Spectator Life

The world is obsessed with clutter. Today, untidiness is seen as a moral failure and messy people are cast as incontinent reprobates lacking in all self-discipline. In his new book, Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life, Jordan Peterson tells readers that cleaning up their homes and offices is nothing less than a ‘moral obligation’. Brits seem to agree. Princess Anne was recently criticised and urged to declutter after viewers glimpsed her living room at Gatcombe Park, whilst Channel 5 is planning a new TV show in which Nick Knowles helps messy homeowners tidy up. With the end of lockdown in sight, UK charity shops are expecting a huge boom in donations as Britons rush to declutter.

As if the Labour party didn’t have enough to worry about with its withering opinion poll ratings, yesterday’s Times reveals that party officials are warning MPs of another potential danger: malicious TikTok parodies. The paper reports that Sir Keir himself is one of several Labour MPs whose names have been used by hard-left TikTok pranksters keen to cause trouble for the party’s Leadership. One user is apparently impersonating a shadow cabinet minister while using the antifa-linked slogan ACAB (all cops are bastards). Labour is now apparently lobbying the Chinese-owned video giant to remove the false accounts to avoid confusion. Well, quelle surprise really.

The sacking of Gina Carano is still creating waves in Hollywood. The martial artist turned movie actress was dropped from the Star Wars spin-off, The Mandalorian, after blocking BLM supporters on Twitter and stating that being a Republican in Hollywood was like being a Jew during the Holocaust. She compounded her sins by suggesting that voter fraud had affected the result of the 2020 election. Her employers, Lucasfilm, dismissed her views as ‘abhorrent’ and accused her of, ‘denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities.’ Carano was also dropped by her management company, United Talent Agency. (So much for ‘united.’)  Then came the backlash.

Netflix gets a lot of stick for being woke these days - and not just from this parish. And when you look at the network’s recent signings, it’s not hard to see why. From hiring Michelle Obama to present kids’ shows to splashing out on the Sussexes, Netflix executives don't exactly hide their worldview. But for all the gripes levied against the media empire, there is one section of its content that gets off rather lightly. And that’s a bit of a shame. As not only do Netflix's current affairs documentaries come with a strong agenda, they’re also terrible examples of factual filmmaking. And the latter is the really unforgivable part. If you’re not familiar with Netflix’s documentary output, here's a quick rundown of some recent hits.

In the latest episode of 'Americans Do the Funniest Things,' it has emerged that The Simpsons is to replace the white voice actor for the character of Dr. Julius Hibbert with a black actor.  Hibbert, for those who don’t know him, is a mainstay of the show — a family doctor recognised by his white lab coat, gentle manner and signature chuckle. He is perhaps the least offensive character, despite being a Republican, a suspected morphine addict, and a member of Mensa, who revised his official position on the safety of binge eating after buying a 12 per cent stake in an all-you-can-eat restaurant, and who won’t conduct unethical procedures himself, but is more than happy to give you the number of a doctor who will.

In thinking about the worst political speeches delivered in Britain, I reached for lectures that weren’t just technically poor but epoch defining in their badness. Each one had to have said something larger about the inherent problems of the political class in our beleaguered age. With that in mind, in descending order, here are five that fell flat: Jeremy Corbyn’s 2015 Labour conference speech https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFo5a3PFn1M In his first conference speech as party leader, the reasons for Corbyn’s eventual defeat are all here, on full display. The speech itself is relentlessly boring and substance is remarkably absent throughout.

In Taksim Square, the busy central hub of Istanbul, a large, viril monument stands. In the centre is Mustafa Kemal Attaturk, the father of modern Turkey (although, perhaps not the contemporary one). When Attaturk came into power, he immediately set about changing the country from Empire to Nation. This meant progressive Western values, the alphabet; a dismissal, in some cases, a blanketing of the culture and customs before it. Almost by accident, this sparked a nostalgia for the Empire that is potent in today’s Turkey. In the hotel nearby, the Kurdish receptionist gets to work. 'Did you see the monument?' he says to me bleakly.