Misreading fiction as fact

In The Guardian, following the failure of the case against two Manchester schoolboys based on their diaries, Guild President David Edgar argues that the right to free speech in fiction must be preserved.

A conceptual confusion which has hitherto provided a politician with a populist soundbite, or a tabloid newspaper with a day or two's headlines is now informing the actions of the CPS. Once again, infringement of the principle of free speech has consequences way beyond its presumed constituency.