United Kingdom: “Cancel Culture” Comes for Christmas

Has the culture of erasure – Cancel Culture, or an ideology of censorship by which we strive to wipe out traditional values and history – spread all the way to 10 Downing Street?

The information leaked to The Telegraph, whose journalists were able to speak with several members of the government, confirmed that officials had been instructed to avoid any explicit link between the end-of-year holidays and the celebration of Christmas in order to avoid excluding people of different faiths.

No official directive has been issued on the matter. However, the officials in charge of personnel management within the various British administrations have translated these recent instructions as the outright cancellation of any aperitif or office parties.

For example, a senior civil servant working in one of the main ministries reported that he and his colleagues were asked to find a restaurant to celebrate Christmas that did not serve alcohol, so as to avoid “excluding” a team member who, for religious reasons, does not drink.

“We are in a situation where, in the name of inclusiveness, one member of the staff is allowed to dictate what other members of staff can or cannot drink,” the senior official told The Telegraph.

A second high-ranking employee from another department reports that he was banned from drinking alcohol on shifts at the end of the year “because of Boris,” in reference to the recent Partygate scandal which abruptly ended the former prime minister’s mandate.

Worse, during one of the training sessions, civil servants say they were pressured into removing the Christmas tree in the event that Jews and Muslims might feel “hurt” in their convictions.

In fact, Pandora's box was opened in the summer of 2019 by a circular issued by the office of the then Prime Minister, the Conservative Boris Johnson, entitled “Toolkit for faith and belief for use by public servants.” 

The long and tedious document tirelessly calls on senior officials to “promote diversity of ideas and respect for cultures” in the course of their work.

Three and a half years later, the British administration’s “toolbox” has become nothing more or less than a kit for demolishing the Christian religion. It remains to be seen how the new tenant of 10 Downing Street positions himself on this delicate subject. He is a fervent Hindu who appears at ease affirming his own religious convictions in public.