Cancel culture is not new or unique to the modern day.  For as long as humans have had society, we’ve cancelled those who violated its unwritten rules and norms. 
Jonathan Freedland explores what history can tell us about how today's cancel culture might play out. He looks for historical precursors, starting with the the story of Galileo, whose insistence in the early 17th Century that the Earth goes round the Sun and not vice versa,  got him into deep trouble with the Catholic Church.

Contributors:
Paula Findlen, Professor of History at Stanford University in California
Terence Dooley , Professor of History at Maynooth University in County Kildare
Sir Antony Beevor, historian and author.

Producer: Sarah Shebbeare Show less