“We Need an Adult Debate on Free Speech but Some People Will be Offended” - 16/04/2026

The Agenda · Apr 16, 2026 · 12m

We were joined on The Agenda this morning by Deputy News Editor at The Irish Times and writer of the Unthinkable philosophy column, Joe Humphries, who wrote a piece this week titled: “We need an adult debate on free speech but some people will be offended”In his piece, Joe wrote: “Cancel culture is on the wane – so Google data tells us. Reports of people being “cancelled” shot up in the period 2019-2021, search traffic shows, but the term is now starting to feel dated. It appears the “language police” are in retreat, and that has created an opportunity for fresh discussion on the proper…