Cultural appropriation

Who first committed ‘cultural appropriation’?

5 September 2020 9:00 am

Culture clashes The pop star Adele was accused of ‘cultural appropriation’ for adopting a Jamaican hairstyle for the online Notting…

The sheer hypocrisy of the food culture wars

2 July 2020 6:17 pm

Alison Roman, a celebrity chef and Instagrammer, has come under attack from woke warriors because of her dish ‘#thestew’. Her…

An open letter to the friend who dropped me after Question Time

7 March 2020 9:00 am

I’ve put off sending a private email that’s been ready to go for weeks. Then last Sunday, I read Julie…

I won’t read American Dirt – but not because the author has the wrong skin colour

7 February 2020 10:00 pm

Readers of The Spectator who keep up with the latest literary hissy fits could have predicted (perhaps with a groan)…

Mick Hucknall on women, rejection and cultural appropriation

9 November 2019 9:00 am

What makes someone become a pop star? Sometimes, it’s true, pop stardom arrives by accident, and its recipient responds not…

Vadim Muntagirov as Solor and Marianela Nunnez as Nikiya in Royal Ballet's Bayadère. Photo: ROH / Bill Cooper

How could anyone object to the Royal Ballet engaging in cultural appropriation?

24 November 2018 9:00 am

La Bayadère opens with a sacred flame and ends with an earthquake. In between, Marius Petipa’s ballet of 1877 gives…

How bad is the drugs problem in British jails?

25 August 2018 9:00 am

Cultured tastes Dawn Butler accused Jamie Oliver of ‘cultural appropriation’ for coming up with his own recipe for jerk rice.…

It was good but I preferred slurping my genitals: Deborah’s dog reviews Isle of Dogs

31 March 2018 9:00 am

The latest film from Wes Anderson is a doggy animation set in a fantasy Japan and as there was a…

The glorious Grand Pas from Paquita, part of the Mariinsky’s triple bill

Not vintage Mariinsky

19 August 2017 9:00 am

Not really a vintage Mariinsky season — an odd choice of repertoire and some hit-and-miss male casting — but the…

The tangled story of dreadlocks, from Milton to YouTube

9 April 2016 9:00 am

‘Why are you filming this?’ ‘For everyone’s safety.’ Those are the last words in a 46-second video that was watched…