Richard Dawkins

Richard Dawkins: It’s hard to imagine that Leave would win a second referendum

On a book tour to promote Outgrowing God, travelling from London’s Festival Hall to Birmingham and then Manchester, I have plenty of time to listen to audio books, my new enthusiasm. This week it’s Douglas Murray’s The Madness of Crowds. The title is a well-chosen echo from Charles Mackay’s 1852 classic. Well chosen because our present epidemic of bullying ‘wokeness’ is disturbingly reminiscent of the witch-hunts of past centuries. I’ve had mixed feelings about Murray since he traduced me as a cowardly Islamophile (I’m accustomed to the opposite, equally unjust accusation). But his latest book is beyond brilliant and should be read, must be read, by everyone. He mercilessly exposes the hypocrisy and embarrassingly blatant contradictions that run rife through the current ‘woke’ vogue: compulsory surrender to yelling, screaming students who betray the whole purpose of a university by shutting down free speech; or sanctimoniously applauding doctors who instantly accept the unsupported claim of a child to be in the wrong body, and provide sex-changing hormones without consulting the parents; or attacking and ‘de-platforming’ distinguished feminist writers who choose not to use the word ‘woman’ for someone with a penis and a Y-chromosome. Murray researches thoroughly and his book is convincingly referenced. His balanced and sympathetic tone belies his hard reputation, and belies his sardonic voice, for he reads the audio book himself and does it well.

I’ve become quite a connoisseur of audio books. They are usually best read by the author. Actors can be good too, but only if they understand the book. Samuel West reading Brian Cox is excellent because he takes the trouble to study the subject. Lalla Ward has read most of my audio books with me, and she’s another actor whose full grasp of the science shines through her reading.

Already a subscriber? Log in

Keep reading with a free trial

Subscribe and get your first month of online and app access for free. After that it’s just £1 a week.

There’s no commitment, you can cancel any time.

Or

Unlock more articles

REGISTER

Comments

Don't miss out

Join the conversation with other Spectator readers. Subscribe to leave a comment.

Already a subscriber? Log in