The argument argument
Tom Clark
Editorial
Britain is in the midst of an almighty argument about how to argue. Who gets to speak? On what authority?
What language is acceptable—what words are off limits? Any other discussion we might want to have will be doomed until we can settle these questions.
Headlines scream about snowflake students “no-platforming” anyone who hasn’t quite mastered the latest terms for transgender people. The government has tasked a new regulator with upholding free speech on campus. We ask a lawyer whether we need a British First Amendment (p32). And we turn to a couple of student journalists (Marta Santiváñez and Emma Yeomans, p26) to tell us what’s really happening. They cut through some alarmist myths, but do confirm that there is, these days, often as much emphasis on who gets asked to speak in debates, as there is on what is said.