Left is not Woke, by Susan Neiman

I heard a comedy piece recently where a radio host asks who the ‘woke people’ are that his guest refers to. The phoner then ploughs through an increasingly irate list that begins with The Guardian, takes in pronouns, lawyers, children’s books, the RNLI and much else besides, and ends with avocados. It’s no more or less sensible than most conversations that use the word, which has become highly toxic.

If we were to take the original meaning, to be woke is to be alert to injustice. That’s not ...