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Your freedom-of-speech leader ("We must guard the right to say the unthinkable", October 26) swept Bristol University up in tut-tutting at institutions that did not, in the end, host a lecture by James Watson.

For the record: the lecture was not organised by the university; it was never scheduled to take place at the university; our role was to have been to provide support (such as a chairman), as we sometimes do for events organised by the Bristol Festival of Ideas.

Had it been the university's event, it might have gone ahead. But we make no criticism of the organisers, who found themselves under intense pressure to pull the plug. Some basic fact-checking might be sensible before you pen your next homily.

Barry Taylor, Communications director, Bristol University.