Our woke culture and the censor’s red pen

Writers are no safer dead than alive from the censor’s red pen Playwrights like Martin McDonagh are right to be concerned, but we have never respected the wishes of dead authors It says it all about creeping censorship that the genius playwright, Martin McDonagh, is having problems with theatres refusing to do his plays “because

Not liked or Hated Questions

When asking around what people do not like to be presented as questions, we can hear a plenty fold of answers. The most unwanted questions are about very personal questions, such as age, partnership, when to have children, but also politics, which party one is for or who to vote for. Further inappropriate is the question about how much one earns and sometimes anyway if one wants to know more about what someone does for a living.

The Telegraph for the sabbath of 2023 February 24-25

On February 24, 1582 the Gregorian calendar was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII. In what year was it adopted in Britain – supposedly resulting in public uproar over 11 lost days? (See at the bottom for the Trivia answer.) World news: Bird flu kills school girl in Cambodia Scientists testing a dozen people for avian

The Telegraph Frontpage Wednesday 2023 February 22

By Sam Hall Good morning. Ministers have declared that public sector workers should receive just a 3.5 per cent pay rise next year, as they opened talks aimed at ending the current wave of strikes. Pay rise of just 3.5pc for public sector workers Ministers fear a higher salary increase could jeopardise efforts to curb

The Telegraph Frontpage 2023 February 21

By Sam Hall On his first trip to Kyiv since the war began, Joe Biden hit out at Vladimir Putin and pledged more military funding for Ukraine. Joe Biden makes his first trip to Ukraine About this time last year, Vladimir Putin would have been planning his own trip to Kyiv to celebrate the successes

The Telegraph Frontpage 2023 February 20

By Sam Hall Police searching for Nicola Bulley have recovered a body less than a mile away from where she disappeared, as officers face growing questions over their investigation. In this newsletter, we also have reaction to the Baftas, after a big night for All Quiet on the Western Front. Body found in search for

What about irreverence and sharp-edged spirit of the original text

A spokesperson for the Roald Dahl Story Company said: “When publishing new print runs of books written years ago, it’s not unusual to review the language used alongside updating other details including a book’s cover and page layout. Our guiding principle throughout has been to maintain the storylines, characters, and the irreverence and sharp-edged spirit

Why censoring Roald Dahl is a dangerous step

We ourselves also do not like the term ‘woke,’ of which it took us a long time before we got to know what it really meant. In any case, we have come to the conclusion that “woke” is a present way of covering up, or to gloss over censorship. It is best for the older

Absurdity of present “woke” rage: The rewriting of Dahl

Even a grand master of playful words and fantasy his lyrics are tackled by the Woke generation and actually raped, without realising the seriousness of that sensibility.