In his biography of his father Richard, Jonathan Dimbleby writes of his father’s shame at the timidity of the BBC during the Spanish Civil War. The BBC, thought Dimbleby senior, was, in effect, through editorial selection, siding with the Franco regime. It is a reminder that, even when they do nothing, institutions are taking sides. At the moment, the controversy arises not in a war but in a culture war.
The latest instance of institutions making judgments about individual conduct is the case of Róisín Murphy, the Irish singer. Ms Murphy expressed concern on Facebook about the use of puberty blockers, a comment which attracted the attention and scorn of pro-trans activists. The issue trended on social media for a few days, attention which seemed out of all proportion to the scale of the original comment.
