Afternoon summary
Kemi Badenoch has said she does not believe Elon Musk is going to make a multimillion-pound donation to Reform UK, even as the party’s treasurer claimed the US billionaire was now ready to do so. The Conservative leader made the comment in an interview for the Today programme podcast during which she also defended refusing to give off-the-cuff answers to policy questions (see 11.14am), claimed her leadership was going well and that Tory infighting was over (see 9.25am) and said her comment about not all cultures being equal was a general one, and not specifically about Islam (see 11.51am).
The Welsh Conservatives have criticised a decision to remove John Steinbeck’s 1930s novel Of Mice and Men from the GCSE curriculum because of concerns about racism. (See 3.31pm.)
Welsh Tories criticise decision to remove Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men from GCSE curriculum because of racism concerns
The Welsh Conservatives have criticised a decision to remove John Steinbeck’s 1930s novel Of Mice and Men from the GCSE curriculum because class discussions about the book, and the racial slurs it contains, have been distressing for some black pupils.
As the BBC reports, Wales’ children’s commissioner Rocio Cifuentes said many black children “specifically mentioned this text and the harm that it caused them” when she spoke to them as part of research on racism in secondary schools.
Referring to the decision by the WJEC exam board to take it off the GCSE curriculum from next September, she said:
It’s not censorship. This is safeguarding the wellbeing of children who have told us how awful those discussions have made them feel in those classrooms.
They’ve very often been the only black child in that classroom when discussions all around them are focusing on very derogatory, negative depictions of black people.
But Natasha Asghar, the Conservative education spokesperson in the Senedd, said this was censorship, and that it would not solve the problem of racism. In a statement she said:
Instead of banning Of Mice and Men, we should teach it within its historical context, showing students how overt racism and sexism was commonplace and accepted in the past and why this was harmful and wrong.
Censorship doesn’t solve the problem; it prevents young people from confronting and understanding these prejudices some of which, sadly continue.
Sadly, even in 2024 we continue to see racism and sexism in society. If we want to tackle this then instead of banning a classic text, we would do better to challenge media companies that produce music containing misogynistic language and words with racism connotations.
