Are You or Have You Ever Been an Antisemite?
- March 06, 2019
- by
- Matt
I’m not a Labour party member, but it’s impossible to ignore the ‘antisemitism crisis’ that has ground its dismal way through British politics for the last three and a half years.
Since Jeremy Corbyn was elected Labour leader in 2015, this crisis has grown and grown, acquiring new dimensions and components along the way. Where Corbyn was...
Nigel’s March for Freedom
- March 02, 2019
- by
- Matt
As an instrument of protest and civil disobedience, the protest march has a long and illustrious historical pedigree. Think of Gandhi’s 24-day ‘Salt March’ in 1930. Or the 1936 Jarrow march. Or the 1963 Long March for Jobs and Freedom in the US, where Martin Luther King delivered his ‘ I have a dream speech’...
We Could Be Heroes: from Brexit to the Blitz
- February 26, 2019
- by
- Matt
History has played a big part in the national torment that we’ve been going through for the last two and half years. Social media and more mainstream political discourse alike are awash with facile historical references and comparisons, between Dunkirk and WTO rules, between the EU and Hitler, Napoleon, or the Soviet Union.
At times it...
Our Man in Slovenia
- February 24, 2019
- by
- Matt
If the behaviour of British diplomats these last two and a half years is anything to go by, the UK may not be taking the giant strides across the world stage that Brexit visionaries seem to think it should. Take foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt’s visit to Slovenia last week. Showing all the intellectual gravitas of...
Cracking Up: Brexit and the Seven Dwarves
- February 19, 2019
- by
- Matt
Fans of Titanic and other disaster movies will know what to expect from the genre. In the first part of the movie the characters go about their business oblivious to what is about to happen. They might be in an office building, a ship, a submarine, an oil rig or any other structure that the...
Shamima Begum and the Quality of Mercy
- February 17, 2019
- by
- Matt
What is mercy? The Oxford Dictionary defines it as ‘ compassion or forgiveness shown towards someone whom it is within one’s power to punish or harm.’ This definition highlights the essential component of mercy, which is forbearance and leniency from a position of power and authority.
This concept is well-established in various religious traditions. The Quran declares:...
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