Free speech is now dead – and that’s no joke

I have just reread 1984, George Orwell’s chilling prophecy of the future. That future is now here. We allow hate preachers to flourish, while, as you reported last week, the organisers of a conference demanded an apology from a British-based professor for cracking a very gentle joke. When asked what floor he would like the hotel lift to stop at, Richard Ned Lebow, a professor of international political theory at King’s College, London, answered light-heartedly: ‘Ladies’ lingerie.’ It’s the tame sort of thing you might have heard in the 1970s TV department store sitcom Are You Being Served?

How can we allow this hijacking of our thoughts and humour to continue? These narrow-minded people cannot be allowed to drag us down to their level.

Do I need to apologise now for saying that?

In Are You Being Served?, Mr Humphries used to say: ‘I’m free!’ For how much longer, I wonder? Peter Bryant, Ramsgate Freedom of speech is now officially dead. If one is not permitted to make a harmless quip in public without being reported, it really is time for us all to close our doors, stay at home and not dare to speak in case we offend someone.

Our parents and ancestors who fought for our freedom of speech would be turning in their graves if they were here to witness this. Well done to Prof Lebow for not giving into the ‘gender professor’ who reported him. Gillie Coghlan, Oxford I cannot believe that Prof Lebow was targeted for his light-hearted comment. I am a woman and his was just the sort of quip I would make myself.

God forbid that I would ever become like the complainant, Simona Sharoni, who obviously does not have any sense of humour – likewise the moaners who object to wolf whistles. This is all a part of life and some people need to loosen up and relax more.

And whatever Prof Lebow does, he must not apologise to anyone about his little joke. Marie Trevivian, Cheshire Well done to Prof Lebow for refusing to apologise for his harmless joke. To report him for ‘harassment’ was ludicrous. He is right – all this behaviour has to stop. Gill Lawrence, Bletchley, Buckinghamshire It is ridiculous that this clever man’s career might now be in jeopardy over a silly joke. I think people need to lighten up. V. de Bheal, London Another person who has fallen foul of the PC brigade is Lord Tebbit. Last week you reported that he has provoked outrage by vowing to boycott services conducted by a gay dean. He says he stands by what is written in the Bible on homosexuality.

Those who embrace a traditional interpretation of the Bible are called intolerant, yet it is the accusers who lack tolerance towards people with traditional Christian beliefs. Chaka Artwell, Oxford