STAMMA complains over 'damaging' Daily Mail article

Wednesday 9th April 2025 - 15:19

A man sitting down, smiling, next to an insert of a newspaper article

Piers Forster and the article by Quentin Letts

STAMMA has sent a letter of complaint to the Daily Mail over comments it published yesterday about stammering, in an article by Quentin Letts.

Last week we published an article in our Your Voice section written by the eminent scientist Piers Forster: 'It's vital stammered voices like mine are in the media'. In his piece, he tells us all about the TV and radio interviews he gets asked to in his capacity as Chair of the UK Climate Committee, and it went down really well with our followers on social media.

Coincidentally, earlier this week, Piers attended a Parliamentary select committee to speak about carbon budgets. However, it was the way he spoke, not what he was saying, that was the focus of an article written by Quentin Letts in the Daily Mail yesterday, 'Quentin Letts: The poohbahs were like aristocratic ladies confronted by the pong of fish'.

Letts, the Mail's resident sketchwriter, wrote:

"Professor Forster had a marked stammer. We're not talking an occasional Ed Balls-style hesitation on some words. It was a full Fish Called Wanda job. Naturally one doffs one's cap to a chap who battles on through such an impediment but it quite unbalanced the meeting as an exercise in democratic scrutiny. Prof Forster was jolly difficult to understand."

He continued…

"This being Britain, no one mentioned it. Ms Pinchbeck, sitting beside her chairman (he has been interim since 2023), drew rapt fascination to her tender chops. Mr Richardson froze when Prof Forster was fighting with a particular consonant and then nodded in relief when it finally popped out. The MPs gazed at the floor, the walls, their computers.

'Barry Gardiner (Lab, Brent W) asked some question. Prof Forster, without delay, replied: 'Absolutely.' He then embarked on a second sentence and we hit a problem. Mr Gardiner hurriedly blurted that 'absolutely' was good enough!' Sammy Wilson (DUP, E Antrim) noted that clear communication was vital if climate campaigners were to persuade voters of their allegedly pressing case. Ms Pinchbeck, seamlessly: 'We recognise the need for good communication. I don't think we're necessarily the people to do that."

STAMMA CEO condemns the mocking tone of the article that suggests that stammered voices should not be heard, and have sent a letter of complaint to the Daily Mail and to the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) demanding an apology.

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STAMMA members complain too

We weren't alone. Tom, a STAMMA member, copied us into this letter he sent to the Daily Mail:

Dear Editor,

I have read an article of Quentin Letts today in the Daily Mail where he mocks Piers Forster for stammering at a select committee.

I stammer and so does my father who proudly served his country as a firefighter for 30 years, saving lives and protecting the general public, which is more than Quentin does, or will ever do, sat behind a desk typing nonsense all day, but let's keep this polite.

People who stammer have a voice that deserves to be heard, we have thoughts, feelings, convictions and ideas just as valid as anybody else.

Our condition is not to be mocked or derided, Piers Forster may well have struggled to communicate under the pressure of a select committee but he did not deserve to be publicly undermined and belittled in the manner chosen by Quentin.

I ask you and Quentin to examine your conscience and reflect on what you have published and I hope God graces you both with the humility and wisdom to understand the harm that comments such as Quentin's can do to people's self-confidence and mental health.

I am sure Quentin meant well in his pursuit of sharp wit and cutting humour, but this kind of language incites others to mock those who speak differently, which in turn, can lead to society overlooking the value that those who stammer bring to the table, in favour of ridiculing them instead.

I myself have been mocked, mimicked and ridiculed for stammering and it has a considerable effect on my confidence and self-image. Each day I battle for the same respect and opportunities granted so flippantly to my fluent peers and colleagues.

I wish you, Quentin and all your colleagues well for the future but hope you can realise how deep your words cut and avoid using such language going forward.

Perhaps, you may even choose to raise a bit of awareness and offer education to people about stammering. Your pen wields great power, hopefully yours can be a force for kindness and not derision.

Kind regards,

Tom

We will report back with any developments.

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