have become associated with division and hostility, particularly among what he described as “angry, middle-aged white men.”
Neville linked this surge in aggressive nationalism to Brexit, far-right protests outside asylum seeker hotels, and tensions after the terrorist attack on the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue during Yom Kippur.
“It’s turning the country on itself,” Neville warned in the video, which quickly racked up over 1.2 million views.
The Daily Express gushingly reported that Neville was being ‘taunted’ after images emerged of Union Jacks and St. George’s crosses tied to lampposts outside his Hotel Football in Manchester. The story framed this petty prank as some kind of public rebuke, ignoring the fact that Neville had called for the removal of a flag from a construction site he is redeveloping, not a ban on flags altogether.
It seemed the Daily Mail had initiated the panic, with the Express noting how an anonymous worker had told the Mail that staff were required to attend mandatory “toolbox talks”- routine safety briefings – to enforce a ban on “political messaging”, with dismissal as a possible consequence.
The Telegraph, meanwhile, went for a different angle, running with the headline: “Gary Neville escapes Sky Sports punishment after Union Flag controversy.”
The article made it clear that it had been deemed that Neville had spoken in a personal capacity, not as a Sky pundit, so therefore the broadcaster won’t take further action. But that didn’t stop the paper running with the implication that some sort of disciplinary action should have been considered.
But it was GB News’ presenter Carole Malone who went headfirst off the deep end.
“People like Gary Neville are part of the reason evil Islamists now live among us in Britain,” she said in an inflammatory rant.
She accused him of being an ‘idiot’ and sympathising with “Islamists who want us destroyed” over “patriotic Britons,” before descending into a tirade of personal insults:
“The poor sap is labouring under the illusion he has a brain – a political brain – when he’s embarrassingly devoid of any political nous.
“In fact, he’s a bit like his superhero, Keir Starmer, who has as much political aptitude as your average gnat. Both are so out of touch with the people of this country that they’re a joke.”
Her attack not only misrepresents Neville’s views but also dangerously conflates criticism of nationalism with sympathy for terrorism, a line of thinking that surely should have no place in responsible media.
What this latest media meltdown truly exposes is the hollow core of right-wing media’s free speech crusade. When Gary Neville expresses a personal, critical opinion, backed by real-world examples of how nationalism can fuel division, the same outlets that shout about “cancel culture” and “woke censorship” scramble to silence or mock him.
The irony wasn’t lost on observers, and reader wrote:
“Very well said Gary Neville. Although it does seem to have got a lot of “patriots” very upset. Mainly middle-aged white men.
“Free speech, anyone?”
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