The Week UK - 14.03.2020

6 NEWS Politics

THEWEEK 14 March 2020

Controversy of the week

The campus wars

“Personally,Ithinkit’s time westartedno-platforming

students,”said Michael Deacon inTheDaily Telegraph.

Increasingly,Ifind theirviews “distressing,offensive and,

worstofall, differentfrom mine”. And that,itseems these

days, is reasonenough to shut people up. Take Oxford’s

UNWomen society.Last week,its committeevotedtodisinvite

Amber Rudd, theformer Tory minister,precisely halfanhour

beforeshe was due to address them onwomen’srights –

becauseshe had been home secretary during the 2018

Windrush scandal.“YouandI, of course,maythink Ruddis a

cheerily personable Tory moderate whois aboutasoutspoken

asSooty.ButmaybeyouandIare terrifyingextremists too.”

This is no joking matter, said Aina J. Khan onThe

Independent. In lightof Rudd’s“ignominious career”, the

societywasquiteright towithdraw its offer. Shewasthe

“architect oftheWindrush scandal”, whichledto1 64 peoplebeingwrongfullydeported, andleft

5,000joblessorhomeless. It wasa“racist”policy, and the realproblemhereisn’tafew students

deciding thatshewas “beyond thepale” –it’s Rudd. “Ifyourpolitics arebuilt onmyoppression,

there is nodialogueto be had.”Such arguments betrayaprofoundfailureto understand howliberal

democracies work,said MelaniePhillips in The Times:you don’t gettosilencepeoplewhose views

youfindupsetting. Butunfortunately, thiskindofdogmatismis alltoo common today.The feminist

historian Selina Toddwas recently stoppedfrom speaking at theOxfordInternational Women’s

Festival; shewas labelled “transphobic” overherlinks toagroup campaigning for separateservices

for women.When TheGuardia n’sSuzanne Moore wrotean article defending Todd,338 employees

of thenewspaperwrotealetterof protest accusingher ofissuing “transphobiccontent”. Witch-

huntsagainst anyone whospeaksout against “theorthodoxies ofidentitypolitics”arethe orderof

the day. This week,the Labour Party suspendedTrevor Phillips, former chairofThe Equalityand

HumanRightsCommission, over wafer-thin accusationsof Islamophobia.

The intolerance startsinuniversities, saidFrank FuredionSpiked.“Academics andstudentsno

longer think freespeechisabigdeal.”Amazingly, theprevailing culture in universitiesis “far less

tolerant thaninthe world outside”.An“enlightened”government could act toreverse thetrend, for

instancebyremovinglawsthatpromotethe “policing ofspeech”;orbyendinggovernmentfunding

for studentunions.Ifunionswereactually funded by their members, they mightspend moretime

helping students,andlesstimepromoting “anti-democratic”ideas.Butany defenceoffreespeech

will ultimately dependonthemajority’swillingnesstofightfor it.Actually, “active supporters of

intolerance” are stillaminorityoncampus.But “mostacademics and students preferan easy life”.

Ared light for Amber

Spirit of the age

Good weekfor:

MaharajaRanjit Singh,the19th century Sikh warrior,who

wasvotedthegreatestleader ofalltimeby readersofBBC World

Histories magazine. The so-called LionofPunjabconquered vast

tracts of northernIndia,but is rememberedas aunifyingforce

whoencouragedreligious toleranceinhis Sikh Empire.

Genesis fans,with newsthat theprogrock band is to reunite

forthefirst timesince2007,for aseriesof stadium concerts inthe

UK in November andDecember. Owing to nerve damage to his

hand, Phil Collins,69, will mainlybeconfined tovocals.His

place on drumswill be taken by his 18-year-old son, Nicholas.

MPs,whowere awardeda3.1% payrise, putting themon

£82,000ayear. That is almostthree times themedian salaryfor

afull-timeworkerof£30,000–but less thanMPs in many other

countriesare paid.InItaly,Germany,Australiaand Canada, MPs

earnmore than£100, 000 pa;inJapan,theyearn£200,000.

Green drivers,whocould soon be using theSun’srays to charge

their cars.Thefirst solar-powered“fuellin gstation”for electric

carsis beingbuilt in Essex, andisdue to openthis summer.

Bad week for:

TheCouncil on Foreign Relations,whichwas forcedtocancel

its conference inNew Yorkon“Doing Business Under

Coronavirus”,onaccount ofthespread of thecoronavirus.

PrinceHarry,with reports thathe wasduped by Russian

pranksters posing as Greta Thunberg andher father. They claim

he talked to themonthe phonefor “about anhour”,about

climate changeand hisfamily,among otherthings.

Across the world, men are

more likely than women to

think you can “have it all” –

defined as rising to the top

of your profession and

spending enough time with

your children. In the UK,

51% of fathers with children

under 18 think it is possible

to have it all, while 41% of

mothers do. Of 17 countries

surveyed, the widest gender

gap was in Canada, where

76% of fathers think they

can have it all, compared

with 58% of mothers.

No- and low-alcohol beer

has overtaken craft beer to

become the UK’s biggest

trend for 2020,areportby

The Society of Independent

Brewers has said. One in

three 18- to 24-year-olds

has cut down their alcohol

consumption, andarecord

23% are now teetotal. Sales

of no- or low-alcohol beer

are up 30% since 2016.

The2020 Budget

Justfour weeksinto the job,

Rishi Sunak unveiled his first

Budget this week, with a

focus on helping the British

economy withstand the

coronavirus. As well as an

extra £5bn to boost the NHS

and other public services

during the emergency, the

Chancellor said that all

workers will be able to claim

statutorysic kpay if theyself-

isolate, even if they are not

showing symptoms. Smaller

firms will berefunded for

sick payments for uptotwo

weeks; they will beable to

apply for “business

interruption loans”; and

some will have their

business rates abolished for

this year.A£500m hardship

fund is to be created for

vulnerable people.

Other measures included

raising the National

Insurance threshold from

£8,632 to £9,500, and £5bn

to ensure that remote areas

have access to gigabit-

capable broadband. These

were manifesto pledges. The

5% VAT levied on sanitary

products (the “tampon tax”)

is to be abolished. Alcohol

and fuel duties remain frozen

(but the relief scheme for

“red diesel” is being

scrapped). £500m will go on

trying to ensure electric car

drivers are never far from a

charging point; and £27bn

will be spent on new and

existing roads over five

years. The maximum sum

that can be paid intoaJunior

Isa is to double, to £9,000 a

year. Inaboost to publishers,

digital magazines, books and

newspapers will no longer be

subject to VAT. Stamp duty

will go up by 2% for overseas

buyers in England and

Northern Ireland, and

entrepreneurs’ relief on

capital gains tax is to have

amuchsmaller lifetime limit,

of £1m (down from £10m).

Sunak described it as a

“people’s budget from a

people’s government”.