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Older, white males without university education feel most restricted in what they can say, study finds

Older, white males without university education feel most restricted in what they can say, study finds

NZ Herald16-07-2025
It follows controversies such as 2021 protests against a teacher in Batley, West Yorkshire, who received death threats and went into hiding after showing pupils a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad from Charlie Hebdo, the French satirical magazine, during a religious studies lesson.
Similar concerns over the right to freedom of expression and protest have been raised in the aftermath of the October 7 2023 Hamas terror attack on Israel and the ensuing Gaza conflict.
More than a third (36%) felt they had to hold back on expressing their views on race or ethnicity, while 32% said they did not feel they could freely speak out on immigration or religious extremism.
On asylum and Gaza, 31% felt constrained, rising to 41% for transgender issues.
Groups that were predominantly white, male, older, and non-graduate were more strongly in favour of free speech, regardless of the issue, but at the same time felt more constrained in their ability to freely share their views about most topics.
Nearly half of this group (48%) said they felt they had to restrain their comments on race, far higher than the average of 36%. The same was true on immigration, where 43% felt they had to hold back on their views compared to an overall average among the public of 32% who felt constrained.
Christians were more likely to back the right to free speech, but also more likely than average to feel they had to hold back on expressing their views.
Conversely, women, younger Britons, and people from ethnic minorities or non-Christian religions tended to think that people needed to be more sensitive in the way they spoke.
Just under a third (29%) of all those polled agreed that people needed to be more sensitive. But this rose to 34% amongst women, 45% from ethnic minorities and 45% for non-Christians.
By contrast, men, people aged over 65, those from white ethnicities, and Christians were more likely to think that people are too easily offended.
While on average 49% felt people were too easily offended, this rose to 56% of men, 54% of those from a white ethnicity and 59% for Christians. These were nearly double the rates for people from ethnic minorities and non-Christians.
Race and ethnicity was the only topic overall where the balance of opinion was more towards avoiding offence rather than speaking freely (by 42% to 34% ), according to the research.
People predominantly held back from expressing their views to avoid causing offence or starting an argument.
Forty-six per cent resisted expressing their views on any religious figure, text, or teaching and just 35% held back their political views to avoid causing offence.
Some said they held back because of heightened concerns about their safety. For religious topics, 25% said they restrained themselves because of safety fears, and 17% over political views.
The report said there was a group of people for whom free speech was a significant issue. They represented about 37% of the total sample and were described by researchers as those who were most concerned about the pace of change.
But they were also the group most likely to express 'heightened concerns' about their ability to speak freely about race, immigration, asylum, and religious extremism.
Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, said: 'The left's determination to shut down debate around immigration has created a chilling environment for free speech. In this context, a catch-all definition of Islamophobia would be a disaster, worsening the culture of fear that has spread throughout society.'
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US President Donald Trump (R) and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu take questions during a press conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on 4 February, 2025. Photo: ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump appeared to abandon Gaza ceasefire negotiations with Hamas, both saying it had become clear that the Palestinian militants did not want a deal. Netanyahu said Israel was now mulling "alternative" options to achieve its goals of bringing its hostages home from Gaza and ending Hamas rule in the enclave, where starvation is spreading and most of the population is homeless amid widespread ruin. Trump said he believed Hamas leaders would now be "hunted down", telling reporters: "Hamas really didn't want to make a deal. I think they want to die. And it's very bad. And it got to be to a point where you're going to have to finish the job." 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The proposed ceasefire would suspend fighting for 60 days, allow more aid into Gaza, and free some of the 50 remaining hostages held by militants in return for Palestinian prisoners jailed in Israel. It has been held up by disagreement over how far Israel should withdraw its troops and the future beyond the 60 days if no permanent agreement is reached. Itamar Ben-Gvir, the far-right national security minister in Netanyahu's coalition, welcomed Netanyahu's step, calling for a total halt of aid to Gaza and complete conquest of the enclave, adding in a post on X: "Total annihilation of Hamas, encourage emigration, (Jewish) settlement." International aid organisations say mass hunger has now arrived among Gaza's 2.2 million people , with stocks running out after Israel cut off all supplies to the territory in March, then reopened it in May but with new restrictions. The Israeli military said on Friday (local time) it had agreed to let countries airdrop aid into Gaza. Hamas dismissed this as a stunt. "The Gaza Strip does not need flying aerobatics, it needs an open humanitarian corridor and a steady daily flow of aid trucks to save what remains of the lives of besieged, starving civilians," Ismail Al-Thawabta, director of the Hamas-run Gaza government media office, told Reuters. Gaza medical authorities said nine more Palestinians had died over the past 24 hours from malnutrition or starvation. Dozens have died in the past few weeks as hunger worsens. Israel says it has let enough food into Gaza and accuses the United Nations of failing to distribute it, in what the Israeli foreign ministry called on Friday "a deliberate ploy to defame Israel". The United Nations says it is operating as effectively as possible under Israeli restrictions. United Nations agencies said on Friday that supplies were running out in Gaza of specialised therapeutic food to save the lives of children suffering from severe acute malnutrition. United Nations aid chief Tom Fletcher also has demanded that Israel provide evidence for its accusations that staff with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs were affiliated with Hamas, according to a letter seen by Reuters. The ceasefire talks have been accompanied by continuing Israeli offensives. Palestinian health officials said Israeli airstrikes and gunfire had killed at least 21 people across the enclave on Friday, including five killed in a strike on a school sheltering displaced families in Gaza City. In the city, residents carried the body of journalist Adam Abu Harbid through the streets wrapped in a white shroud, his blue flak jacket marked PRESS draped across his body. He was killed overnight in a strike on tents housing displaced people. Mahmoud Awadia, another journalist attending the funeral, said the Israelis were deliberately trying to kill reporters. Israel denies intentionally targeting journalists. Israel launched its assault on Gaza after Hamas-led fighters stormed Israeli towns near the border, killing some 1200 people and capturing 251 hostages on 7 October, 2023. Since then, Israeli forces have killed nearly 60,000 people in Gaza, health officials there say, and reduced much of the enclave to ruins. - Reuters

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