Gavin Mortimer | The Spectator Columnists & Writers

How the Nazis pioneered ‘cancel culture’

Two well-known women were degraded last week as Britain continues to be ethically cleansed. The first was Nancy Astor, whose statue in Plymouth was dubbed with the word 'Nazi'. The second was Baroness Nicholson, honorary vice-president of the Booker Prize Foundation, who was relieved of her duties after her views on trans issues and gay marriage were judged insufficiently respectful. ‘The issues are complex but our principles are clear,’ the Foundation said in justifying their decision. ‘We deplore racism, homophobia and transphobia and do not discriminate on any grounds.’ Is there any difference between those who defiled Astor and those who demeaned Nicholson? Only, it would appear, that the latter are more civil in their intolerance.

Gavin Mortimer

Churchill once challenged BBC intolerance

Gavin Mortimer

Churchill once challenged BBC intolerance

Winston Churchill: hero or villain? That was the question the BBC asked on its website on 10 June. It caused outrage in some quarters, but was Auntie taking its revenge for the humiliation it suffered at Churchill's libertarian hands during the second world war? In the summer of 1940, a movement was launched in Britain called the 'People's Convention', which brought together a disparate alliance of Marxists, socialists and pacifists. Among its most prominent backers were Robin Page Arnot, Harry Pollitt, and Willie Gallacher, all veteran communists. The Convention held its inaugural rally in London on 12 January 1941, attended by over 2,000 delegates, and one of them, a Mr Warman of Coventry, declared that 'the policy of the government was not in the interests of the people but of the wealthy'.

Gavin Mortimer

Britain could learn from France’s coronavirus approach

Gavin Mortimer

Britain could learn from France’s coronavirus approach

If there is a God, He's not French. Last night I was on the balcony of my apartment in Paris enjoying a celebratory 'deconfinement' bottle of wine; this morning on my first day of (partial) liberty there is heavy rain and high wind. So much for getting out and about on day one of post-lockdown life in France. Not that it will be that easy even when the weather does stop misbehaving. Paris is in the 'red zone', one of four regions of France that still has many restrictions in place, affecting 27 million people. In the 'green' zone, effectively the west and south of the country, parks are open, primary and secondary schools and shops are reopening and some beaches are also accessible. In Paris, however, while most shops will reopen the parks remain closed, as do secondary schools.

Gavin Mortimer

The return of the deep shelter mentality

Gavin Mortimer

The return of the deep shelter mentality

Seven weeks confined to a city apartment changes a man. Trees, for example, have never been a particular passion of mine but recently I've spent many happy moments studying the plane tree outside my bedroom window, and in particular the magpies' nest therein. On Saturday a baby magpie emerged from the nest and edged tentatively along a branch. There it stayed for several minutes until it retreated to the security of its nest. On Sunday, the Observer reported that a similar nervousness now afflicts the British. According to the paper, fewer than one in five of the public believe the time is right to end the lockdown. Britain is not alone in its apprehension. A poll last week in the US reported that 75 per cent of the country want their lockdown to continue, and two-thirds of those canvassed in France admitted to trepidation ahead of their 'deconfinement' next Monday.

Gavin Mortimer

Emmanuel Macron is experiencing the calm before the storm

Gavin Mortimer

Emmanuel Macron is experiencing the calm before the storm

Today marks the third month of my confinement in my fifth floor apartment in Paris. As I wrote all those weeks ago, shortly after president Macron declared his 'war' on coronavirus, I had adopted a prisoner psychology to see me through what I suspected from the outset would be six weeks minimum of lockdown. I wasn't wrong. I'm due for release on Monday May 11th but I can't say I'm counting down every second with a sense of impatience. Not that I want to stay locked up but I'm not sure life will change that much in the short term once I've regained my liberty: no bars or restaurants to visit, no cinemas or theatres open, no sport to watch and no travelling beyond a 100km radius. It's not going to be a summer of fun.

Gavin Mortimer

Paris’s banlieues are burning once again

Gavin Mortimer

Paris’s banlieues are burning once again

One of the persistent misconceptions of the riots that swept through France in the autumn of 2005 is that they were solely the result of the deaths of two youths as they ran from the police. The deaths of the teenagers on October 27 in Clichy-Montfermeil provoked unrest in the north-eastern Parisian suburb but it was what happened three days later that led to three weeks of nationwide riots and the declaration of a state of emergency by the then president of France, Jacques Chirac. According to Gilles Kepel in his 2015 book, Terror in France: genesis of the French Jihad, it was a stray tear gas grenade fired by police that landed close to the entrance of a mosque that lit the touch paper. ‘The sight of the faithful suffocating, seized by panic, revived a weakening mobilisation and in a matter of days stretched it across the majority of inner-city estates,’ wrote Kepel.

Gavin Mortimer

It’s no surprise Brits are denouncing each other for breaching lockdown rules

Gavin Mortimer

It’s no surprise Brits are denouncing each other for breaching lockdown rules

The mayor of Paris's 20th arrondissement has asked residents of her neighbourhood to stop denouncing each other. 'When it's a question of violence against women or children, or selling drugs, I'm still all ears,' said Frédérique Calandra this week. 'But these calls stigmatising Parisians who wish only to get a breath of fresh for a few minutes, they're unacceptable.' Passing on a message from the police, Calandra told people to stop denouncing their neighbours for petty infractions of the confinement regulations because it was overwhelming their emergency phone lines. In reporting the case, Le Parisien newspaper headlined its story 'Halte à la délation', which is the word for passing on information to the authorities.

Gavin Mortimer

France won’t be fooled by Macron’s radical reinvention

Gavin Mortimer

France won’t be fooled by Macron’s radical reinvention

A couple of hours before Emmanuel Macron addressed France on Sunday night I received a meme on WhatsApp from a French friend. It was a game card for 'Macron's Aperitif Bingo', the rules for which were simple: swigs of a drink of your choice would have to be downed every time the president said a certain word or phrase during his latest declaration about his 'war' on coronavirus. 'War' incidentally was two swigs, while 'shortage of masks' was three and 'sacrifices' was four. I imagine that by the end of the president's speech quite a few players were somewhat unsteady on their feet. One suspects that Macron would not have been amused to learn that while he was making his solemn address to the nation, many of his 'chers compatriotes' were guzzling at his expense.

Gavin Mortimer

Coronavirus marks the end of open borders in Europe

Gavin Mortimer

Coronavirus marks the end of open borders in Europe

What with the wall-to-wall media coverage of the coronavirus pandemic it had rather slipped one's mind that there are other serious issues confronting Europe, but France got a bloody reminder at the weekend. On Saturday, a knifeman ran amok in the south-eastern town of Romans-sur-Isere, killing two people and wounding five. According to eyewitnesses, the alleged perpetrator, a Sudanese national who was granted asylum in 2017, accompanied his deadly assault outside a boulangerie with cries of 'Allah Akbar'. It is claimed in the French media that when police searched his flat they found handwritten documents in which he complained of living in 'a country of non-believers'. Two other Sudanese refugees are being questioned by police, one of whom has reportedly told them that the attacker had 'resented' the rules of the lockdown.

Gavin Mortimer

Liberté, égalité and fraternité are being put to the test in France

Gavin Mortimer

Liberté, égalité and fraternité are being put to the test in France

When I left my apartment for my morning run today I saw that someone had scrawled on the courtyard in large chalk letters 'Tenez Bon, Les Voisins' (Hang in there, neighbours). It could have been a message for the whole country. France is flagging after two and a half weeks of complete lockdown and the fact that today is the start of the official Easter holidays will only fray nerves further. To make matters worse, the country will be treated to a taste of summer this weekend with temperatures from Paris to the Pyrenees forecast to touch 23C on Sunday. In an interview today the Minister of the Interior, Christophe Castaner, revealed that since France went into lockdown on March 17 there have been 6.7 million identity checks resulting in 406,283 fines for breaching the rules of the ‘confinement général’.

Gavin Mortimer

Is France being pushed to breaking point?

Gavin Mortimer

Is France being pushed to breaking point?

As France prepares to enter its third week of confinement the Prime Minister, Edouard Philippe, has warned that ‘the fight has only just begun’. Coronavirus has claimed 2,606 French lives to date, but at a press conference on Saturday evening Philippe said: ‘The first 15 days of April will be even more difficult than the last 15 days.’ Earlier in the week Philippe had praised the resolve of the vast majority for respecting the lockdown, and he urged France to hold the course while announcing that the confinement will continue until at least April 15. ‘This struggle will last,’ he said. ‘We will only win by being disciplined and observing lockdown measures.’ But how long can the French hold out? In Italy there are reports that some people are close to breaking point after three weeks of house arrest.

Gavin Mortimer

Boris can learn from Churchill as he battles coronavirus

Gavin Mortimer

Boris can learn from Churchill as he battles coronavirus

As Boris Johnson self-isolates for seven days after testing positive for coronavirus, he must follow the example of his hero, Winston Churchill, in heeding the advice of his doctors. It was on the counsel of his chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, that the Prime Minister subjected himself to a test, which augurs well for the days ahead as he, in his own words 'continues to lead the government's response' to coronavirus. In December 1943, Churchill's physician, Sir Charles Wilson (Lord Moran), was quick to spot the signs that his friend of many years was not well. They had arrived in Cairo on December after an exhausting fortnight in which the PM had discussed allied strategy in conferences in Cairo and Tehran.

Gavin Mortimer

Why does Britain lack the lockdown discipline of France?

Gavin Mortimer

Why does Britain lack the lockdown discipline of France?

There was a touch of schadenfreude as I heard that Britain has followed France, Italy and several other European countries in locking down. In the last week or so there have been a number of articles about how Britain would never impose on its people the draconian measures taken by Emmanuel Macron and others because their countries, unlike ours, have a history of authoritarian government. Boris Johnson was admirable in his wish to avoid locking down the country but the indiscipline of millions of his people left him no choice. Boris can't be blamed for the packed pubs last week, the teeming parks at the weekend or the street barbecues this week. Nor can he take the rap for the stripping of supermarket shelves up and down the country, a phenomenon which in Europe is unique to Britain.

Gavin Mortimer

My life as a French prisoner of coronavirus ‘war’

Gavin Mortimer

My life as a French prisoner of coronavirus ‘war’

Seventeen per cent of Parisians have fled the city since President Macron ordered France to be confined, as part of his ‘war’ strategy to defeat coronavirus. The lockdown, which began on Tuesday, is for two weeks but on Friday the government indicated that it will likely be extended into April as France struggles to contain a pandemic that has now claimed 674 lives. Police are rigorously enforcing the regulations forbidding people to leave home except to buy provisions or briefly stretch their legs. Thousands have been fined for breaking the rules of confinement and there are reports that in future people will be jailed for up to six months if they're repeat offenders. Numerous towns and cities have introduced curfews from 8pm to 6am and drones and helicopters keep the streets under surveillance during daylight.

Gavin Mortimer

Marine Le Pen has the most to gain from France’s coronavirus crisis

Gavin Mortimer

Marine Le Pen has the most to gain from France’s coronavirus crisis

Any hope that the two week 'confinement' imposed by President Macron would heal France’s deep divisions has vanished as swiftly as food on the supermarket shelves here. There is growing anger in the provinces at the sudden arrival of thousands of well-heeled Parisians, who have fled the capital for their second homes. Many seaside residents in Brittany and the Côte d'Azur are senior citizens and they are furious about the sight of selfish Parisians stripping their stores of essential goods. Back in Paris, meanwhile, video footage has been uploaded onto several right-leaning news outlets of some mild disorder outside shops in districts such as Barbès, Château Rouge and La Chapelle. These are suburbs with large immigrant populations so one doesn't need a degree from the Sorbonne to understand the implication.

Gavin Mortimer

Macron’s ‘war’ on coronavirus is bringing out the best and worst in Parisians

Gavin Mortimer

Macron’s ‘war’ on coronavirus is bringing out the best and worst in Parisians

I missed Emmanuel Macron's address to the nation last night. I popped to the supermarket, guessing (correctly) that the queues of earlier in the day would have dissipated with most people at home in front of their television sets listening to what their president had to say. I stocked up on essentials – wine, cheese and chocolate – and returned to the anticipated news that as of midday today France is under lockdown, or as they say across the Channel 'confinement'. Bars and restaurants have been closed since midnight on Saturday, and from now until the end of month (and probably beyond) one can only venture outside with a completed government form explaining the purpose of the sortie: to go to work, to buy more provisions at the supermarket or to walk the dog.

Gavin Mortimer

What Pepys’s plague diaries can teach us about coronavirus

Gavin Mortimer

What Pepys’s plague diaries can teach us about coronavirus

I’ve been writing a diary for 26 years and 2020 is shaping up to be a vintage one. I thought 2019 would be hard to beat, what with Brexit, Greta and Labour's implosion, but this year I've been feeling like Samuel Pepys as the 21st century answer to the bubonic plague sweeps the world. The virus first came to my attention on January 24, when I mentioned in passing 'the spread in China of something called "coronavirus".' But it wasn't until February 9 that I informed my diary that the arrival in Britain of Storm Clara has 'given the media something else to panic about other than coronavirus. Seven people now infected in the UK and 800 deaths in China.' At 32, Pepys was younger than me when the plague ravaged London in 1665, which may have been a factor in saving him from becoming one of the estimated 100,000 fatalities (around 20 per cent of London's population) of the disease, which was transmitted by fleas that lived on rats.

Gavin Mortimer

Paris is increasingly lawless - but the middle-classes don’t seem to care

Gavin Mortimer

Paris is increasingly lawless - but the middle-classes don’t seem to care

Ah, Paris, the city of love, the city of light, the city of larceny. Theft, burglary, pickpocketing, assault and homophobic acts are on the up, and even the city's Procureur, the public prosecutor Rémy Heitz, has admitted the stats 'aren't good'. No, they're not. Theft, for example, increased by 15 per cent in 2019, up from 124,875 recorded incidents to 144,552. Pickpockets are also enjoying a boom period with an increase of 35 per cent in 12 months, and there were 7 per cent more burglaries last year than in 2018. True, car theft and gun crime have dropped but physical assaults have risen by 13 per cent, sexual harassment on the transport network has shot up by 30 per cent, and also mounting are crimes characterised as homophobic.

Gavin Mortimer

Can Macron halt the rise of Islamic extremism?

Gavin Mortimer

Can Macron halt the rise of Islamic extremism?

Emmanuel Macron has unveiled his plan to combat the rise of Islamic extremism in France. Stressing that his fight was not against the religion but political Islam, 'which has no place' in the Republic, the president outlined a series of measures in a speech last week. Notably, his plans involve an end to the hosting of imams from countries such as Turkey and Algeria, and more rigorous control on foreign financing of mosques from the likes of Qatar. Macron stopped short of introducing an 'Islam of France', which had been mooted two years ago, but his intention is to eliminate the malevolent influence of outsiders. But is it too late to stop what Macron described as the 'Islamist separatism' of France, a process that began in the 1980s when François Mitterrand's Socialist government turned a blind eye to the 're-islamisation' of the suburbs by men who took their inspiration from the Iranian revolution? The alarm was first raised in 2002 with the publication of Les Territoires perdus de la République (The Lost Territories of the Republic) by Georges Bensoussan, in which he exposed the extent of this re-islamisation.

Gavin Mortimer

British police must learn from France in dealing with Extinction Rebellion

Gavin Mortimer

British police must learn from France in dealing with Extinction Rebellion

I’ve always been a fan of the French police, in part because when I lived in the south of the country I played rugby in a team that contained a couple of coppers who told me stories of what they had to deal with on a daily basis. But I’m also a little partial to them because they do what it says on the tin: they police I recall a summer’s evening in Montpellier a few years ago when two young drunks were causing a disturbance for diners and drinkers in a crowded square. The police arrived and manhandled the louts into their squad car, one of whom made the mistake of resisting arrest. As he was manoeuvred into the back seat the man’s head met the door frame. An accident? Mais oui, and one that drew a raucous cheer from diners.

Gavin Mortimer

We should be wary of our spooks’ complacency about Huawei

Gavin Mortimer

We should be wary of our spooks’ complacency about Huawei

I might be feeling more confident about the government's decision to give Huawei a limited role in building Britain's 5G network, 'on the advice of intelligence agencies', were I not reminded of the effectiveness of British spooks by the recent appearances of Alexandre del Valle on French radio. Del Valle is the author of numerous books on Islamism and the Middle East, a knowledge accrued over many decades, including a spell in the late 1990s working for France's General Secretariat for Defence and National Security, an inter-ministerial body answering to the Prime Minister. His latest book, The Project, explores how the Muslim Brotherhood has successfully spread across the West, and to promote the book he's been giving a series of media interviews.

Gavin Mortimer

Macron’s Jerusalem meltdown was a revealing moment

Gavin Mortimer

Macron’s Jerusalem meltdown was a revealing moment

Emmanuel Macron lost his cool during a walkabout in Jerusalem's Old City on Tuesday and television cameras captured the moment for posterity. "Everybody knows the rules," shouted the president of France, directing his wrath at Israeli security officials. "I don't like what you did in front of me. Go outside!" The confrontation took place outside the Church of Saint Anne, a possession of the French government which is regarded as French territory. According to reports Macron snapped when Israeli security men attempted to accompany him into the church. It's not the first time that a French president has had a fit of Gallic pique in Jerusalem; Jacques Chirac famously clashed with some Israeli soldiers in 1996, asking of them in English less fluent than Macron's if "you want me to go back to my plane?" But Macron's meltdown is a sign of the pressure he's under on all fronts.

Gavin Mortimer

How long until there are no Jews left in France?

Gavin Mortimer

How long until there are no Jews left in France?

Two years ago I wrote on this platform that France is the most 'dangerous European country for Jews' – and so it remains. Anti-Semitic attacks in 2018 soared by 74 per cent on the previous year and the figures for the beginning of 2019 have revealed a 78 per cent increase on the same period in 2018. 'Jews, who make up less than one per cent of the population, are subjected to more than half the racist acts committed in France,' said Francis Kalifat last week. Kalifat, who is president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France (CRIF), believes the number of victims is actually higher. 'A lot of people don't make an official complaint,' he said. 'Either because it serves no purpose or because they fear reprisals.

Gavin Mortimer

Whatever happened to ‘Je Suis Charlie’?

Gavin Mortimer

Whatever happened to ‘Je Suis Charlie’?

Five years on from the horrific Charlie Hebdo massacre in which a dozen people lost their lives, politicians have been busy showcasing their sanctimony. Socialist mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo urged people 'never to forget' the price the cartoonists paid for the courage. Yet only last week, Hidalgo used Twitter to express her 'profound shock' at a small publicity campaign on the Paris transport network opposing assisted medical procreation for lesbian couples and single women, an issue currently under discussion in the Senate. Once she had recovered her equanimity, Hidalgo ordered 'that the posters be withdrawn immediately'. But what did Charlie Hebdo stand for if not the freedom to publish things others might vehemently disagree with? I was one of a million people who assembled for a solidarity march through the streets of Paris in January 2015, just days after Islamists punished Charlie Hebdo for publishing cartoons of the Prophet.

Gavin Mortimer

Islamists have opened a terrifying new front in their war with France

Gavin Mortimer

Islamists have opened a terrifying new front in their war with France

France has endured an appalling series of Islamist terror attacks in recent years. One might feel a sense of relief that the country escaped relatively lightly last Friday. That will, of course, be no consolation to the family of the man who was killed by 22-year-old Nathan C, a recent convert to Islam, who stabbed his victim to death as he defended his wife in the Parisian suburb of Villejuif. She is recovering in hospital, as is another woman, while a passer-by apparently has his religion to thank for his survival. Confronted by the killer who was dressed in a djellaba and shouting 'Allah Akbar', the man pleaded for mercy, pointing out that he was a Muslim. The terrorist ordered him to recite a prayer in Arabic, which he did, and so off he went in search of other victims.

Gavin Mortimer

How Boris Johnson’s victory helps Marine Le Pen

Gavin Mortimer

How Boris Johnson’s victory helps Marine Le Pen

Boris Johnson may have received a lukewarm reaction from Emmanuel Macron to his emphatic election victory last month but one French politician was cock-a-hoop at the result. Shortly after the scale of the Conservative win was clear, Marine Le Pen tweeted her delight, declaring that 'the crushing victory of Boris Johnson shows that neither manoeuvring nor intimidation can sway a people who have decided to take their destiny in their own hands.' Other than finding the EU objectionable, Johnson and Le Pen have little in common and economically, the Frenchwoman's desire to nationalise banks is more in line with Jeremy Corbyn's worldview. But the triumph of the Conservative leader has been a tremendous fillip for her.

Gavin Mortimer

Corbyn may be a goner but his ideology is as strong as ever

Gavin Mortimer

Corbyn may be a goner but his ideology is as strong as ever

East Germans had a name for their version of 'woke' culture'; it was Zersetzung, or 'decomposition' in English. It was a form of psychological warfare deployed against citizens suspected of 'subversive incitement'. There were several techniques to Zersetzung but probably the most effective was what the Stasi described as the 'systematic discrediting of public reputation' by eroding the 'self-confidence and self-esteem of a person [to] create fear, panic, confusion'. This is now the strategy of the online mob, who have become ruthlessly adept at degrading those they charge with subversion: Toby Young, professor Nigel Biggar, Germaine Greer, Ian Buruma, Placido Domingo, Sir Tim Hunt and Sir Roger Scruton are just a few who have been targeted.

Gavin Mortimer

France, not Britain, is the real angry and divided nation

Gavin Mortimer

France, not Britain, is the real angry and divided nation

Remember when Boris Johnson met Emmanuel Macron for the first time as Prime Minister? It was in August and, as the Guardian made clear to its readers, it was the French president calling the shots. The newspaper illustrated its point with a photograph of the two leaders at their lecterns, the French president looking statesmanlike and the British Prime Minister with a hand clasped to his head. Boris Johnson and Emmanuel Macron on the Guardian website[/caption] How different the fortunes of the leaders are four months on. Johnson has just been returned to power with a 'stonking' majority, as impressive as the one Macron's centrist LREM (La République En Marche) enjoyed in the 2017 French parliamentary elections.

Gavin Mortimer

My fear about the next generation of jihadists

Gavin Mortimer

My fear about the next generation of jihadists

I've just finished reading William Manchester's absorbing memoir about the Pacific War. 'Goodbye Darkness' is a reminder of just how brutal that campaign was, particularly the battle for Okinawa in 1945, where Americans and Japanese fought in hand-to-hand combat in conditions that Manchester likened to Passchendaele. There was one key difference though: in the East China Sea, Americans were up against an enemy only too willing to die for their cause. Few Japanese surrendered; most fought to the end and some died as suicide bombers, ambushing Marines with explosives strapped to their bodies. Manchester, who became a renowned writer and historian after the war, still harboured a grudge against the Japanese when he wrote his cathartic memoir in 1980.