Patrick West

Why is the civil service being given lessons on ‘microaggressions’?

2 February 2024 12:35 am

Civil servants are being given lessons instructing them not to roll their eyes or look at their mobile phones while…

Why do the French struggle to speak English?

16 January 2024 4:00 am

Why are the French so bad at learning foreign languages? Yes, you read that right. This isn’t a lament as…

Is the business world sane again?

28 October 2023 4:36 am

There are signs that woke capitalism is on the way out. Unilever, purveyor of the most right-on brand of the…

The problem with the word ‘problematic’

9 July 2023 4:00 pm

There have been groans of derision following the proclamation by the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cotterell, that the opening lines…

Trans ideology and the triumph of feelings over fact

2 June 2023 8:03 pm

Most people who have been following the controversy over Kathleen Stock’s speech at the Oxford Union, and who have been…

Let’s stop pretending the culture wars aren’t real

15 May 2023 6:55 pm

Are the culture wars real? Some assume that they’re an imaginary affair, or, at best, a distraction from the real,…

Can under-25s be trusted?

29 April 2023 2:10 am

The government’s proposal to overhaul and tighten betting laws, ostensibly to target problem gamblers, has understandably raised concerns about government…

Will eco-activists disrupt the London Marathon?

23 April 2023 3:08 am

Ever since Monty Python created their internecine, bickering and ridiculous groups of freedom fighters – the People’s Front of Judea and the…

The BBC is axing its panel shows. It only has itself to blame

1 April 2023 5:31 am

The veteran BBC show Have I Got News for You is ‘due to become BBC television’s only satirical comedy show’. This is the…

Don't grass on your neighbour if they break the hosepipe ban

5 August 2022 7:35 pm

There’s nothing worse than a grass. Or so goes the wisdom expressed in soap operas like EastEnders. Of course, there…

The BBC's gender equality project has come unstuck

2 August 2022 12:22 am

The BBC’s 50:50 project is designed to empower women. One of its targets is to ensure that half of the contributors…

A cultural boycott of Russia plays into Putin's hands

6 March 2022 6:12 pm

Has the cultural boycott of Russia gone too far? Events at an Italian university this week, where writer Paolo Nori…

The war in Ukraine is not about you

27 February 2022 4:12 am

In times of war and strife it’s only natural to feel anxious and worried. It’s a normal, primal reaction. What’s…

Teach kids to code? They're better off learning languages

10 February 2022 9:13 pm

A leading artificial intelligence professor has said that children should learn to write software. According to professor Michael Bronstein of…

James Treadwell and the true meaning of 'cancel culture'

15 January 2022 3:01 am

There’s an inherent contradiction at the heart of liberal thinking that perpetually raises its head. It’s one which has become…

When will firms like Ben & Jerry's stop lecturing us?

13 January 2022 12:15 am

Is anyone else fed up of corporate virtue-signalling? From banks boasting of their commitment to diversity and equality, to train…

It's too late to save comedy from 'cancel culture'

23 December 2021 1:45 am

Will comedy become the latest victim of ‘cancel culture’? Dame Maureen Lipman fears as much. ‘Cancel culture, this cancelling, this…

The BBC is right to ditch the 'Bame' label

9 December 2021 9:23 pm

Broadcasters in the UK have declared they will no longer use the acronym BAME to refer to black, Asian and…

Mispronouncing names isn't a 'microaggression'

6 December 2021 11:03 pm

People can make a bewildering number of offensive transgressions these days: from using the wrong pronoun when addressing people to…

Curry isn't racist

12 August 2021 3:30 pm

The latest casualty in the culture wars is an innocent-sounding word: ‘curry’. Apparently it’s inappropriate to use it, and incorrect…

Why wealth matters in the free speech debate

11 August 2021 3:30 pm

The divide between the rich and the poor is obvious in Britain today. Whether in terms of income, geography or political…

Was what I said on Facebook really 'hate speech'?

22 November 2020 6:00 pm

Facebook has been accused of failing to combat extremism and hate-speech among its users. But as I found out this week,…

Who's laughing now? Cancel culture is killing comedy

17 November 2020 2:17 am

The BBC and Channel 4 are self-censoring their comedy output because they are so terrified of offending people. So says…

The BBC's bid to axe left-wing comedy will fail

3 September 2020 7:26 pm

People of a conservative or Eurosceptic disposition should be thankful that the BBC’s new director general, Tim Davie, is to…

Vegans, your soya milk is killing the planet

22 August 2020 5:30 pm

In the popular imagination, veganism and environmentalism go hand-in-hand. Both are championed – often in one voice – by ultra-progressive…