As businesses close and funerals are halted, fear of being attacked by a rightwing mob is stifling freedom of expression following the Queen’s death
This is what “cancel culture” really looks like: businesses, shops and charities, colleges, schools and public servants, any minor figure in the public eye has been rendered petrified, terrified of doing the wrong thing during days of mourning.
Cancel culture has paralysed the country, but the culprits are not the hundreds of thousands quietly queueing good-humouredly for miles to experience a moment in history. Intimidation comes not from the citizens, but as usual from Britain’s self-appointed bullies, often with absurd consequences. The mighty weight of authoritarianism comes not just from the Conservative party that has governed most of my life, but the overwhelmingly rightwing press and its social media, ready to terrorise any hapless victim caught in its sights.
Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist
