More Yassmin than Revolution

Yassmin Abdel-Magied, the activist, author and former Australian resident, recently made a pest of herself during the celebrations for the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. In a move that was always likely to annoy a few Brits, Abdel-Magied sent out an unmannerly social media post in which she whined about the “waking nightmare” of seeing so many Union Jacks lining London’s streets.

Australian media, which would have covered such a Twitter outburst a few years ago with a good deal of vim, remained unbothered this time around. That was a shame, I thought: it would have been nice to give everyone a chance to resume their dislike of Abdel-Magied and her brand of petulant activism. The incident may also have given wider support to the view that her departure from our shores has been—sorry, UK readers—a jolly bit of luck for Australia.

This review appears in January’s Quadrant.
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