Is it really worth barring this Swedish academic from the country?

Andreas Malm, a Swedish author and academic, claims he has been barred from the UK because he was due to speak on a panel with a co-founder of Palestine Action, which is a proscribed terrorist organisation. Denying Malm entry to Britain won’t make his views or ideas go away The government has broad discretion to bar foreign nationals from the UK if their presence is deemed to pose a risk to society. Does an obscure Swedish academic taking part in a panel discussion, attended by a handful of the usual suspects, really pose a risk to the security of the realm?

Hardly. One doesn’t have to agree with Malm’s views on the climate, the Middle East or indeed anything else, to entertain the idea that he has a right to express his views and – just as importantly – be challenged on his flawed thinking. Anyone who believes in free expression must stand up for that basic right being extended to people with whom they vehemently disagree, otherwise what is the point? The question now is why has Malm, a senior lecturer in human ecology at Lund University in Sweden, been deemed persona non grata ?

The academic says he has received a letter from the Home Office notifying him that his presence was ‘not conducive to the public good’. This is a largely meaningless phrase, favoured by Home Office bureaucrats in such instances. His published work includes the 2021 book, How to Blow up a Pipeline , and perhaps more relevantly, a 2025 book, The Destruction of Palestine is the Destruction of the Earth . The academic acknowledges that he previously described the Hamas-led 7 October 2023 attacks on Israel as ‘fundamentally an act of liberation’ – a disgraceful and unforgivable comment, for sure.

Malm admits that that his remarks could be the reason for the Home Office decision. But he argued that these views had been in the public domain for a long time, and that he was allowed in the UK to deliver a talk as recently as May. Most popular Ameer Kotecha The hidden plan to bring more cheap foreign labour to Britain Tim Shipman The real meaning of the Budget Matthew Lynn Is this the real reason Christine Lagarde is leaving the ECB?

Malm believes the explanation for his being denied entry to the UK is because of his scheduled appearance with Huda Ammori, a founder of Palestine Action. The event has been organised by the left-wing magazine Tribune next week on ‘Washington’s global reign of terror and Britain’s role in reinforcing it’. This is the kind of time-worn nonsense that excites all true believers in such circles. Also on the agenda was a discussion of the ban on Palestine Action, including its effect on the author Sally Rooney, who has withdrawn her books from sale in the UK over her support for the group.

That is hardly a taboo topic, given that it has generated headlines and widespread debate in recent weeks. Rooney described the decision to ban Malm as a ‘sad and frightening act of cultural self-harm’. It isn’t that really. It is simply stupid and counterproductive, in part because it allows people like Rooney to make such overheated claims. Malm called his ban a ‘severe restriction on the exchange of free ideas’. That really is the substantive point.

The Tribune event next week is timed to coincide with the UK Supreme Court review of the controversial ban on Palestine Action under terrorism legislation. Are ministers merely scared of public embarrassment as the case winds its way through the legal process? All that the Home Office will say is that it does not comment on individual cases. That is unhelpful, given that the issue is in the public domain. There appears to be a growing propensity on the part of the government to resort to barring entry.

In April, 11 people described by then Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer as ‘far-right agitators’ were banned from coming to the UK ahead of a rally led by Tommy Robinson. Kanye West was also denied entry that same month after a backlash to his planned appearance at London’s Wireless Festival, following his frequent anti-Semitic, racist and pro-Nazi comments. Two left-wing commentators, Hasan Piker and Cenk Uygur, had their visas revoked in June ahead of scheduled appearances in London and Oxford.

They too were barred on the on the grounds that their presence, ‘may not be conducive to the public good’. Banning people whose views we deem disagreeable or unacceptable is never the answer. Denying Malm entry to Britain won’t make his views or ideas go away. To call it censorship is to miss the point: it is simply cowardly and only serves to harm the greater good of protecting free speech.