James Bartholomew

I invented ‘virtue signalling’. Now it’s taking over the world

It’s a true privilege to have coined a phrase – even if people credit it to Libby Purves instead

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To my astonishment and delight, the phrase ‘virtue signalling’ has become part of the English language. I coined the phrase in an article here in The Spectator (18 April) in which I described the way in which many people say or write things to indicate that they are virtuous. Sometimes it is quite subtle.

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