The culture of safetyism on campus is becoming increasingly absurd There was a time when people who said ‘I feel unsafe’ were referring to a tangible threat. But not anymore. Take the students at Wolfson College, Cambridge, who have complained that they were made to...
For almost half a century, fear has dominated the outlook of Western societies. One of the distinctive features of this outlook is the tendency always to think the worst. And it is this tendency that has exerted an all too powerful influence over policymakers and...
The aim of this essay is to explore the impact of contemporary safety consciousness on the reaction to threats like COVID-19 and, more generally, on the way society fears. It argues that in recent years, safety has been sacralised to the point that it has become a...
I wince when I read when someone wants to promiscuously brand any group they don’t like ‘terrorists’. The recent calls to expand it to include the misogynist ‘incel’ movement are a perfect example of the term’s devaluation. Incels, are ‘involuntary celibates’ who...
When governments the world over began imposing lockdowns in response to Covid-19 earlier this year, I was surprised by just how many people were comfortable with such measures. Nine months later, and little has changed. Millions, it seems, have learned to live in...
Not only are people retreating for their health, but many are using the virus as an excuse to create 'judgment-free' zones. n the Anglo-American world, where the idealization of a ‘safe space’ has gained widespread currency, living under quarantine conditions is far...
Schools can't stay locked down forever. It's time for bravery and action. Survey after survey suggests that a significant section of the public fears the ending of the lockdown. Such anxieties are especially pronounced among parents, many of whom reacted with...
'Evidence' has been turned into a gospel truth and that's bad for political decision-making. Since the outbreak of Covid-19, the word ‘evidence’ has turned into a quasi-religious concept. There are constant appeals to ‘the evidence’. We need more and more of it, we...
It is clear that many people throughout Europe and beyond really fear the threat posed by the coronavirus. So much so that the vast majority have willingly abandoned their way of life, given up their rights and fundamental freedoms, and accepted a government-imposed...
There is nothing unusual about the outbreak of a new virus. In fact, in recent years, such outbreaks have become almost normal. Avian flu in Hong Kong in 1997, the West Nile virus in New York in 1999, the MERS virus discovered in Saudi Arabia in 2012, the outburst of...