Twenty years ago, with Tony Blair still prime minister, I struck up a conversation with a stranger on a train. His eldest was about to enter infant school and he was bewildered by the choices – or as I would … Read More »
Here’s your exam question for today. Afghanistan, China, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Yemen … how many countries have these states invaded, bombed, starved with homicidal sanctions or occupied against the wishes of their lawful governments? Finished writing? OK, put down … Read More »
As Home Secretary, Suella Braverman called us hate marchers. The Israel lobby and its Western accomplices cry ‘anti-Semite’. So here’s a question. Would those taking to the streets in London and across the globe to protest genocide in Gaza today … Read More »
Spent much of this afternoon watching live SABC (South Africa Broadcasting Corporation) TV as the SA lawyers made their case at the Hague of Israeli genocide in Gaza. First came Adila Hassim, setting out in chilling detail an abundance of … Read More »
It’s not just Ukraine, Taiwan and Gaza. From tensions in the Horn of Africa to echoes of Baltic sabotage in the Black Sea – and from Sahel through Bangladesh to repression in Latin America – it is not reductive to say that no major conflict today, hot or cold, … Read More »
It’s not easy taking on a corporate body better funded and more powerful than yourself. In its small way my nine year battle with Sheffield Hallam University testifies to that. Many aspects of this week’s ITV offering, Mr Bates v … Read More »
In the normal run of things this hallowed site wouldn’t give time of day to Murdoch’s British outlet, TalkTV. Forget Piers Morgan. He’s wisdom and courtesy incarnate at the side of fellow presenters of Nadine Dorries and Jeremy Kyle stripe. … Read More »
In Ukraine the fog of war is lifting, and Russian victory assured. That doesn’t mean the endgame will not be long and blood soaked. Allied victory in WW2 had been a given – Bretton Woods in July 1944 was premised … Read More »
This is for all in desperate need of a good laugh – and who the fuck isn’t? – without it taking a scintilla from the genocidal insanity of its subject. Steel city reader Dave Hansell sent this not half an … Read More »
Is there a George Orwell Award for Most Disgusting and Intelligence-Insulting Euphemism of the Century? In the face of stiff competition from such as workforce flexibility and enhanced interrogation, if I were on its shortlisting panel I’d be giving serious … Read More »