That’s Debatable!’ is the weekly podcast of the Free Speech Union. Hosts Connie Shaw and Jan MacVarish – both staffers at the FSU – talk about the free speech controversies that have erupted in the past week. Please like, subscribe and share.

This week Jan and Connie discuss the robust guidance issued by the Office for Students in relation to free speech, and the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 which comes into force on 1 August this year. The Office for Students accepted the FSU's recommendation that all legal speech should be protected at universities and that legal speech should not be regulated at all. It should change the culture at universities, with students told to be ready to be shocked and offended.

Also discussed is the new working group set up by the government to establish a non-statutory definition of 'Islamophobia'. A call for evidence was issued on the same day that Baroness Casey’s National Audit on Group-based Child Exploitation was published and Yvette Cooper made a statement on the national inquiry into grooming gangs. The issue has long been suppressed as an allegedly racist or Islamophobic dog whistle, including by a 2018 All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) report which established a definition that the Labour Party adopted. The chair of the new working group, Dominic Grieve, wrote the forward and welcomed the findings of the 2018 APPG report. The Free Speech Union has not been asked to give evidence.

In similar news, they discuss the amendment tabled by Nick Timothy MP to the Crime and Policing Bill 2024-25 designed to secure the freedom to criticise religion by extending the free speech protections of the Public Order Act 1986.

Office for Students guidance https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/news-blog-and-events/press-and-media/ofs-publishes-free-speech-guidance-as-polling-shows-one-in-five-academics-do-not-feel-free-to-teach-controversial-views/#:~:text='This%20guidance%20emphasises%20that%20freedom,can't%20ban%20ideas.'

John Jenkins’ article 'Has the Islamophobia 'Working Group' already made up its mind?’ https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/has-the-islamophobia-working-group-of-mps-already-made-up-its-mind/

Politics Home reports on the questions being asked by the Islamphobia working group https://www.politicshome.com/news/article/government-seeks-input-including-racism-islamophobia-definition

Freddie Attenborough article ''Islamophobia' and the grooming gangs scandal' https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/islamophobia-and-the-grooming-gangs-scandal/

Freddie Attenborough article 'The grooming gangs scandal shows the importance of free speech' https://thecritic.co.uk/the-grooming-gangs-scandal-shows-the-importance-of-free-speech/?mc_cid=c6de95ce3d&mc_eid=2190e49a54

Exchange between MPs Jess Phillips, Shockat Adam and Nick Timothy https://x.com/nj_timothy/status/1935738036983042508?s=46&t=YZKdwC8hdWThZq-sxVV0Fw

That's Debatable is edited by Jason Clift

That’s Debatable!’ is the weekly podcast of the Free Speech Union. Hosts Tom Harris and Jan MacVarish – both staffers at the FSU – talk about the free speech controversies that have erupted in the past week. Please like, subscribe and share.

In this week’s episode, Jan Macvarish and Connie Shaw discuss the FSU’s campaign against the ‘banter ban’. Connie describes legislative reforms that are being proposed as part of the government’s Employment Rights Bill and the problems the FSU has identified with them for free speech. FSU General Secretary addressed the audience at last week’s Comedy Unleashed gig and interviewed comedians including Andrew Doyle, Josh Howie and Francis Foster, about the prospect of ‘banter bouncers’ in venues, clubs and pubs. You can find out more and watch the video here.

Toby also appeared on Sunday’s Free Speech Nation (around 1 hour 35 minutes in) to discuss the bill with Andrew Doyle. Connie encourages viewers and listeners to use our special online tool to alert members of the House of Lords to the dangers of the Bill and to encourage them to support Lord Young’s amendments. It’s not just the FSU that has identified problems - the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has also warned of the ‘risk of unintended consequences’ and counselled the need to ‘balance…rights to freedom from harassment and freedom of expression’. You can read their briefing here.

Connie then introduces a news story she spotted about a US school-teacher who has been threatened with the sack for reading an unedited passage of To Kill A Mockingbird to pupils. She and Jan discuss how children need to be able to understand the context in which words gain their power and the role of teachers in guiding them through linguistic taboos that have changed over time. They then go on to talk about Ray Bradbury’s dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451, written in 1953, which imagines a future America where books are banned and destroyed by fire. The novel explores the impact on memory, imagination and the ability to think and experience emotion that this has.

And finally, they return to the ‘banter’ question with an article reporting that a university researcher went undercover at his own golf club to analyse how jokes, innuendo and laddish banter forged a bonded but potentially exclusionary culture amongst golfers. The story raises questions about freedom of association, the role of humour in human relationships and research ethics.

Edited by Jason Clift

That’s Debatable!’ is the weekly podcast of the Free Speech Union. Hosts Tom Harris and Jan MacVarish – both staffers at the FSU – talk about the free speech controversies that have erupted in the past week. Please like, subscribe and share.

In this week’s episode, Jan Macvarish and Connie Shaw discuss the FSU’s campaign against the ‘banter ban’. Connie describes legislative reforms that are being proposed as part of the government’s Employment Rights Bill and the problems the FSU has identified with them for free speech. FSU General Secretary addressed the audience at last week’s Comedy Unleashed gig and interviewed comedians including Andrew Doyle, Josh Howie and Francis Foster, about the prospect of ‘banter bouncers’ in venues, clubs and pubs. You can find out more and watch the video here.

Toby also appeared on Sunday’s Free Speech Nation (around 1 hour 35 minutes in) to discuss the bill with Andrew Doyle. Connie encourages viewers and listeners to use our special online tool to alert members of the House of Lords to the dangers of the Bill and to encourage them to support Lord Young’s amendments. It’s not just the FSU that has identified problems - the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has also warned of the ‘risk of unintended consequences’ and counselled the need to ‘balance…rights to freedom from harassment and freedom of expression’. You can read their briefing here.

Connie then introduces a news story she spotted about a US school-teacher who has been threatened with the sack for reading an unedited passage of To Kill A Mockingbird to pupils. She and Jan discuss how children need to be able to understand the context in which words gain their power and the role of teachers in guiding them through linguistic taboos that have changed over time. They then go on to talk about Ray Bradbury’s dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451, written in 1953, which imagines a future America where books are banned and destroyed by fire. The novel explores the impact on memory, imagination and the ability to think and experience emotion that this has.

And finally, they return to the ‘banter’ question with an article reporting that a university researcher went undercover at his own golf club to analyse how jokes, innuendo and laddish banter forged a bonded but potentially exclusionary culture amongst golfers. The story raises questions about freedom of association, the role of humour in human relationships and research ethics.

Edited by Jason Clift