The demonisation of white men marches on

Well, at least she’s had the grace to apologise. Sort of. In an “I’m sorry you were angry” type of way. Southampton University student union president Emily Dawes had vowed to “paint over” a mural of graduates at her university because it depicted only white men. It was soon pointed out to her that the mural was a commemoration of all the young students who went off to fight in the First World War and never returned to collect their degrees – and who, unsurprisingly, were all white men.

Ms Dawes had not bothered to find this out because, through the perpetually aggrieved ideological lenses blinding her eyes, she could compute “white men” only as a target for resentment. It’s the very definition of dehumanising.

“Contains strong language,” the video warns. But whose language? Why, MPS’ of course. After a string of lurid quotes about Theresa May’s prospects appeared in the papers, Channel 4 News had the amusing idea of asking “drill” artists – a type of violent south London gangster rap – to reinterpret the words in rap form.

“I won’t knife you in the back. I will knife you in the front,” raps a guy moodily in a balaclava, taking the line from its original artist, Labour MP Jess Phillips, who was talking about Jeremy Corbyn. “The moment is coming when the knife gets heated, stuck in The mural at Southampton University depicting students who died in the First World War her front and twisted,” he adds ominously, quoting an anonymous former Tory minister on the fate of Mrs May.

Then comes the predictable tell-off from nanny, courtesy of Liz Kendall MP filmed outside Parliament: “The words that we’ve seen [last] weekend are normalising violence, misogyny and harassment and bullying,” she scolds. “They’ve got no place in our politics.”

In a similar vein, a letter to The Guardian this week demanded to know why the anonymously quoted MPS threatening Mrs May were not the subject of police investigations for threat of violence. Here’s one reason. It’s called The Metaphor. And I suppose 2018 is as good a year as any to declare it officially dead (if doing so won’t earn me a police caution for proscribed, violent language). The juxtaposition of MPS’ hard-as-nails language with that of real, knife-wielding gangsters isn’t a moment for serious reflection on the hateful nature of our politics. It’s a moment for laughing at the ludicrous fantasies of politicians who fancy themselves deadly assassins when they are, in fact, mediocre, smug, sententious class prefects who could barely face down an angry Jack Russell, let alone an armed thug.

Now can we please return to an age in which Britain had a sense of humour?