The Right Dishonourable

As I wrote last week, it is inherently interesting when someone loses a job. In the case of former Guardian columnist Suzanne Moore she left of her own choosing, but only under pressure from colleagues who objected to her views in the great trans debate.

Doubtless some of Moore’s critics are glad that she has exited, and I suspect Moore feels relief too. Today she has laid out the saga in UnHerd, placed within her own history in journalism.

Depending on who you ask, cancel culture is the greatest threat to Western civilisation, a reckoning for the terminally crass, or an overhyped problem that can’t even destroy JK Rowling’s career. Our own Jazza argued that it can’t even be defined satisfactorily.

What isn’t disputable is that some internet types have taken to organising boycotts against certain artists for having the wrong opinions. Some of the candidates are obvious, although Harry Potter fans have been noticeably reticent about fully abandoning Rowling – they love the books too much.

It is often said that voters do not read political manifestos. They are, after all, long. Plus once you start reading them you realise that you will have to weigh the upsides and downsides of each party. This is a big ask when your vote statistically doesn’t matter.

Yet manifestos are important politically. A bungled manifesto pledge on funding social care is often seen as what undid Theresa May during the general election campaign in 2017. Manifesto commitments also enjoy easier passage through Parliament, since the Lords don’t contest them by convention.

Few people have cared as deeply about the rise and fall of Donald Trump as Sam Harris. The podcaster, philosopher and professional atheist has spent Trump’s presidency speaking to everyone he can about truth, free speech, science, technology, violence and other lofty topics.

Harris’s podcast is among the most interesting you could listen to, both in its guestlist and content. Even the episodes of him monologuing in cerebral twists on the famous ‘mad as hell’ speech make compelling listening.