Tom Slater

Virginia Woolf doesn’t need a trigger warning

4 July 2023 1:08 am

Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf? Americans, apparently. Or at least that’s the conclusion Vintage US seems to have drawn. The…

The climate ‘crisis’ has nothing to do with the Holocaust

1 July 2023 5:16 am

What is it with environmentalists and the Holocaust? Barely a month goes by without some prominent green or another outrageously…

Jonny Bairstow shows how to deal with Just Stop Oil

28 June 2023 11:02 pm

Give Jonny Bairstow a knighthood. Whatever else happens at the Ashes, or indeed throughout the rest of his cricketing career,…

Free speech is for scumbags, too

22 June 2023 10:19 pm

It doesn’t take much to get you censored these days. You don’t even need to be that controversial. Believing in…

Mark Zuckerberg won’t kill Twitter

21 June 2023 12:36 am

Is Mark Zuckerberg losing his touch? Having just thrown tens of billions at his weird virtual-reality ‘metaverse’, only to see…

The sinister side of making ‘misgendering’ a disciplinary offence

3 June 2023 12:50 am

Should ‘misgendering’ someone be a disciplinary offence? One Oxford college seems to think so. Yesterday, Regent’s Park College posted a…

Why is Just Stop Oil targeting the snooker?

18 April 2023 8:48 pm

Just Stop Oil has finally hit the fossil-fuel barons where it hurts: the World Snooker Championship. Last night, play was disrupted…

Why did Guy Pearce apologise for this trans tweet?

31 March 2023 5:20 pm

Hollywood actor Guy Pearce has apologised for posting a pro-trans tweet. That’s where we’re at now with the culture war.…

Frankie Boyle isn’t a victim of cancel culture

26 March 2023 6:16 pm

Has comedian Frankie Boyle become the latest victim of the BBC’s ‘right-wing purge’? Frankie Boyle seems to think so. Following…

Chris Rock’s criticism of Meghan Markle is spot on

7 March 2023 9:41 pm

The story of Harry and Meghan has often been portrayed as a clash of values between Britain and America. Between…

Blasphemy has become a risky business at British universities

17 February 2023 9:14 pm

You might have thought that of all the things that could get you in trouble on a university campus today,…

Don’t cancel Jeremy Clarkson

17 January 2023 11:27 pm

Meghan Markle appears to be on a mission to prove that cancel culture really does exist. It seems that no…

Simon Pegg’s anti-Tory rant is embarrassing

6 January 2023 9:24 pm

If you haven’t seen Simon Pegg’s viral video about Rishi Sunak yet, you’re in for a real treat. It’s a…

JK Rowling, not Daniel Radcliffe, is the heroine of the gender debate

3 November 2022 4:12 am

Some people accuse millennials of being ungrateful and entitled. Sadly, many of our celebrities do little to disabuse the public…

Just stop Just Stop Oil

12 October 2022 11:06 pm

Why block roads? Why make people’s lives miserable? Who do you think this is going to convince? So go the…

The trouble with ‘Bros’

4 October 2022 10:10 pm

Hollywood and identity politics really is a toxic mix. Awards shows are dominated by hectoring actors. Popcorn fluff must now…

Who’s to blame for our censorious students?

30 September 2022 9:05 pm

Without freedom of speech, you do not have a university. More than any other value, it is freedom of speech…

The truth about Extinction Rebellion

3 September 2022 2:05 am

Just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse – Extinction Rebellion are back! Well, if you thought an unprecedented…

Are students really too fragile for Shakespeare?

10 August 2022 11:10 pm

What’s the point of a university? Regrettably, that’s a genuine question. The censorship and trigger warnings that are rife on British campuses…

In defence of Beyonce

2 August 2022 10:37 pm

People complaining about supposedly offensive pop lyrics is hardly anything new. It’s as old as the form itself; never-ending proof…

Joe Lycett’s donkey joke isn’t a matter for the police

22 June 2022 9:06 pm

There’s a word for countries in which you might get collared by the police because someone took offence to your…

The fight is on to censor Elon Musk’s Twitter

6 May 2022 2:58 am

If Elon Musk truly intends to make Twitter a free-speech platform, he’s clearly got a fight on his hands. That…

The case that sums up the police’s warped priorities

25 April 2022 8:49 pm

If you want a snapshot of how warped the police’s priorities are these days, look to the case of Kevin…

Banning Russian players from Wimbledon will backfire

20 April 2022 10:34 pm

We need to talk about Russophobia. There really is no other word for the swiftness with which Russian sportspeople and…

Nottingham university’s shameful treatment of Tony Sewell

14 April 2022 4:00 pm

If you want a glimpse of how toxic the UK’s race debate has become, take a look at the treatment…