I pity straight, white men in today’s world, says author

TV & Radio Reporter

THE worst thing to be in modern society is straight, white and male, author Lionel Shriver has claimed.

The 63-year-old, best known for her novel We Need To Talk About Kevin, said she instinctively has sympathy for groups no one else feels sorry for.

Miss Shriver told the BBC’s Headliners podcast: ‘We have come to understand that we can’t feel sorry for those people – and there is something pitiable about being someone that no one can feel sorry for.’

The US author, who lives in London, was asked if she likes to wind up those who consider themselves ‘woke’ – alert to injustice. She said: ‘They are easy to wind up... This latest version of virtue is very censorious.’

She continued: ‘I think one of the things that has gone wrong on the left is that the left has won all the really important battles and I’m glad those battles have been won, so it is anything but controversial to be against racism.’

But she added: ‘The trouble is, when you are too successful in an activist direction, then all that’s left are the pettier fights or more dubious fights.’