We live in the age of “cancel culture”, where conscientious consumers can cut off someone’s revenue stream with a boycott faster than the accused can open Facebook and type “I’m sorry if anyone was offended”.

Sometimes the trigger is relatively small, like a badly-phrased tweet or an awkward interview answer.

Other times, the issue is far more serious, such as Ed Sheeran’s recent failure to speak out against genocide in Palestine – or, at the very least, to defend his fellow artists’ right to free speech by not dropping them like a hot potato the second someone threatens his money.

Given my general tendency to be a bit of a disrupter, and the not-insignificant fact that we Irish literally invented the term “boycott”, I’m usually delighted to see a collective take a stand.

No going back to the division of the past - The Irish News view

Chris Donnelly: Governments must intervene to avert crisis over Drumcree decision

There is something reassuring about people refusing to simply shrug, pay up, and quietly scroll on. It tells me the ’aul rebellious streak is still alive and well, even if it now expresses itself through hashtags and people announcing they’re “done” with a celebrity........

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