How the culture war became a crusade

In February 2020, I was invited on to the BBC’s The Big Questions to debate the topic: ‘Is wokeness the new religion?’ I had already anticipated that mine would be the unfashionable view, and so I steeled myself in advance for the inevitable onslaught. This being a British daytime television show, the onslaught took the form of audible grumbles and a few raised eyebrows.

One of my fellow panellists expressed her dismay that we were discussing this topic at all, which is akin to accepting an invitation to a birthday party and then complaining about the bunting. Finding myself drawn into the whataboutery, I agreed that I would much rather be delving into other matters – economic inequality perhaps, or the life and work of Nana Mouskouri – but given that the subject matter had been set in advance, it seemed churlish to grumble now. Another panellist – some breed of activist whose whole body appeared to be stuttering with anger – spat out a few of the usual accusations.