It’s been a bad few days for free speech. First, we had the sacking of TalkSport DJ Jon Gaunt for calling a Tory councillor a “Nazi” and an “ignorant pig” during a discussion on a ban on smokers fostering children.

The second reverse was the hysteria whipped up by the illicit release of the names and addresses of members of the British National Party. And with it, nasty McCarthyite-style witch-huntery.

Both stories, in various ways, illustrate that the spectrum of acceptable opinion is narrowing dramatically.

Gaunt’s sacking shows — after the entirely different Brand and Ross farce — just how nervous our media is of offending anyone. Gaunt is a populist commentator, who was employed by TalkSport precisely to speak his mind.

Yes, he overstepped the mark, but he immediately attempted to apologise and explain that he meant to call the Tory councillor a ‘health Nazi’. Of course, he had no real explanation for calling his guest an ‘ignorant pig’ except that, as a child who had been fostered himself, he felt passionate about his subject.

No one could seriously accuse Gaunt of slandering the councillor. The Nazi allegation couldn’t be taken seriously by anyone and the ‘ignorant pig’ comment was just abuse. That’s not to say it should have been taken lightly. Gaunt deserved censure because, passionate or not, he can’t go about abusing people. But sacking? Isn’t that indicative of a knee-jerk fear of being seen outside the cosy confines of political correctness?

Meanwhile, we’ve had a similar over-reaction to the leaking of the BNP membership list. It’s one thing to ask genuine questions, like why, for example, there seems no obvious correlation between membership and high areas of immigration? But some coverage has smacked of a witch-hunt or, at best, a rubbernecking at all the sad weirdos.

And, at its most simplistic level, there’s been a visceral delight that these ‘fascists’ have been ‘unmasked’. Indeed, there’s an element of interactive cyber hunting. Click on the map and find the Nazis in your area. (Or at least the stupid Nazis in the area. Smart Nazis don’t join the BNP. They just hold their prejudiced and bigoted views in every sector and stratum of society and many are regarded as model citizens. Nobody ever gets to know what they’re really thinking.)

Yes, it’s hard to muster sympathy for those outed. The howls of outrage of many on the list are exactly because they were only too aware of how most decent people view the party.

Yet it also shows just how confused we are. It's legal to join the BNP and to vote for them. But membership for some occupations is verboten.

Policemen and prison officers on the list now face the sack. Some may say ‘slap it up them’ — the prohibition has been in place for several years so they knew the risks. True, but such is the new McCarthyism that even those in professions with no rules about the BNP may be subject to censure. It’s been mooted that teachers may be asked if party membership is compatible to their legal obligations to promote fairness and equality. Professional medical bodies proclaim smugly that they’ve no intention of investigating doctors on the list. Fair enough, but why are such questions even in the air? Indeed, why so little outrage at BNP members’ right to privacy as protected by the courts?

Meanwhile, back at TalkSport, freelance presenter Rod Lucas has been fired for being on the list. Actually, no he hasn’t. There are just no plans to use him in the future. There’s no evidence of Lucas ever having abused his position by broadcasting pro-BNP views. He says he joined as part of his investigative duties, and also signed up to 20 other organisations at the time including the Animal Liberation Front and Save the Panda. Still any link to the BNP means public black-balling ? An organisation is either legal or it isn’t. If it is legal to join the BNP then why should they have to ‘explain’ their views to anybody?

Yes, let’s sack people who discriminate against people because of their colour or ethnic origins. But for the thoughts in their head? And, even worse, for a thought that we collectively are assigning willy-nilly to a (possibly innocent if monumentally foolish) person.

Are all BNP members Nazis or racists? I don’t know but the fact they win support in areas of near-terminal economic decline suggests at least some of the votes are not just from Nazi supremacists but from those profoundly disaffected from the political system.

Freedom of thinking isn't just for those we happen to agree with.

What about phone vote on Strictly’s judges now?

Like the two old pros they are, Bruce Forsyth and John Sergeant took the bad look off Strictly Come Dancing as the bullied and ridiculed ex-political journalist took his leave from the show.

In a bravura stab at feelgoodery, Bruce set up John to say that, no, he hadn’t felt pushed off, before leading the studio audience — and probably most of those watching at home — in a standing ovation to the 64-year-old and his partner Kristina Rihanoff. True showbiz — and just what you’d expect from two entertainers of this calibre.

But the fact remains that the show’s credibility has been seriously damaged. No matter that it was awash with thousands of sequins, or that desperate-to-win Rachel Stevens got Strictly’s first ever four 10s, or that we all want our own Christine to do well, the sparkle has gone. And for that, blame the judges, who didn’t rise to their feet to wish the departing John well. Instead, there they sat, puffed up with ludicrous self-importance, four poker-faced, party-pooping prats who hadn’t the wit to realise they’d just killed off the best series yet in the show’s history.

Of course, it’s what happens when egos get overblown. You see, the Strictly judges made a stupid mistake in thinking that they were the stars of the show. They’re not. Over on The X Factor, the judges are the stars, and the contestants are unknowns, hoping to get a lucky break. But on Strictly, it’s Brucie and the contestants (yes even those C-list celebs) who are the stars. It’s the judges who need a lucky break.

To be blunt, you could replace any of the judges and Strictly would take no hurt. Post-Sergeantgate, that’s even more true. Now, Sergeant’s exit leaves them in a bit of a dither as to how to fill out the run, being a contestant down. Er, what about a phone poll to vote off, say, two judges?

At least, it would give the Beeb a chance to prove to those all-important people watching at home that their opinions really do count for something.

Ads in Coronation Street?

Not content with failing to capitalise on the biggest financial meltdown since the Great Depression, the Tories want to allow companies to ‘place’ their products on hit ITV dramas like Coronation Street and Midsomer Murders, raising an estimated £35m a year. Tory spokesman Ed Vaizey argues the dosh could go into maintaining ‘quality drama' and offsetting projected cutbacks in news budgets.

A bit like Kenneth Tynan and four-letter words in the Sixties, fictitious but well-loved characters would be able to blurt out previously taboo names like KitKat, Mars, Guinness, Sony and, er, Ocean Finance.

Now we'll know every time Inspector Barnaby jumps into his brand new Ford Mondeo (with zero percent finance), or when Norris develops a craving for a bar of Cadbury's (“It's got a full glass and a half, Rita”), that this may not be key to the unfolding drama. We'll know the line has been scripted by an ITV accountant.

And you know what, Ed, we'll stop ‘believing' in Weatherfield and Walford, Rita and Norris — and one of the few things left that unifies this country will be changed utterly.

All for the sake of a measly £35m.

Why Prince Harry isn’t a perfect suitor

It seems that Prince Harry has shown that he's a lad's lad. Again. This time by forgetting to have his girlfriend Chelsea Davy picked up. It seems the poor girl — after having decided to get to Highgrove by train — was left stranded at the station in strappy heels and evening dress.

No wonder she was seen on her mobile bending somebody's ear.

Of course, it's not the first time this has happened. Harry apparently left her stranded at Heathrow after turning up at the wrong terminal. Mmm. To forget about one's girlfriend once can be be regarded as a misfortune, but to forget about one's girlfriend twice looks like carelessness ...