Society

So, we’re at about the halfway point in the 2022 Fifa World Cup and, while I’m delighted that England have yet to deliver our customary quadrennial disappointment, it pains me to say that a competition winner might already be emerging – and, in spite of its feeble performances on the field, it could be Qatar. I had wanted to stay as outraged throughout the tournament as I had been when the Qatar decision was announced. But then the football got really good and the fans in the stadiums were clearly having a great time and my resolve crumbled faster than Harry Kane could stick a One Love armband back into

When the incendiary story about Lady Susan Hussey’s ill-judged remarks broke this week, a detail that many were quick to spot was that Lady Hussey had been the person responsible for giving the Duchess of Sussex ‘protocol lessons’ when she first became part of the Royal Family. Defenders of Meghan Markle (who do exist, if not in any great quantity in Britain) seized upon this information. They have been trumpeting, ‘Of course, this is what that poor woman had to put up with! If people are as ignorant and rude as Lady Hussey, no wonder she accused the Royal Family and its members of racism! She called them out!’ It

Why do we need a Women’s Officer anyway? Wind back the clock about 35 years, and that question might have provoked 20 minutes of debate in the student union bar. But while certain disgruntled male students might have moaned about the glaring absence of a men’s officer, never did we call for the women’s post to be abolished. Not seriously, anyway.  How times have changed. Oxford University Student Union recently decided to abolish the role, currently designated ‘Vice-President (Women)’. From next year, Oxford students will no longer have the support of an officer dedicated to furthering the interests of women and defending their rights. Earlier this month, Ellie Greaves, the current and final incumbent articulated her concerns, writing: 

‘Why did you want to make this documentary?’ That is the question – over portentous piano chords – that begins the trailer for the next instalment in the apparently endless Sussex saga, Harry and Meghan. The answers that the viewer might supply: publicity-seeking on a grand scale; unbelievable narcissism– are not uttered. Instead, over stylised black and white photographs of the duo kissing, being crazily in love and every inch the perfect couple, Harry replies, with becoming grimness, ‘No one sees what’s happening behind closed doors.’ Cue pictures of Meghan apparently in tears looking at her phone; the Royal Family aloof and cold; and a million photographers, their cameras thrust

When asked about their religion in a census, many British people have the same response: that it’s none of the government’s business. For a while, as a joke, tens of thousands stated their faith as ‘Jedi’, a fictional order of knights from Star Wars. Nevertheless, this year’s figure marks an important trend: just 46 per cent identified as Christian, down from 72 per cent two decades ago. Muslims are growing in number, but slowly: from 5 per cent of the population ten years ago to 6.5 per cent now. By the next census, those who profess any religion may be outnumbered by those who do not. We remain a country

Olena Zelenska, Ukraine’s First Lady, is a remarkable woman. I listened to her in a packed meeting room in Westminster as she talked of repeated rape and sexual torture. This is what ‘liberation’ means in Russian. She spelled out how Vladimir Putin is using the desecration of women on an industrial scale. Women as old as 84 have been raped by his troops. Their youngest victim was just four. ‘We will not surrender,’ Madame Zelenska said, ‘but victory is not the only thing we need. We need justice.’ This demure, neat figure seemed so slight in the historic surroundings of Committee Room 14, yet her words beat down upon us.