Well, it is GB News, what did we expect?
One recent GB News headline stood out for its sheer bizarreness, even by its own standards.
What kind of catastrophe, one wonders, and who’s the author predicting it?
The piece reveals that the figure in question is Lionel Shriver, described by the channel as a “leading American author.” Shriver was invited to discuss her latest novel, which centres on illegal migration in New York City and touches on what she characterises as “woke ideology.”
I must admit I hadn’t heard of Shriver before reading the article. But a quick search soon confirmed my suspicions. Shriver has long cultivated a reputation as a cultural contrarian, particularly on questions of identity politics, race and immigration.
Her first major public controversy, at least in the current culture-war cycle, came during the Brisbane Writers’ Festival in 2016, where she delivered a keynote speech criticising the concept of cultural appropriation. The speech sparked backlash, with the festival later distancing itself from her remarks.
She had already faced criticism for elements of her fiction. Her novel The Mandibles was criticised by some reviewers for its depiction of Latino and African American characters, criticisms that ranged from accusations of racial stereotyping to claims that it was politically misguided.
Shriver has positioned herself firmly as a critic of what she calls “woke” politics. In an interview with the Evening Standard in 2021, she argued that the main problem with the “woke” movement lies in its methods: “too often involving name-calling, silencing, vengefulness, and predation.”
Her views extend well beyond literary debates. Writing about migration in the UK, she once argued that Western societies accepting large-scale immigration amounted to the native-born “surrendering their territory without a shot fired is biologically perverse.”
It comes as no surprise that Shriver is supportive of Brexit, describing the European Union as “high-handed” and “dictatorial,” while expressing disappointment with how the British government ultimately implemented the policy.
Her commentary has also targeted debates around gender identity, with Shriver criticising what she calls a “deeply disturbing social obsession with transgenderism.” In 2025, two years after moving from the UK to Portugal, she even claimed she was nervous about travelling back to Britain, stating, “because I’m worried that, given what I have put into print, I could be arrested the next time I come to the UK.”
Back to the GB News’ article, the right-wing channel frames Shriver’s latest novel as part of a broader discussion about the future of “woke ideology.” In the interview, she suggested that some commentators prematurely declared the death of the political left following the election of Donald Trump, which some supporters interpreted as a triumph of “common sense.”
But the most striking claim comes when Shriver speculates about the durability of what she portrays as a coalition between progressive activists and socially conservative Muslim communities, an alliance she argues is united by a shared desire to “tear down Western civilisation.”
This reflects a familiar trope within culture war thinking, the idea that progressive politics is fundamentally self-destructive, propped up by unlikely ideological alliances that cannot last.
But Shriver’s conclusion is even more dramatic. She argues that “woke ideology” is now deeply embedded in Western institutions and may only be dislodged by some kind of crisis. Pressed on what she meant, she suggested the catastrophe might be financial, perhaps a debt crisis severe enough to force societies to abandon what she calls their “luxury beliefs.”
“If we have something horrible happen,” she said, “we will get real on the other side.”
Needless to say, Shriver’s comments aren’t analysed, challenged or contextualised in any meaningful way. Instead, they are packaged as another instalment in a familiar genre – culture-war commentary framed as urgent political insight.
Well, it is GB News, what did we expect?
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