It’s not even a month since Adolescence ‘dropped’ on to Netflix and into all our lives, whether we actually watched it or not. The mania about the thing is still raging like a persistent brush fire, with the Prime Minister – apparently still unsure whether it’s a drama or a documentary – meeting its makers in Downing Street, and a lot of other politicians and public figures pulling very concerned faces about the internet, the manosphere, toxic masculinity etc.
Keir Starmer’s enthusiasm for getting this (adult-certificated) show into schools for the instruction of children is very revealing, I think. It is, he tells us in his special language of searing fudge, ‘a torch that shines intensely brightly on a combination of issues that many people don’t know how to respond to’.
Put on the spot by the show’s creators, who advocate banning smartphones in schools, Starmer seems to have an agenda slightly different from theirs.
Get Britain's best politics newsletters
Register to get The Spectator's insight and opinion straight to your inbox. You can then read two free articles each week.
Already a subscriber? Log in
Comments
Join the debate for just £1 a month
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for £3.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just £1 a monthAlready a subscriber? Log in