Dissentbanned?

I write to endorse everything which Bill Jamieson wrote in his recent Scottish Perspective article “The myth of a tolerant, inclusive UK” (The Scotsman, 10 August).

We live in a society where diversity is never encouraged; to have the “wrong” view on something will see you shouted down.

But it’s worse than that. You have to have the “right” view on everything. If you doubt this, query immigration levels into the UK and see how long it is before you’ve morphed into a racist. Have you doubts about same-sex marriage or parenting? You are almost automatically homophobic. This is why the Norfolk branch of the National Trust thought it acceptable to issue Gay Pride badges before sense set in.

Even not to be sure about an area is no longer good enough. Unless you fulfil PC criteria, this itself is an error in thinking. This is totalitarianism by stealth.

As to Tim Farron, he is unlikely to be an evangelical Christian and also leader of a party which actively promotes LGBTI rights. As an MP, he can vote whichever way his conscience dictates. And that is important, too. There should be debate within as well as between parties.

No one wants a return to the bad old days of the 1960s and 70s when homosexual acts were criminal and comedians could be abusive towards other races or cultures. But we do seem to have lost tolerance for dissenting views.

Whether it’s safe spaces at our universities – a contradiction in terms, I should have thought – or removal of statues we find historically embarrassing, we seem to have come too far. A truly diverse society relishes opinions it may find offensive.

DONALD THOMSON Salisbury Terrace, Aberdeen