I didn’t ‘ambush’ Douglas Murray

Douglas Murray was not ‘ambushed’ by me on the Today programme. Nor was he called out. Nor was he misquoted. 

He was asked about something he once said and wrote in a lengthy Today programme discussion – around eight minutes and not the four he suggests – about Barack Obama’s warning about the idea that young people should be “woke” – quick to seize on allegedly offensive remarks. 

Douglas had already had two opportunities to spell out his thinking in response to questions which could scarcely be described as aggressive:

“Are you surprised to find yourself cheering along with Barack Obama?” 

Most popular

David Butterfield

Most-read 2024: Decline and fall – how university education became infantilised

and:

“You in your new book talk about people clinging to what you call a new religion of social justice and identity politics – what do you mean?”

I did then ask him about comments he once made on TV and then repeated in an article saying that “less Islam” and not more was the right response to terrorist attacks.