“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.”

‘The Freedom of The Press’, George Orwell’s proposed Preface to Animal Farm, 1945.

About Oldspeak

Oldspeak is the hub of the KCL Free Speech Society community. Our society publishes Oldspeak Journal and hosts the Oldspeak Radio podcast; these publications aim to platform the uncensored student voice on a range of contemporary topics and provide the opportunity for our members to have their ideas published in a formalised setting.

Oldspeak Journal is a bi-weekly Substack publication through which we publish opinion pieces and articles written by KCL Free Speech Society committee and members. We encourage readers to subscribe to the Oldspeak Newsletter here on Substack, which will enable you to receive these contributions from members of our community in your email inbox, in addition to our brand new podcast episode releases and updates on society events.

We invite members of our society to pitch articles for submission to be published in Oldspeak Journal. We also take recommendations from our members on which guest speakers they’d like to see on Oldspeak Radio - for any suggestions, please get in touch!

Oldspeak Team

• Managing Editor

  • Lottie Tredgett

• Staff Writers

  • Fin Helset

  • TBC

About Our Society

In 2025, genuine academic freedom is declining in the United Kingdom. While universities used to be the epicentre of free thought and intellectual development, a culture of censorship is gripping our student community in the 21st century, such that many students are now afraid to truly speak their minds.

KCL Free Speech Society, established in 2025, seeks to change that. Our society aims to combat self-censorship on campus by rejecting the hostility levelled at students with minority views, and providing a medium through which students can engage with each other on contentious topics in a respectful space, free of judgement, to explore areas of thought they had previously discarded.

Our society hosts weekly Friday Seminars on a range of contestable issues in contemporary discourse selected and voted on by our members. These topics span across the entire political spectrum, and KCL Free Speech Society is committed to being unpartisan. In addition to this, our society runs formal events, talks and debates involving a variety of insightful and thought-provoking speakers. To become a member, click here.

For enquiries or concerns, please contact us at kclfreespeech@gmail.com.