Britain is becoming less liberal and moving closer to dictatorship

High standard of debate here.

I didn't think there was much of a difference between the two myself.My question was whether you take issue with my stance on drugs and prostitution because you may feel it threatens "freedom" (thereby the libertarian views you seem to hold).

Also, this constant demand for "evidence" every time someone expresses an opinion on here is ridiculous. This is not a journal, this is an informal debating forum and if you disagree with my opinion then state why mine is wrong and present your own opinion. All newspaper opinion articles in papers ranging from the Guardian to the Sun to the Times to the Telegraph contain unsubstantiated opinion, stop demanding evidence for people's opinions, it's totally impractical and serves no purpose other than to shut down debate. If you want opinions backed by evidence then go read a social science journal. This isn't one.

of course it threatens freedom - how wouldn't it? freedom is about being allowed to take risks, it's not all sunshine and buttercups, just like the world of capitalism; you're allowed to invest in things not everybody else in the country would do, but that doesn't mean you're not allowed to do it just because people disagree, just like drugs, prostitution, etc

there's no such thing as absolute freedom.Never has been,never will be.If a majority agrees to ban something because it shapes a society they do not want to belong to then that IS freedom. And if the minority wants to have virtually no restrictions then they are totally free to leave. A drug-user is free to do what he does;I'm free to judge and condemn;We can see who gains the largest backing-up as a result. hash-tag democracy yea?

Sometimes evidence is required however. If you quote a figure then you should be expected to back it up with evidence.

there's no such thing as absolute freedom.Never has been,never will be.If a majority agrees to ban something because it shapes a society they do not want to belong to then that IS freedom.

freedom and democracy are totally different things.
we have both in our society, relatively, but that doesn't mean they are the same thing.
the exercise of democracy can bring both freedom *and* authoritarianism
and with the exercise bringing authoritarianism, you don't get freedom just because it was a practice of democracy, because that doesn't make sense; if the majority vote to lessen the freedom of others, that does not make them themselves more free as citizens, it only weakens the liberty of others

No, no, no. Individual liberty and democracy are not the same thing.

The purpose of the article was to list the most ridiculous bans, not document all of them.

Here's a more sinister ban, banning an organisation because it has links to neo-cons:

http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/student-rights-and-the-intolerance-of-the-nus/15303#.U9KXU2PG-Do

You want evidence that people have been arrested under the hate speech legislation? How about you use Google?

Your entire argument consists of saying that things aren't that bad and that things are worse elsewhere. I'm sorry, that's not an argument. Whataboutery isn't valid. Of course things are worse elsewhere, that doesn't change the fact that we are becoming more authoritarian.

Also, this constant demand for "evidence" every time someone expresses an opinion on here is ridiculous. This is not a journal, this is an informal debating forum and if you disagree with my opinion then state why mine is wrong and present your own opinion. All newspaper opinion articles in papers ranging from the Guardian to the Sun to the Times to the Telegraph contain unsubstantiated opinion, stop demanding evidence for people's opinions, it's totally impractical and serves no purpose other than to shut down debate. If you want opinions backed by evidence then go read a social science journal. This isn't one.

You said that the article ''outlines how UK university student unions are essentially becoming dictatorships, oppressing the basic freedoms of their students''. It does not. Just 5 cases do not even begin to outline oppression, especially if they only apply to a 4 universities and cover trivial aspects of life.

With regard to the more sinister ban, Student Rights still exists: http://www.studentrights.org.uk/. The 7 unions can condemn it all they want but they cannot stop people from joining it. To my knowledge student unions don't have that kind of power.

Have you heard about something called ''the burden of proof''? It isn't my job to provide evidence for a claim that you make.

And yes, my arguement does consist of that. By mentioning China I was trying to demonstrate that the examples of the 'rising authoritarian oppression' you give are trivial and meaningless. In other words: you shouldn't worry or care.

If the government is indeed doing serious things that inhibit serious freedoms then please provide evidence for this.

Debates concern conflicting arguements. If an arguement relies on a claim that can be verified as true/false then it is important for someone to provide that verification. If not, then you're simply stating an opinion.

If you wanted to share an opinion with others then perhaps you should not have made a bunch of claims that could be verified? You should have said something like ''I think it is'' rather than ''It is''. ''It is'' is a statement that depends on facts. It is not an opinion.

I thought liberalism or neo-liberalism is a form of dictatorship in itself. In fact, we are moving towards ever greater neo-liberalism.

balbalblabal lefty bogey man blablablablabla

The left oppose freedom and aim to bring about societal collapse.

No they don't. Your just one of those idiots that can't grasp that people form different views on stuff. There are those on the left that think everyone on the right is morally bankrupt and then there are those like you who think every single lefty is a bolshevik attempting to form a vanguard dictatorship.

I'm left wing as I think leftist thinking leads to more freedom for more people. Those without much economic power should not be exploitable and shold be protected from wage slavery for example. Wage slavery has always existed in industry societies where there is little worker rights. Wage slavery is not freedom.