Times letters: Free speech and students seeing both sides

Times

20-06-2025

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Sir, You report (Jun 19) Arif Ahmed, the head of free speech at the Office for Students, as saying that students should 'write essays defending viewpoints they find offensive'. I am sure most students would find this a pointless and unpleasant requirement. It would be much more natural to require them to write about a controversial issue in dialogue form, coming to a reasoned judgment as to the merits of the arguments on both sides. Ever since Plato, this has been a common device among western philosophers.
Besides, the present fixation with writing essays has the dangerous side-effect of encouraging confirmation bias. This is the intellectual fault of ignoring factors that count against the position that the writer is arguing for, and which underlies a lot of bad scientific reasoning. Still worse is when examiners have a model essay in mind and mark students down for the extent to which they deviate from it. This is indoctrination rather than education.George MacDonald RossLeeds
Sir, Your report of Arif Ahmed's call for students to write essays defending viewpoints they oppose is a salient reminder that schools should develop the character strengths of empathy and open-mindedness in young people. Fortunately, such perspective-taking exercises are central to religious studies, philosophy and ethics courses, taught at GCSE and A-level, in which students must craft arguments both for and against social issues such as assisted dying, military intervention and genetic engineering.Ben Kerr-ShawBerkhamsted, Herts
Sir, There has been a huge increase in people's lack of tolerance towards the viewpoint of others over the past few years ('Academics 'fear being cancelled'', news, Jun 19). One way to tackle this would be for those in education to be exposed to views that are lawful — but which they might find offensive — and to discuss them. I therefore welcome the new guidance from the Office for Students. At the same time I find it remarkable that universities should have to be told to 'amend or terminate any agreement with foreign states or institutions that enabled censorship'. Universities are known to be under financial pressure but surely freedom of speech is one of the qualities that made our universities great in the first place.Peter SmithWoking, Surrey
Sir, The article on my piece in The Critic magazine ('Seldon 'put university on route to catastrophe'', Jun 19) focused on the University of Buckingham's experience. But I was using Buckingham only as an example. The time has come for all universities to remodel their governance on that used by Oxford, Cambridge, the Inns of Court and the medical royal colleges, and to be governed only by their academics. In the words of Michael Shattock, the doyen of university governance: 'Where improprieties and breakdowns have occurred, they have centred on governing bodies and the executive . . . not on the academic community.' Yet university improprieties and breakdowns are more common than is generally acknowledged.Terence KealeyCambridge
Sir, The European Space Agency's vision of orbital and lunar habitats is bold and commendable ('Life on Mars? Maybe . . . in 2040', Jun 19). But without enforceable governance and clear rights frameworks, technological ambition risks fuelling geopolitical rivalry and risky orbital militarisation. Space has become a geostrategic, economic and technological frontier, raising urgent questions about governance, equity, safety, security and sustainability in extreme environments. Who will ensure individual rights in space or prevent militarised or corporatised colonies?
We must marry technical ambition in space with ethical foresight and multi-stakeholder interests. The ESA's vision, while laudable, must not become merely a technocratic road map. It should be underpinned by laws and norms and a vision for a planetary social contract: one that reconciles national and corporate interests with transcultural and transplanetary interests in a sustainable and peaceful way.Professor Nayef Al-RodhanHead, Outer Space Security Cluster, Geneva Centre for Security Policy
Sir, The assisted dying bill specifies that doctors must undertake 'detailed training' on domestic abuse, including coercive control. The government's impact assessment describes this as 'an advanced, two-day, in-person training package'. For six years I have worked for a domestic abuse charity supporting victim-survivors. We know that some perpetrators of coercive behaviours drive their victims to suicide, either because the victim cannot see a way out of the abuse or because the perpetrator deliberately tells them that they are worthless and should take their own lives.
A one-off, two-day domestic abuse course will not provide participants with the skills to adequately detect domestic abuse and coercive control every time. It takes the experience and expertise of qualified domestic abuse practitioners to understand the dynamics and be able to pick them out. Without much stronger engagement with domestic abuse specialists this legislation would place victim-survivors at risk of being coerced into ending their own lives.Frances EllisChief executive, Rising Sun Domestic Violence & Abuse Service
Sir, The attorney-general is right to question the legality of Britain participating in US-led military strikes on Iran ('Britain could support US to strike Iran from the air', Jun 19). International law prohibits the use of force, with only two generally accepted exceptions — neither of which apply here. First, there is no UN security council authorisation. This makes the situation even clearer than the 2003 Iraq intervention. Then, the government could argue that it was acting under an earlier resolution that had been 'revived' because of Iraq's misconduct. No such argument is available now.
Second, the UK cannot rely on the claim of self-defence. Neither Britain nor Israel have been attacked. Rather, it was Israel's surprise attack that reignited hostilities after months of relative calm. While international lawyers debate whether a state may act against an imminent attack, publicly available information does not indicate that one was about to occur against Israel or any other state. Without credible evidence to the contrary — or further developments, such as Iranian strikes on UK assets — military action against Iran cannot be justified as self-defence. The prime minister should heed the legal advice and avoid dragging the UK into another military adventure without a clear legal basis.Kubo MacakProfessor of international law, University of Exeter
Sir, No one in the Chilterns will be surprised by the HS2 shambles ('HS2 an 'appalling mess' with no completion date', Jun 19). I was a member of the Chiltern Society sub-group charged with keeping a watching brief on the project. Various transport secretaries and MPs visited on fact-finding trips and in my view treated local protests with bored indifference. We were simply rich nimbys who didn't understand HS2's national significance. The only MP who treated the issue with any zeal was the late Cheryl Gillan, the MP for Chesham & Amersham, and she was dismissed as an overexcitable local politician.
The problem with HS2 was that there was no real opposition to it in parliament. Conservatives and Labour both wanted it to happen and consequently no one in charge took alternative viewpoints seriously. If there had been an independent public inquiry before the project began — as in the case of Terminal 5 at Heathrow — strict conditions would have been laid down and the project would not have careened out of control like the proverbial runaway train. Such an inquiry would have delayed the start and possibly added costs — but not to the extent we are enduring with HS2.Peter BrownPenn, Bucks
Sir, In 1896 Henry Labouchere MP branded a proposed rail link between Kenya and Uganda the 'lunatic line'. The 660-mile line took five years to build and cost between £600 million and £800 million in today's money (as well as the lives of dozens of workers lost to the Tsavo man-eating lions). With HS2 now expected to cost more than £100 billion and take upwards of 20 years to complete, one wonders what Labouchere would have made of this new level of insanity.Alfie Pearce-HigginsLondon SW15
Sir, Libby Purves's article on the King's birthday honours (Jun 16; letter, Jun 17) brings to attention one of the problems with the honours system. Leaders of small charities and historical and community organisations may be honoured as representatives of the bodies they front but the award is intended for the whole entity, which is usually staffed by volunteers. Is there a case for instituting a new honour for such small-scale bodies? Perhaps an Order of National Service to be appended to the name of the organisation, modelled on the George Cross. It would not need hierarchies (KCBE, CBE, etc) and would recognise the corporate work of the organisation, rather than the temporary figurehead. I write as one whose MBE was obviously intended for the whole Church Monuments Society rather than me as an individual.Dr Jean Wilson MBEHarlton, Cambs
Sir, Oxford Street is not one of the most unpleasant places in London because of vehicle traffic (news, Jun 17; letter, Jun 19). Its unpleasantness comes from phone thieves and a preponderance of dubious vape and candy stores. Neighbouring Soho is a far better candidate for pedestrianisation, containing no meaningful thoroughfares and having staged a successful period of pedestrianisation during the pandemic, which transformed dining out in the capital.Samuel CaseyLondon W6
Sir, In disparaging the idea of a National Potato Week (notebook, Jun 19), Hilary Rose misunderstands the importance of the October holiday to Scottish schools. It allows pupils to help farms to harvest the potato crop. That young children today know where potatoes come from is doubtful, let alone what season the harvest falls in. I am harvesting my own potatoes (Arran pilot) in August but perhaps schools should encourage pupils to celebrate the potato by visiting a farm this October.Dr JD MckelvieHelensburgh, Argyll and Bute
Sir, As usual, Citroën was way ahead of the needs of modern drivers. As well as power steering and adaptive 'see round the corner' headlights, our 1974 Citroën DS has an air horn. A gentle nudge gives the 'vehicular cough' Sathnam Sanghera asks for (notebook, Jun 16; letters, Jun 17 & 18). A harder tug and it blares out something more akin to a wounded trombone. Effective and elegant.Charlie RappleOxford
Sir, Living on the banks of the River Ribble we four rectory children were called to meals with a handbell over the railings (letter, Jun 19). The whole village knew our mealtimes.Ruth VarcoeSt Minver, Cornwall
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