That’s Debatable! is the weekly podcast of the Free Speech Union. Hosts Lynsey Metcalfe 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.
Jan is joined this week by FSU Case Officer Lynsey Metcalfe. They discuss stories of more ‘rainbow refuseniks’ – in this case, two footballers who have been punished by the French footballing authorities for blacking out rainbow-related insignia on their kit – and Lynsey tells how the FSU caseload reflects similar instances of resistance to the Pride agenda, in particular amongst those of religious faith.
While the football examples involve players of various faiths, there is a strong perception at present that when professed by Christians, conservative beliefs are more likely to be policed than when others of different faiths say similar things. For example, research conducted by the FSU into the policing of street preachers seems to confirm this perception, with Christians found to be only faith group subjected to arrest, despite the researchers actively searching for cases involving other religion.
Finally, Lynsey and Jan consider the profoundly isolating effects of having to conceal one’s beliefs when others are invited to express theirs, in workplaces, institutions and other areas of life.
That's Debatable! is edited by Jason Clift
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Do we need an 'Islamophobia' definition?
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
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In Defence of Banter and Books
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
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Connie’s Campus Strife
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
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Classroom Battles
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.
This week, the Free Speech Union’s Education and Events Director Jan Macvarish takes the steering wheel as Tom Harris is away. She is joined by the Free Speech Union’s Case Management Officer Lynsey Metcalfe to discuss some research Lynsey is conducting into the free speech issues that arise in schools. It will be published in the coming months on the FSU website.
Lynsey and Jan also refer to last week’s book launch for Andrew Doyle’s The End of Woke, the video of which has already been watched thousands of times and can be viewed here.
A video from the FSU/Women’s Rights Network event held last weekend in Manchester with Akua Reindorf KC that is also mentioned will be posted on our You Tube channel by the end of the week.
That's Debatable!’ is edited by Jason Clift.
Welcome to ‘That’s Debatable!’, 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 and interview some of the main protagonists in those dramas. Edited by Jason Clift. Please like, subscribe and share. Thank you.
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