Open Season
A defence of difference
“We seldom hear much about freedom from contemporary social justice activists. They don’t want freedom — freedom would mean taking responsibility for one’s life”
That’s entertainment
‘Vast swathes of the television production community stopped working overnight. Any television show involving camera crews, studio audiences, the general public, travel, or proximity of any kind, was, at best, postponed indefinitely; at worst, cancelled outright’
God’s waiting room
‘The homelessness charity St Mungo’s believes the pandemic can lead to a significant long-term reduction in rough sleeping when the lockdown ends. But the current situation suggests this vision might as well have been expressed by Walter Mitty’
Britain must reinvent itself
‘We should seize the opportunity presented by Brexit to reinvent ourselves’
The perils of two-wheeled oiks in lycra
‘The cyclist’s pent-up hostility and cavalier attitude to rules finds its apotheosis in confrontations with pedestrians’
Living in Cancerland
Cancer is no joke. But staying cheerful helps
In the bleak midwinter
Christmas can be a bleak time of year. While some feel isolated, others are overwhelmed by the need for a perfect family Yuletide when their reality is different
Personality journalism started with Paxman. It’s pernicious
‘When I was at the BBC, the cliché was that we left our politics at the door. It appeared not to need saying that other aspects of your personal identity should also be left at the door’
Three cheers for “white saviours”
‘You have to prove you have the knowledge/expertise/ experience to be allowed to step outside your own culture. To whom, I wonder, do you have to prove this?’
Trans trailblazers leave women bruised
‘Female and male bodies differ in many ways that make the best women uncompetitive with even mediocre men’
Majority rule; minority rights
It is folly to treat UK race relations as totally divorced from the rest of human experience. We need to look at the larger global picture
American revolutions: Rewriting the language of the unheard
‘Dissenting viewpoints — for example, the belief that America is not an intrinsically racist country—are shunned as further proof of racist pathologies’
The favourites
From Piers Gaveston onwards, controversial courtiers have a long history in British politics.How unusual is Dominic Cummings?