Doctor Who under fire from Tory MP as Blair urges Labour to reject ‘wokeism’

Conservative MP Nick Fletcher has appeared to blame Chris Chibnall and Jodie Whittaker for men committing crime. I’m not inclined to leap to a full-throated defence of any Doctor Who era past that of Russell T Davies (sorry, Steven Moffat fans), but somehow I don’t think the mostly-non-violent-but-occasionally-genocidal Doctor now being a woman explains why men commit more criminal acts than women. I should note that Fletcher has accused those interpreting his speech this way of missing his “rather nuanced point” about a lack of positive role models for young boys. He must have slept through the Euros this year.

Tony Blair has declared today that Labour should “emphatically reject” so-called ‘wokeism’. This is in his foreword to a new report on how to rebuild Labour’s voter coalition. According to Blair, the party must “openly embrace liberal, tolerant but common-sensical positions on the “culture” issues” while rejecting ‘woke’ views. Shadow minister Alex Sobel says many in the mid-90s would have seen scrapping Section 28, introducing equal marriage and other New Labour reforms as ‘wokeism’. How and where Blair draws a distinction between sensible liberal views and bad ‘woke’ opinions is still not clear.

By far our most-read story of the week is my interview with Zarah Sultana, in which she revealed that she has never spoken to Keir Starmer but would like to have a meeting with him. She also talked about calling ministers “dodgy”, being “taken aback by the sheer volume” of abuse she receives as an MP and reportedly facing deselection. Also worth reading is the latest from Labour’s national executive committee, which went on an ‘away day’ yesterday and has been promised sight of the Forde report (again).

Have a great weekend.