Playing it back. Fantastic intro from Justin Webb, no mincing words. "An attempt to intimidate and destroy the career of Prof Stock" and very clearly setting out the difference between sex and gender as discussed in Material Girls.
The VC did start off well, was very clear on KS's right to free speech and agreed that it was a matter of real concern that masked protesters were trying to stop KS exercise her right to free speech. He sounded pretty confident in his opening remarks.
However, after that is was just wishy washy and the same old "both sides", "take the heat out of it" , "see other people's point of view" type arguments (I'm paraphrasing there, but that's what he meant). I'm sick of hearing it. GC women have never been the aggressors in this. They have listened, been polite, been compassionate and have replied, not via threats, but via discussion. It's the TRA side that will not engage civilly, and which has aggressively managed to capture every major institution in the country so that it is almost impossible to have any kind of discussion any more.
So no. Not good enough for me, but I suppose he's defending his patch, so has to play it safe. But he came across as naive when he made out this was something new and intimated we are dealing with people requiring compassion rather than a hugely influential and well organised lobby. And to me, he sounded scared, but then I'm a former litigator, so always pick up on weedy sounding, fence sitting speaking as a sign of weakness (which is not always the case).