Whether or not Di Canio verbally or physically expresses extreme views is not really the point. Why should someone whose political leanings give credit to those who support intolerance to the point of persecution be allowed to operate unchecked? So what if Di Canio's previous right-wing rhetoric might be deemed 'soft-core'?
Oxford and Cambridge Universities have an awful lot in common. And last week was no exception. By inviting polarising political figures from the left and the right - George Galloway and Marine Le Pen, respectively - both institutions reaffirmed what is at once perhaps the most sacred and the most imperilled of all our values: the freedom of speech.