YOU can imagine the sleepless nights the Archbishop of York will be enduring over the nasty little rumour he is to be denied a life peerage as 'punishment' for his outspoken criticism of the Government.

It is possible the rumour is just that: a rumour. But the fact so many of us are inclined to believe it speaks volumes.

Certainly the howls of denial from Downing Street have all the ring of outraged insincerity. You can almost hear the spin-doctors scurrying around in the background wondering who they can bully next to limit the damage.

The idea that Dr David Hope could be cowed into keeping silent by such a threat is, of course, ludicrous. It is the kind of idea that only New Labour (or Tory) spin-doctors (who probably have wet dreams about one day waking up with a peerage themselves) would ever think of.

Nevertheless, the whole thing leaves a nasty taste in the mouth - a nastiness that is wholly in keeping with the behaviour of disgraced spin-doctor Jo Moore and her horrid little email.

That Moore is still in her job advising ministers how to 'manage' the news is a disgrace: especially now, at a time of crisis when the country cries out for good, moral leadership.

One of the first things York's MP Hugh Bayley said after the terrorist attacks on September 11 was that we must not let our understandable desire to protect ourselves be used as an excuse to undermine the democratic freedoms we enjoy.

Those are words his own government would do well to heed. Because one of the first casualties of war is truth: and one of the first freedoms to be curtailed is the freedom of speech.

The Archbishop of York won't be the only 'victim'. Labour backbencher Paul Marsden has already been branded an 'appeaser' by his own chief whip for daring to oppose the war in Afghanistan.

And as that war pursues its bloody course, journalists everywhere will come under increasing pressure to peddle propaganda rather than truth. We have seen the first hints already, in the pressure to censor Osama bin Laden's cleverly-timed video clips and to restrict reporting of Tony Blair's movements during his coalition-building visits to the Middle East and beyond.

Such attempts to stifle debate must be resisted - because freedoms surrendered at a time of national insecurity are not easily won back.

It's not only the Government, however, which acts as censor. There's a subtler form of censorship going on - one that involves us all.

At times of national hysteria, certain things that go against the tide of public opinion become almost unsayable.

That has been the case since September 11. Anyone wishing to criticise the war in Afghanistan has first to hedge whatever they say with phrases such as 'of course, the murder of 6,000 Americans on September 11 was unspeakable and unforgiveable,' and 'of course, bin Laden is evil and must be stopped' - and even then they risk being branded as appeasers.

Of course the murders were unspeakable, and of course bin Laden must be stopped. And as for the cowards who deliberately unleashed anthrax on fellow human beings - I have nothing but contempt for them.

But as the horror and anger mounts, we must defend the freedom to say this, as well.

A life is a life - and each is as valuable and irreplaceable as the next.

The death of every Afghan villager, 'collateral damage' in a war he never wanted, and the death of every starving Afghan child from cold or hunger, is as much a tragedy as the death of each one of the casualties of September 11.

We must not lose sight of this truth.

This week's column was written by Stephen Lewis.