A PUBLISHING racism row has further intensified. Poet Kate Clanchy, whose once-lauded memoir Some Kids I Taught and What they Taught Me, was recalled over ‘racist’ descriptions of ethnic minority children, this week attempted to accuse her critics of similar caricatures.
In a piece for UnHerd, Clanchy claimed one of her main critics, Monisha Rajesh, had some “chilly and unpleasant” racialised stereotypes in her travel book Around India in 80 Trains. Clanchy said: “I didn’t like the images Rajesh used, but I would defend to the death her right to use them.”
Rajesh responded that she’d written the book at 28 and “changed many views” since then, adding: “nor was I a racist: I wrote about my own community, my people”
Wolf whistling for a Jet
ANYONE got a private plane? North London rock band Wolf Alice have put out calls for an emergency aircraft to get them to Somerset from LA, after flight cancellations in the States. “We need to get to Glastonbury, not joking,” they wrote on Twitter late last night, seemingly facing delays at LAX airport. Drummer Joel Amey added: “Sounds mental but any genuine private jet recommends or hook-ups DM please”. They are due to play the Pyramid stage tomorrow at 4:45pm. Where are you, Richard Branson?
Ben Wallace has an eye on the prize
AS BORIS Johnson faces two difficult by-elections today, squabbling between Tories tipped for the top job continues. Defence Secretary Ben Wallace made a militaristic speech at the ConHome summer party in Westminster Abbey last night, and jibed that Johnson critic and army reservist Penny Mourdaunt has “three jobs... the reserves, she’s an MP and she’s got the leadership”. So does Ben have his eyes on the top prize?
Talulah Riley cosies up to Damian Hurley
PUCKER up! Actress Talulah Riley celebrated the launch of her novel The Quickening by planting a kiss on pal Damian Hurley in Daunt Books, Holland Park, last night. Her actor partner Thomas Brodie-Sangster was also in support. “The book was supposed to come out in 2017. I was very, very behind,” she told us. Talk about fashionably late. Girls Aloud’s Nadine Coyle sipped Patrón in the sun on Rosewood London’s terrace, and in Cannes film stars Lupita Nyong’o and Jared Leto cuddled up at the Spotify Beach.
