You are listening to a program from BBC Radio 4.

By Lord Sachs, good morning.

Good morning.

Coming into Broadcasting House this morning,

I saw for the first time the statue unveiled this week of George Orwell,

with its inscription on the wall behind,

if liberty means anything at all,

it means the right to tell people what they do not

want to hear. How badly we need that truth today. I've been deeply troubled by what seems to me

the assault on free speech taking place in British universities, in the name of safe space,

trigger warnings and microaggressions, meaning any remark that someone might find offensive, even if no offence is meant.

So far has this gone that a month ago, students at an Oxford College banned the presence of a representative of the Christian Union on the grounds that some might find their presence

alienating and offensive.

Luckily, the protests that followed led to the ban being swiftly overturned, but still.

I'm sure this entire movement was undertaken for the highest of motives to protect the feelings of the vulnerable, which I applaud.

But you don't achieve that by silencing dissenting views. A safe space is the exact opposite.

A place where you give a respectful hearing to views opposed to your own,

knowing that your views too will be listened to respectfully.

That's academic freedom, and it's essential to a free society.

And it's what I learned at university.

My doctoral supervisor, the late Sir Bernard Williams, was an atheist.

I was a passionate religious believer.

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