The Reluctant Heroine

Woke is the revenge of the dullard on the wit. But revenge is also a dish best eaten cold, and in public, for a great sum of money, as JK Rowling proves so triumphantly.

Until she was hated, I never cared for JK Rowling. The idea of anyone over the age of majority who could be reading, say, Lionel Shriver instead reading stories about boy wizards irritated me intensely. When it was announced in 2013 that there were to be *adult* covers for the books (‘modern and vibrant’) to mollycoddle those who might otherwise be extending their literacy, I felt the same incomprehension that I feel when I see photographs of ‘adult babies’ sitting in some outsize playpen, dull eyes staring out above a dummy. And as with adult babies, I must admit an intolerant part of me felt that such people should probably have their voting rights removed if they w ...