Reading Jacqueline Maley’s piece on Trump’s ongoing attack on those expressing any view he doesn’t like brings into sharp focus the diminishing “right to free speech” (“ Under Trump, the gradual descent of the US is poised to turn sudden ”, September 21). For 20 years I was a member of Rostrum, a public speaking organisation founded by a Congregational clergyman and journalist, Sidney Wicks, in 1923. As members, we took the Rostrum Promise, learnt by rote, which included, “I will defend freedom of speech in the community and will try at all times to think truly and speak clearly. I promise not to be silent when I ought to speak.” I don’t think there are any Rostrum clubs in the US. However, in the present environment, it seems that the dictatorial chairperson will move from the chair tha

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