Also: I don't see how any intelligent and lucid person could watch this press conference and conclude that the president of the United States has anywhere near sufficient cognitive ability to properly execute the duties of his office.

I share this with respect for the many excellent journalists at the BBC.

And with the hope that transparency helps strengthen, not weaken, our democratic culture. /5

It’s especially ironic because the lecture is exactly about the ‘paralyzing cowardice’ of today’s elites.

About universities, corporations and media networks bending the knee to authoritarianism. /4

This has happened against my wishes, and I’m genuinely dismayed by it.

Not because people can’t disagree with my words, but because self-censorship driven by fear (Trump threatening to sue the BBC) should concern all of us. /3

This sentence was taken out of a lecture they commissioned, reviewed through the full editorial process, and recorded four weeks ago in front of 500 people in the BBC Radio Theatre.

I was told the decision came from the highest levels within the BBC. /2