“Free speech includes not only the inoffensive but the irritating, the contentious, the eccentric, the heretical, the unwelcome and the provocative provided it does not tend to provoke violence. Freedom only to speak inoffensively is not worth having.”

This  is a quote from Mr Justice Sedley in the High Court case DPP v Redmond-Bate 1997. It is still, theoretically, the state of the law, and it is also a fine sentiment, which everyone on the internet, especially overly keen moderators and censors would do well to commit to memory…