Among the British values and standards which J Metcalfe (Punish protesters, Letters, March 18) praises is the one that allows every citizen the right to free speech.

However, the writer seems to think that this applies only to ideas and beliefs which they find acceptable. Freedom of speech is a meaningless concept if it does not include views which the rest of us might find unpleasant, even offensive. The writer would do well to remember (as would Mr Waite, Letters, March 18) that it wasn’t Britain’s Armed Forces which established the right to speak freely, but thousands of brave individuals, who were thrown into prison or transported for views which were condemned at the time as being “insulting” or “outrageous”.

And I really cannot let Mr Waite’s bizarre suggestion that the opium trade is a Muslim conspiracy against the West, go unanswered. There would be no opium trade in Afghanistan if there wasn’t a western market for drugs.

The refining, transporting and selling of illegal drugs, not to mention consumption of same, are invariadbly carried out by westerners, many of whom, especially in the US, are nominally Christians.

Patrick Kelly
Scarcroft Hill, York.