Cardinal to debate

at Cambridge -Union
BY A STAFF REPORTER
CARDINAL HEENAN is to be one of the principal speakers at a debate at the Cambridge Union on February 23. He has agreed to debate the "permissive society" with the Earl of Arran and others.
Mr. Norman St. John Stevas, Conservative M.P. for Chelmsford, will speak on the same side as the Cardinal.
The Cardinal has never spoken before at either the Oxford or the Cambridge Unions. despite many previous invitations. The same cannot be said of Mr, St. John Stevas, who was not only President of the Cambridge Union in 1950 but also Secretary of the Oxford Union in 1952.
One of his more notable recent appearances was in the televised debate at Oxford last year when he crossed swords with the Rev. Ian Paisley.
'SHAKING' The Earl of Arran has debated several times at both the Oxford and Cambridge Unions. as well as speaking at least once at almost every other University debating society in Britain and Ireland.
He told me lightheartedly that he was shaking in his shoes at the thought of facing the "gentle" Cardinal Heenan whom he admires. He added that he was always nervous on these occasions;
Lord Arran's appearances on television and radio have been numerous and his wellknown column in the Evening News has been appearing every week for several years. He speaks and writes on every conceivable subject but has strong views on what constitutes, and what can be the dangers of, a "permissive society." His campaign for homosexual law reform was long and earnest, and ultimately successful.
Though no stranger to Cambridge, Lord Arran is in fact an Oxford man who at first made his living as a diplomat, and subsequently his name as a journalist. He will have certain advantages over Cardinal Heenan having recently debated a similar motion at Queen's University Belfast where the "permissive society" which. he supported—though with important reservations— was given a three-to-one vote of confidence.