Good title.

Universities ‘on notice’ after Kathleen Stock treatment, says minister

Name in the headline! There’s glory for you!

Universities have been put “on notice” to uphold free speech following the treatment of Kathleen Stock, a minister has said.

Baroness Smith of Malvern, the universities minister, told The Telegraph that higher education institutions must take lessons after the University of Sussex was hit with a record fine for breaching Dr Stock’s free speech.

The Office for Students (OfS), the higher education watchdog, fined the institution £585,000 in March and ruled that it had failed to protect the academic from being hounded out over her gender-critical views.

Yes, it “failed to protect” in the sense of all but applauding.

Baroness Smith said universities could face even larger sanctions if other academics were subjected to similar treatment, with new free speech laws set to come into effect on Friday.

“We have seen too many instances where those on campus have had their voices silenced and the chilling effect that has taken hold in some institutions cannot continue,” she told The Telegraph.

And what voices are silenced? The ones that say women have rights too, and that men should stop bullying us and stop trying to force us to play along with their magic gender fantasies. How did universities get to a place where women defending our own rights are seen as malevolent evil monsters while men in lipstick are treated as holy martyrs?

It marks a change in tone from the Government after Labour last year tried to shelve free speech laws drawn up in the wake of Dr Stock’s case and other high-profile episodes of cancel culture on campus.

Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, pulled the plug on flagship Tory legislation designed to protect academics last July, days before it was due to come into effect, and said she would consider repealing it altogether.

The Government later U-turned on the decision following widespread backlash from academics, with the new free speech laws now coming into force on Aug 1 – a year behind schedule.

Labour thinks women should be punished and driven out of their jobs for saying that men are not women. Make it make sense.