Statement by the Oxford University Reform Society on my upcoming lecture

People who say "get politics out of entertainment" are misguided. They'll be the first to quote George Orwell, who wrote unabashedly about his political agenda, without a hint of irony. But people pretending complaints about politics in entertainment are about just making a statement or exploring political issues are being disingenuous. The complaints exist and are valid because for 10 years every cherished IP has been hijacked and destroyed by people whose social politics form the basis of creative choices that run counter to established lore and to good design. Some examples include - The softening of male characters (see Sony's "Wolverine") - The hardening of female characters (see the most recent "Halo"). - The arbitrary "Queering" of the narrative (see "The Last of Us Part II") - The desexualizing of sexy female characters ("Mortal Kombat" is my favorite: the women's breast sizes were deemed offensive, but not the graphic dismemberments and disembowlments the series is known for) These are creative choices made for the sake of social engineering, not compelling storytelling or innovative game design. They are choices made to please the developers and writers, NOT the majority actually buying and playing the games. The brilliance—and cowardice—of these choices is that ANY criticism of them can quickly be dismissed as "hate" from "toxic fans" who are "intimidated" by "diversity" in videogames. This is a ridiculous charge to anyone familiar with the hobby: For nearly 50 years, games have featured protagonists ranging from men and women to animals and aliens to robots and monsters and beyond and not a single person cared, nor bothered to check the demographics of who was developing the games. A deeper complaint is that the people sloppily hamfisting their sociopolitics into popular IPs is that they very openly discriminate against people who don't share their political vision. This not only means that great talent is shut out of these companies for ridiculous reasons, it also means the aforementioned bad choices are guaranteed to never be challenged, else it's unemployment and blacklisting for the suspected "Chud." This pattern has played out across multiple entertainment media, and it's contributed to tanking game studios, tanking comic book sales (compared to Manga), and tanking box office revenues. The complaints aren't about "politics in games." They're about how those politics translate into the work, and how the people developing these games use their politics as a weapon against the normal people they're employed to serve.

The latest ad from the Irish Government to the Irish people, who are the font of all problems in the country and desperately need to be stopped from their bad behaviour. This time, it's hugging your grandkids.

Dozens of writers set to attend Hartlepool Author Showcase trib.al/eDVRfSd

🚨 WATCH: Nigel Farage is booed by Reform UK members as he accidentally says he’s in Portsmouth not Plymouth

Just how close did Britain's electricity grid come to collapse on 23 June? Allegations began circulating soon after that date of a cover-up by the National Energy Systems Operator (NESO). While external observers could see that something abnormal was happening, with the frequency of the grid falling below operational limits for several hours, NESO quickly denied that anything was wrong. They claimed that the grid was ‘not at risk’, an assertion which was repeated by energy minister Michael Shanks in the Commons. ✍️ Ross Clark Article | spectator.com/article/how-cl… | @RossjournoClark