Never in human history has there been such a chance for freedom of expression. If we have Internet access, any one of us can publish almost anything we like and potentially reach an audience of millions. Never has there been a time when the evils of unlimited speech flowed so easily across frontiers: violent intimidation, gross violations of privacy, tidal waves of abuse.

Timothy Garton Ash argues that in this connected world, the way to combine freedom and diversity is to have more but also better free speech. Across all cultural divides we must strive to agree on how we disagree. With vivid examples, from his personal experience of China’s censorship apparatus to the controversy around Charlie Hebdo, he proposes a framework for civilised conflict in a world where we are all becoming neighbours.

Speaker biography:

Timothy Garton Ash is a political writer, historian and commentator. He is the author of ten books, including The Magic Lantern, The File: A Personal History, Facts are Subversive and Free Speech: Ten Principles for a Connected World. He is Isaiah Berlin Professorial Fellow at St Antony’s College, Oxford, and a columnist for the Guardian. He has received numerous prizes for his work, including the Somerset Maugham Award and the George Orwell Prize. Follow him on Twitter @fromTGA

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