Ethical Matters:
Cancel Culture and the Culture War: Truth and Consequences

At some point, someone must have declared a culture war. The media is stuffed with stories of academics and celebrities losing their jobs, platforms and voice for speaking in a way a small, yet seemingly powerful, authority disapproves. Are authors, academics and artists on the political naughty step, silenced until they are readmitted in to society? Is free speech and free thought are risk; or is cancel culture a response to views and actions that could cause harm? Are the aggressors of the culture war primarily on the left? Are politically motivated called to defund the BBC, violent protests at drag queen story time or the Public Order Bill banning protest the flip-side of cancelling culture?

Hardeep Matharu, Editor at Byline Times, and Joe Twyman, director at Deltapool discuss cancel culture and the culture war, where it’s from, who benefits from perpetuating the idea of a culture war and what the cultural landscape may be like if they persists.

Hardeep Matharu is a journalist and editor of Byline Times based in South London. The London-born daughter of immigrants from Kenya and India, Hardeep completed a Law degree at Cambridge University before entering journalism, and is passionate about bringing investigatory, thought-provoking and diverse reporting to the British media. She is the editor of Wokelore: Boris Johnson’s Culture War and Other Stories.

Joe Twyman is instantly recognisable as the face of British public opinion. He frequently provides expert analysis for both the national and international media. He was previously Head of Political and Social Research for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at YouGov, having begun as a research director at the very start of the company back in 2000. Joe is a director of Deltapoll.

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