Front Row Will Self on The Quantity Theory of Morality
Mar 4, 2026
Will Self, novelist and cultural commentator, talks about his new satirical novel and how cancer shaped his recent work. Charlotte McReynolds, curator at National Museums NI, speaks from Belfast about rebuilding the Ulster Museum's textile collection and the Ashes to Fashion exhibition. They discuss satire, modern alienation, rapid writing, illness and creativity, and the rebirth of a lost fashion archive.
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Body Measurements Used To Satirise Masculine Vanity
- Self uses recurring height and penis measurements in character lists as satire of heteronormative male thinking.
- He says the device mocks how men reduce social judgement to stature and sexual metrics, enhancing the book's critique.
Cancer Care Revealed NHS Reliance On Migrant Workers
- Self contrasts elite clinicians and low-paid Filipino nurses in his cancer experience to highlight NHS dependence on migrant labour.
- He notes consultants earn high sums while frontline care is often delivered by ethnic minority staff living in crowded conditions.
Hypocrisy Of Racism Struck During Life-Threatening Treatment
- Self expresses moral outrage at public racism, describing the hypocrisy of extremist rallies while migrant carers saved his life.
- He connects rising street racism to a personal low point during his stem cell transplant and vows to resist extremism.
