Craig Simpson

Craig Simpson focuses on the points where art, politics and history collide, tracing how cultural institutions handle questions of slavery, reparations and identity as well as headline entertainment stories. He is Arts Correspondent for The Telegraph, covering major issues affecting British arts and culture in Britain and abroad, with a beat that ranges from museums and heritage to celebrity and popular entertainment.

Slavery reparations and Britain’s role in history

Simpson’s most distinctive work examines campaigns for slavery reparations and Britain’s historic responsibilities, often through long-form series and diplomatic reporting.

He has authored a three-part series on African and Caribbean efforts to secure reparations, including coverage of African leaders planning a Chagos-style legal battle to win slavery compensation from Britain and to seek rulings from international courts. He reports on Caribbean nations preparing to press Britain for trillions of pounds in reparations, following legal and political strategies that mirror other territorial disputes.

His coverage follows the issue into multilateral forums, detailing how Ghana, on behalf of the African Union, brings Britain’s role in what UN resolutions describe as the “greatest crime in history” under international scrutiny and calls for the UK to pay reparations. He also tracks how UN votes and debates frame the forced displacement of Africans and the enduring impacts of the slave trade, connecting these proceedings back to British policy and public institutions.

Simpson repeatedly investigates the funding and organisation behind reparations campaigns, including reporting that a foundation established by George Soros has provided hundreds of thousands of dollars to groups pursuing legal action against Britain. In that series he explains how Caribbean and African organisations coordinate strategies, including proposals to seek an advisory ruling on slavery from the International Court of Justice to increase pressure on the UK. Across these articles he treats reparations as both a legal and cultural issue, showing how demands for compensation intersect with museum collections, royal holdings and national narratives about the empire.

Contested artefacts, museums and heritage institutions

Another core strand of his coverage is the contested fate of artefacts in British museums and royal collections and the broader politics of heritage.

Simpson has followed the evolving debate over repatriation, writing about Oxford University agreeing to return its Benin Bronzes to Nigeria and the British Museum exploring ways to repatriate more contested artefacts while working around legal constraints that complicate the Elgin Marbles issue. He reports on British museums entering talks to return looted treasures to an African king, portraying those deals as the start of a long-term campaign for the return of a wider array of colonial-era objects.

His stories on an African ruler seeking the return of gold from King Charles’s collection and on museum director Tristram Hunt bowing before a Ghanaian king as “looted” gold is handed back show how he uses individual handovers to illustrate power shifts in global heritage debates.

Simpson extends this focus beyond the UK, covering how Ethiopia plans to demand that King Charles return what officials describe as an “immoral” hoard of treasures and intends to ask a Labour government to back those claims. He writes from Khartoum on efforts to save the crumbling palace associated with General Gordon’s last stand, describing how Sudan wants Britain’s help to preserve the site and situating the story in the legacy of colonial heroism. Within British institutions he reports on the National Trust’s decision to replace “history” with “culture” in its mission statement and values, and on Labour’s consideration of allowing museums to charge foreign visitors, treating both as examples of how heritage organisations navigate new financial and ideological pressures.

He also covers more granular heritage disputes, such as a museum half covering up the portrait of a former Bank of England governor associated with the slave trade to “reclaim history”, showing how symbolic changes in displays reflect broader historical reassessments.

Culture wars in the arts and media

Simpson consistently documents how culture-war arguments play out in arts organisations, publishing houses and broadcasters.

His author archive and social posts feature stories on the Royal Ballet and Opera cancelling an Israel-linked performance after pro-Palestine activism, including reports that a “queer dance artist” unveiled a Palestinian flag during a curtain call. He covers police investigations into anti-trans slogans painted around Stroud ahead of a Pride event, treating local incidents as part of a wider clash over gender and language in public spaces. His reporting follows rows over gender ideology among writers, including writers leaving the Society of Authors and seeking protection at a rival union that pledges to defend free speech, and coverage of a year in which no winner is declared for the Polari Prize after disputes over trans and LGB politics.

Simpson also writes about major cultural institutions grappling with gender and identity issues, such as the Science Museum dismantling a trans-inclusive display on sex and gender after complaints that it promoted “propaganda” rather than biology and Shakespeare’s Globe apologising for a poem aimed at “terfs” used to promote a play about a non-binary Joan of Arc. He reports on a play criticising JK Rowling’s gender views and notes that scores of actresses have turned down roles in that production, highlighting industry reluctance around controversial material. In broadcasting and media, he contributes to coverage that questions whether the BBC adequately reflects Britain and its future, and he amplifies voices arguing that cultural organisations must better serve national audiences rather than activist agendas.

These stories collectively illustrate his interest in how institutional decisions about programming, displays and language become national flashpoints.

Performing arts, literature and entertainment stories

Alongside heavy political topics, Simpson maintains range across performing arts, literature and mainstream entertainment.

He has reported on a Baroque masterpiece allegedly stolen by Romanian burglars and later returned to Christ Church, linking art-theft investigations to the security of religious and academic collections. His coverage includes campaigns led by figures such as Julian Lloyd Webber to raise funds for musical events, and he writes about sketch comedy that satirises the British Empire and Florence Nightingale while probing how producers claim historical accuracy. He follows the trend of publishers and estates adding cautionary notes to reissued works by Ian Fleming, Roald Dahl and Agatha Christie, treating editorial changes as part of the broader debate about sensitivity edits and literary heritage.

Simpson’s remit also accommodates more straightforward entertainment pieces, such as reporting on music sales around Christmas and stories involving celebrity families, including coverage of Brooklyn Beckham accusing his parents of using his sister for a staged photo opportunity. Across these lighter articles he keeps the focus on how fame, branding and family dynamics play out in public, linking them back to the wider cultural landscape rather than treating them as isolated gossip. Taken together, his work offers a consistent lens on how cultural power is exercised through art, heritage and celebrity, and how institutions and public figures respond when contested history and identity enter the frame.