Defending Free Movement
- March 02, 2017
- by
- Matt
Last night I spoke at the launch meeting of the Alliance for Free Movement, hosted by Caroline Lucas at the Houses of Parliament. The alliance is a broad-based movement of organisations, politicians, unions and NGOS, whose aim is to defend, uphold and extend the EU’s free movement rules at a time when the...
The Ministry of Fear
- February 28, 2017
- by
- Matt
It isn’t often that I find myself agreeing with John Major, but in the post-Brexit era you often find allies in places where you would expect to find enemies – and vice versa. Certainly I can’t find much to quibble with about Major’s comments yesterday regarding the rise of anti-immigrant sentiment in Europe:
‘I caution everyone...
Reflections on the Bowling Green Massacre
- February 25, 2017
- by
- Matt
As some readers of this blog will know, for the last four months I’ve been heavily involved in the One Day Without Us campaign, which came to an end last Monday. For much of this time my normal life has been on hold and pretty much everything has revolved around the campaign. ...
Brexit 2017: The Year of the Mogwai
- January 07, 2017
- by
- Matt
Looking down with a vaguely-superior disdain at the outside world is a long-established Anglo-Saxon pastime. Over the years we have been taught to use the words ‘very British’ to distinguish the bad things that happen in the world beyond from the better things that happen here. We talk about ‘very British revolutions’...
ISIS, Trolls, and the Language of Hate
- January 02, 2017
- by
- Matt
In a powerful New Year’s video for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, Kemal Pervanic, a Bosnian Muslim, remembers how he ended up being interrogated and tortured in a concentration camp by his favourite teacher during the Yugoslav Wars. Pervanic asks his viewers to learn the lessons of history, and bear in mind the possibility that such...
Theresa May’s New Year Message: the Blind Leading the Blind
- January 01, 2017
- by
- Matt
In these uncertain times, as we move closer to the yawning abyss that is Brexit, one can only wait with bated breath for a good dose of platitudinous bromide from the politicians who are about to push us off it to lift the spirits. Maybe idiot-at-large Boris Johnson’s Christmas invitation to get behind...
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