The Times reports that Konstantin Kisin turned down his invitation to speak at SOAS after he was sent a behavioural agreement form by the students organising the event, Unicef on Campus. The form asked him to accept the group’s no tolerance policy on the following:
racism, sexism, classism, ageism, homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, xenophobia, Islamophobia or anti-religion or anti-atheism
Unicef on Campus's purpose, it seems, was to ensure a “safe space” and an atmosphere of “joy, love and acceptance”. Quite amazingly, there was nothing on the list to do with veganophobia. SOAS must be full of chicken-fanciers.
This nonsense reminded me of going to an isolated Cumbrian pub about 50 years ago – one of those odd places which was more house than pub; you sat in the living room and the landlady joined you for conversation. It was like being at home. On this occasion, she said, I don't mind what we talk about as long as it's not religion, politics or sex. For three late adolescents, this was a bit of a poser, and we quickly moved on – just like Kisin.
Still, as Roger Scruton noted the other day, it's still fine to tell jokes about ginger-haired or no-haired people who seem quite unprotected by the humour(less) polizei.
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