Intolerant times?

Are we seeing the emergence of a “tort of intolerance”? It is characterised by civil claims resulting in severe consequences such as loss of livelihood for individuals who express non-conformist beliefs, says barrister Jon Holbrook in this week’s NLJ. He cites the examples of Dr Hans-Christian Raabe who was sacked from a government drugs advisor post for previously expressing anti-gay views that had little to do with his post. Should the state back such severe sanctions for expressing what it considers to be unacceptable views? Holbrook argues that John Stuart Mill would be “turning in his grave at the intolerant attitudes fostered by the coercive power of today’s civil courts directed at thinkers, registrars, counsellors and bus drivers”.