On August 20, the Telegraph ran a story under the headline “All the times Harry and Meghan criticised Britain”. The incidents cited included expressions of such unreasonable and unhinged wokery as the interview in which Meghan – it is mainly Meghan whose criticisms were foregrounded – had spoken out about racism in British history; her complaints about the time Princess Michael of Kent had shown up to Christmas lunch wearing a “blackamoor” brooch featuring a racist caricature of an African; and the way said she’d been told that British tabloids “will destroy your life”. (How anyone could have given her that impression remains a mystery.)
At the time of writing, the story has 1,151 comments, which I am quite simply refusing to read.
Something else the Sussexes criticised is the British “stiff upper lip”: the national determination to repress emotion. This is clearly not something much in evidence at the Telegraph these days, however. Here are just some of the aspects of Britain about which that newspaper has recently found itself going funny colours in fury.
Its NHS: “The NHS won’t stop killing people, and nobody seems to care”, David Frost, June 26; “I’m a doctor and I don’t trust the NHS to deliver babies”, Katie Musgrave, August 28.
Its BBC: “The BBC will come to regret its bizarre obsession with drag queens”, Michael Deacon, August 15; “Your licence fee is now paying for competitive sand-castle building”, an attack on a beloved national institution disguised as review of what sounds like a delightful new Bake Off– style game show format written by Benji Wilson, August 17.
Its education system: “English texts ’dumbed down’ for A-level students”, August 29; although criticism of state schools seems to be largely via omission as it rarely mentions their existence, so most attacks are instead focused on…
its universities: “Britain’s bloated university system is a drain on the economy”, Roger Bootle, August 24; “Gove: Cambridge peddles ’toxic nonsense’”, August 27; “If universities don’t change, don’t bother going”, Annabel Denham, January 27.
Its prime minister. “Burnham has declared war on the South. Your homes and savings are no longer safe”, Allister Heath, July 1; “Burnham is a financial arsonist who will torch the public purse”, also Allister Heath (honestly, he’s terrific value), July 22.
His Cabinet: “Ed Miliband is the most tragic kind of overgrown student politician”, Harry Mount, August 21, “Lucy Powell may be an even worse Education Secretary than Phillipson”, Stephen Pollard, also August 21; “John Healey is a dangerous fraud”, Stephen Daisley, August 28.
Suggested Listening
The Two Matts Q&A: Harry and Meghan, Dolly Parton… and blockbuster books
Its people: “Middlesbrough shows in microcosm our young men’s descent into delinquency”, Camilla Tominey, August 28; “Half of young people would never fight for Britain”, April 22; “The white working class may still be its own greatest enemy”, Janet Daley, July 4.
Their mental health: “Antidepressant use in Britain is surging, and it’s not OK”, James Kirkup, August 28; “NHS pays private clinics £3k per ADHD diagnosis”, news story, same day.
The entire north. “Welcome to our Andy’s coronation in the Rovers Return – with Big Ange behind the bar”, July 1 – a baffling column in which, as packing material for complaints that it’s absurd it is for a prime minister to care about boring things like buses, Allison Pearson strings together a string of northern cliches (“dead proud”, “has he ’eck as like”, “Lancashire hotpot and a gravy fountain”) seemingly calculated to show the paper’s disdain towards anyone who has the impudence to appear in public with a northern accent.
The vast majority of these headlines, you may notice, have been published since the start of July. Hypercritical headlines often don’t reflect the more nuanced argument beneath them, of course – but nonetheless, the Telegraph chose to publish those headlines. And more to the point, it started it.
Suggested Reading
The media’s Harry and Meghan hate machine is weird and sad
A liberal might suggest that being able to criticise your country is not merely legitimate, but a duty, a sign that you want it to overcome its flaws and live up to its ideals. But their coverage of the Sussexes makes clear that the editors of the Telegraph do not believe that to be true.
And so, we are forced to conclude that, by its own logic, the newspaper is now run by a bunch of traitors who loathe the government, people and institutions of their country far more than Meghan Markle at her most vicious could ever manage.
