Mark Haddon: “I’m quite lucky to be alive”
The novelist on his triple heart bypass, literature’s “culture wars”, and why he’s donating book royalties to abortion funds in…
ByCulture wars
Culture wars are ideological clashes surrounding cultural and social beliefs between groups, generally divided across the socially conservative and liberal line. The term derives from the German Kulturkampf (‘culture struggle’), referring to the clashes between the Catholic Church and Chancellor Otto von Bismarck in the late nineteenth century. Find all our latest news, comment and analysis on culture wars here.
From morality clauses to sensitivity readers: inside UK publishing’s identity crisis
Is the books world in urgent need of change – or simply running scared of Twitter?
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The Tories are right to debate the trans issue – it’s not a distraction
Labour is dodging an essential discussion.
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Why the departure of Dominic Cummings was the beginning of the end for Boris Johnson
The former chief adviser gave the government purpose. When he left, the painful descent was inevitable.
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But what about the right-wing snowflakes?
Those who revel in pointing out the left’s sensitivity and intolerance are easily triggered themselves.
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Cries of a “woke Wimbledon” show that it can’t avoid the culture wars forever
The All England Club has historically lacked an overt world-view – but this constitutes a world-view in itself.
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UK voters “absolutely sick to death” of the culture wars, says Labour’s Louise Haigh
The Wakefield by-election result showed that the Tories’ “attempts to divide” aren’t working, the shadow transport secretary said at the…
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What Kate Clanchy’s treatment can teach us about racism
If society is inherently racist, how can she be cancelled for not being born woke?
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What the “men don’t read novels” debate gets wrong about fiction
Instead of turning literature into an arena for virtue-signalling and culture wars, let’s make room for complexity, mischief and mess.
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The Washington Post would throw staff under the bus to preserve its brand
Dave Weigel’s suspension is a statement about company culture, not cancel culture.
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How nostalgia fuels the culture wars
In her new book Rule, Nostalgia, Hannah Rose Woods explores how illusory and contested golden ages have haunted Britain since…
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“We’re losing the war against disinformation”: This American Life’s Ira Glass
The host of the influential radio programme and podcast on the success of his show – and competing with Joe…
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New York’s hipster wars
Why the city’s clash of cultures between progressive Brooklyn and transgressive Manhattan marks a new era in American politics.
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Australian Labor’s victory shows how the left can neutralise the culture wars
The new prime minister, Anthony Albanese, successfully argued that Scott Morrison was fixated on reactionary talking points because he had…
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Booing the national anthem is as British as singing it
Irreverent anti-elitism is the point of post-Brexit Britain.
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“We’re going to disrupt”: A year inside GB News
Faced with a new rival, can the channel survive? Staffers share the story of a tumultuous 12 months.
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Vladimir Putin, JK Rowling, and the difference between culture war and real war
An American debate has no place in Russia’s war, in which hundreds of people are dying each day.
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There’s a problem with university culture – but it isn’t the students
Do the grown-ups decrying today’s students really believe they never did anything when they were young that would have caused…
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Tearing down the statue of Friedrich Engels won’t help Ukraine
Russophobia is clouding our judgement.
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Climate culture war trivialises our security
The populist right fails to realise that expanding fossil fuels leave us vulnerable to Russian aggression – and would do…
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