This essay, on how politics and social activism have too often become exercises in rebranding not material change, was my Observer column this week. It was published on 31 October 2021, under the headline “You can’t escape your past by changing your name, as Mark Zuckerberg will discover”. It’s easy to mock the Corporation Formerly Known As Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement that Facebook would henceforth be Meta, and his attempt to swerve the intensifying assault on his company’s sordid activities with a nifty […]

Categories: History, Politics • Tags: cultural recognition, david hume, edward colston, facebook, imperial college, mark zuckerberg, meta, racism, rebranding, thomas huxley, thomas jefferson, william gladstone, winston churchill