Jamie Oliver’s ‘offence adviser’ leaves a bad taste in my mouth
Have you got yourself an “offence adviser” yet? This new breed of professionals are trained like sniffer dogs to detect even the faintest whiff of explosively un-woke…
Joss Whedon forgot the first rule of the ‘damage control’ interview – just shut up
He shared some regrets around how he spoke to Carpenter after learning she was pregnant. “I was not mannerly,” he said. But he refuted her claims. “Most…
Why comedians love to hate Ricky Gervais
Ricky Gervais is getting cancelled again. Albeit, as usual, he’s cancelling himself. The third series of After Life – his Netflix comedy about a grieving husband taking…
The BBC’s Eric Gill statue is hard to defend
It still remains unclear what precisely the statue represents. Gill was rather bemused by his commission, never quite understanding what precisely Prospero and Ariel had to do…
John Cleese, untamed: the folly of Fierce Creatures
Curtis, who was missing her children, fought with Cleese openly on set; the producer Michael Shamberg’s driver head-butted other set drivers, and most of the supporting cast,…
Like it or not, Banksy rules the art world’s political roost
Banksy has the platform (and in cases like his sneezing Covid rats spray-stencilled inside a London tube carriage, he has the train, too) but what exactly are…
Houellebecq is back – but where are the British literary provocateurs?
Much has been made of the rock and roll manner of such writers, but let’s not forget their writing could be pretty punchy, too. It seemed that…
Purge of the museums: how ‘goose-stepping’ politicians are waging war on the arts in Poland
So, who exactly are Poland’s Right-wing culture warriors? Ironically, they have sprung to power in a country that was once the poster boy for the EU’s vision…
JK Rowling should be a national treasure – so why have so many spent a year destroying her?
Her first sally into the gender wars came in 2018, when she ‘liked’ a tweet by a female Labour party member, complaining that “Men in dresses get…
The big Telegraph Culture Quiz of 2021
Panned! The following all had the dubious honour of being awarded one star by our critics in 2021. 31 Which Netflix sequel, released in November, was described…
The big Telegraph Culture Quiz of 2021
Panned! The following all had the dubious honour of being awarded one star by our critics in 2021. 31 Which Netflix sequel, released in November, was described…
What the arts should do more of – and less of – in 2022
Art Where to start? Enough with “blockbuster” shows that fail to shed fresh light on their subjects. Time, surely, to stop pretending the NFT (non-fungible token) “boom”…
Stephen Merchant on playing the ‘Grindr Killer’ Stephen Port – and how The Office predicted the culture wars
“Cop shows have conditioned us to believe that police detectives are all brilliantly clever and committed,” says Stephen Merchant. “On screen they’re like dogs with a bone,…
Relax, Maureen Lipman – ‘offensive’ comedy is in rude health
Still, once people start saying you’re “cancelled”, it’s often a career boost. Controversy sells: look at Dave Chappelle’s multi-million-dollar Netflix deal. And this year, a Sheffield venue…
How cancel culture came to define 2021 – and the casualties it left behind
Noel Clarke The actor and director – who starred in and scripted the acclaimed Kidulthood trilogy – was accused in April of abuse of power and “serious…
Maureen Lipman: Comedy in danger of being ‘wiped out’ by cancel culture
Comedy is in danger of being “wiped out” by cancel culture, according to Dame Maureen Lipman, who said performers are toning down their material over fear of…
‘We’ve no intention of removing anything from display’
Yet, for Finaldi, although providing context about the source of its sitter’s wealth is interesting, it is “not necessarily the most important thing to say” about the…
To think you can undermine women’s rights and disappear JK Rowling is magical thinking
“Things are not quite as they appear” it says in the trailer for the film Fantastic Beasts: The Secret of Dumbledore. Indeed so. “Warner Bros Invites You”…
Publishing needs to change – online screaming fits don’t help
Cancel culture, at its worst, can sound like the adult version of telling tales. Instead of working things out through intellectual debate, people across the arts seem…
By vetoing the word ‘Brits’, surely the British Council has just cancelled itself
The British Council would like to cancel the word ‘Brits’. And it’s tempting to stop the column there. Make this my shortest piece of the year, and…
Jordan Peterson: ‘If you can’t say what you think, soon you won’t be able to think’
And so when asked if he is worried about the rise of authoritarian China and Russia, Peterson responds with: “I’m also worried about the West! If we…
Non! The French resistance to the American woke onslaught
Such gestures are also fuelling the rise of new far-Right figures such as Eric Zemmour, an abrasive newspaper columnist who last month declared his candidacy for April’s…
Jussie Smollett’s grand delusion proves celebrities live in another world
“Here’s what folks are concerned about – that what he did might undermine future victims, legitimate victims of hate crimes,” the actor’s former friend, television journalist Don…
The young are rebelling against the cruelty of cancel culture
Who will save us from the zealotry of the young? The even younger, perhaps? Many of today’s teenagers are – according to Vicky Bingham, headteacher of a…
We don’t need to be kept ‘safe’ from Shakespeare, thank you very much
Another week, another potty development in the ongoing clash between the culture wars and the role of art. Yesterday the academic Hailey Bachrach, a researcher at the…