Comedians and free speech: Do they really practise what they preach?
In 1968, a group of Russian dissidents wrote a letter to The Times, asking Britons to support two writers who had been imprisoned for "anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda". Their letter inspired 16 eminent intellectuals to write back, including Bertrand Russell and A J Ayer, and the result was Index on Censorship – a magazine, a pressure group, and a tireless champion of free speech. Now, the USSR is no more, but Index on Censorship is still campaigning.