The Right Dishonourable

It is often fairly said that battles over wokery are full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. But the World Health Organisation (WHO) has provided an example of political correctness gone mad and doing bad.

In the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic, the media spent much time debating whether it was racist to call it the ‘Wuhan’ or ‘Chinese’ virus. Similar offence-seeking has prompted stories that British prime minister Boris Johnson called it ‘kung flu’.

The meritocracy is striking back. Responding to years of denouncement from Ivy League academics and leftish wonks, Adrian Wooldridge is about to publish The Aristocracy of Talent: How Meritocracy Made the Modern World.

The Economist hack has taken to various newspapers to state his case that meritocracy is in fact good ahead of the book’s launch. Writing in the Times on Monday, he said modern societies are “outraged at the mere smell of nepotism or favouritism or discrimination.”

Last week the news snuck out that the classic first-person shooter TimeSplitters is being rebooted. What’s more, the game will be made by a revived Free Radical Design, staffed by two of the original studio’s founders, David Doak and Steve Ellis.

The entertainment industry is no stranger to reworking old intellectual property. Some would argue that it is rather too reliant on it, given the churn of Call of Duty and FIFA titles each year. But there is something special about Free Radical.

In the wake of Britain’s latest nil points earning entry – editors, insert applicable year – many of you will be wondering why exactly the Eurovision Song Contest is so bad.

Masochists who hate-clicked the title will of course be screeching in protest already. For some Eurovision is a key date in the calendar, artistically and politically potent. But you people are wrong. It is bad, and you should feel bad.