Iseult Lennon

This video is less than two minutes long and I implore everyone to watch it. It is indeed rather extraordinary. As Holocaust Awareness Ireland says, Patrick Kielty exhibits utter callousness with respect to the attacks on the Jewish community, astonishingly saying ‘the backdrop of that is obviously the horrors in Gaza, this is a complex thing.’ Boy George remains calm and says ‘if you don’t know any Jewish people maybe that’s the problem.’ He then asks the audience ‘do you know any Jewish people?’ Boy George is visibly taken aback by the ensuing silence, and vocalises his shock twice, remarking that it is ‘weird’ and ‘surprising me a little bit.’ Patrick looks uncomfortable and ends puts an end to the topic with a dismissive ‘mmm’. Extraordinary viewing. Just extraordinary.

On Carnaby Street last night, a kid on a bike cycled up, saw it was me, looked friendly at first then offered up his favourite “lyric”: “Heil Hitler.” I wasn’t sure whether to share this. I hadn’t experienced that personally before. The most striking thing: I wasn’t shocked. No threat. No anger. Not a victim. Just: what has he been taught Hatred is learned. We are not defined by it. We answer it by what we teach.