The Wake split is being fueled by the Labor Party. McCarthyism is rampant within the Conservative Party. Polarization is tearing our political class apart.
But far worse than that, the culture war has reached my kitchen table, and I'm (whispering) not entirely sure which side I'm on.
This week's battles are over hearts, minds, the right of transgender people to sleep in boarding schools, and the disputed Ghanaian money most of us didn't know we owned.
I saw all the greatness of the work and really wished I had known about it. In fact, I feel very angry that they will be sent back to Ghana. They weren't on display inside a world-class museum with free admission.
they were? anything. I'll go get some bubble wrap. Both her husband and I agree on this. The Elgin Marbles are even trickier, especially since he flinches when I mention them and then pointedly calls them the Parthenon Marbles. Um oh.
I don't have a strong opinion. Apparently this (and apparently calling it Elgin Marble) is the problem.
My husband is very disappointed that when he goes to see them for an hour or five, most of them just wander in and then stumble away again. They have no understanding and are not entitled to good things.
The Greeks do. And once they are brought home, they can be reunited with other broken pieces, and visitors from the UK may finally understand their significance.
Since I routinely wear high-street camouflage from designer brands, I'm more than happy with the (almost) indistinguishable robot-carved replicas of the marbles.
Then there's the sensational news that trans students at Britain's more progressive boarding schools will have access to dormitories that match their gender identity. In other words, biological boys can sleep in girls' dormitories. As a mother of two daughters, I would surprise myself, but I didn't care because I knew they wouldn't care.
And it's not the lost teenage souls in existential crisis that worry me, but the giant manipulative manspreaders with bad lipstick I share the pool changing room with. is.
But my card-carrying left-handed husband, father of two, doesn't hesitate to say a clear “no” to transgender sleepovers.
Let's go back to basics and consider the future of Saturday mail delivery. he won't admit it. Four days of random snail mail is fine as long as my Amazon Prime orders keep coming.
should Rules, Britannia! Will I be banned from Last Night of the Proms? I don't think so, it's a traditional song that the audience loves. My spouse wants to ban the very “patriotic, flag-waving” productions of last night's “outdated” ones.
I'm telling you, he went to see it. electra I'm going to Tom Stoppard's morning drama performance at the Royal Opera House this week, so maybe that'll be the number.
Either way, it's nice to take a break from all the decisions you have to make before you drink your first cup of coffee. Should the Department of Defense recruit soldiers with tattoos to solve the draft crisis? We both say yes.
What about people with asthma? no? are they laughing? Oh wait, here's another dilemma. Is it considered discrimination to prevent brave men and women with hay fever from entering a theater of war? No, you don't need to consult Wikipedia first. That's a big, fat (shameful) difference.
Closer to home, AI technology scans our faces at supermarket checkouts to enable us to legally purchase alcohol. My other half is happy to be able to get the affordable Primitivo home sooner. I'm really shocked that I won't be able to have the usual laughs with store staff due to my age. Will she be able to keep her job?
In its retrospective defense, at least political correctness was clearly defined. It was everything Ben Elton believed.
Ziggy Walker, by contrast, is everywhere. It is also very complicated in practice, as became clear after Sir Keir Starmer this week accused the government of launching a modern-day woke hunt against organizations like the National Trust.
I'm one of the National Trust's 5 million members and I'm at a loss as to where it's going. Yes, the public should be educated about the grand mansions built on the wealth of the illegal slave trade. But no, you shouldn't make them feel guilty.
I support equality. But the passive-aggressive approach of praising the minority at the expense of the majority is distasteful, to say the least.
Last November, an “Inclusion and Wellbeing” calendar was made available to volunteers. Diwali, Eid, and Ramadan were included, but Christmas and Easter were not included, and the aim was to “contribute to the community and enable everyone to learn about and enjoy other cultures.”
And we thought the Northern Territory was about preserving our history, our heritage and our natural beauty. This would likely be interpreted as racist. Because the most pernicious aspect of wokeness, and its opposite, is an overwhelmingly simplistic all-or-nothing, yes-or-no ideology that makes a mockery of nuance and common sense.
Not everything is black and white. That's why I cannot and will not align myself with either the right or the left on this point. At Woods Towers, we make our own decisions. Please believe me when I say that diversity has its limits and a soldier with asthma will never win a war.
It's not even a cultural thing.