The incoming Chair of the CharityCommission, Orlando Fraser, made a very interesting speech last month, reiterating charities' rights to campaign. The bit that caught my eye was this:
"And there is a final, important point I would like to make in this area, which takes us back to the quality of charitable kindness I was commending earlier.
Most issues in society are complex. Rights and interests of individuals and groups are often in competition with one another. There is usually right, and value, to both sides of an argument.
"Sadly, that nuance is rarely reflected in the tone of public discourse, which is often coarse, and it threatens to become coarser still. Debates on many issues are polarised, and personal, and serve to further entrench existing standpoints.
This trend towards constant aggression presents a risk to our democratic culture...
"...I think English and Welsh charities engaging in political activity can, and should, be different too. Charities can model a better kind of public discourse than the aggression we sometimes sadly see from the party political debate. They can help teach others how to inspire and inform, rather than stifle and poison, reasoned debate. They should campaign with vigour and energy yes, but I believe they should do so also with tolerance and kindness.
"Charities should seek to win people over. Draw people to their cause, work to persuade those whose starting perspectives and allegiances may be different, and indeed initially hostile to their cause or the people they serve."
Or of course, you could just call people who disagree with you bigots and hate criminals and take them to court to try and destroy them.
Full speech here if you're interested: www.gov.uk/government/speeches/orlando-fraser-kc-speech-to-the-charity-commission-annual-public-meeting-2022