It may not have happened yet, but yesterday’s news of Bristol University Christian Union’s sexist policy on women speakers makes one thing practically certain. As with every other time there’s a story in the news about bigotry (especially sexism), there’ll be someone, somewhere who’ll step forward to defend it. In fact, it’ll most likely be [...]
This story is really, seriously worrying: (CNN) — French authorities said Wednesday that they will not authorize weekend demonstrations in Paris as protests over an anti-Muslim video [The Innocence of Muslims, the youtube clip which sparked the anti-American protests in Cairo and Benghazi last week] started to fade worldwide. Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told radio [...]
The stalemate over the status of circumcision in Germany has pulled a lot of voices out of the woodwork to stick their oars in – and aside from anodyne rights-based debates about choice, the most pernicious ‘defence’ of circumcision comes in the form of ‘Commandment 614’. Giles Fraser invoked it in his article in today’s [...]
Imagine having emphysema. For those who don’t know what that entails, emphysema is when the lining of your lungs is destroyed, meaning that it gradually becomes harder and harder to take in the oxygen your body needs. To start with, you notice that you get out of breath just a bit faster than you used [...]
As readers of this blog may or may not be aware, Cambridge Student Union’s Women’s Campaign has a petition running at the moment, calling on the Union Society* to withdraw its speaking invitation to Dominique Strauss-Kahn, on the fairly reasonable grounds that he’s a deeply unpleasant individual who seems to have a serious problem with [...]
Abu Qatada is a nasty piece of work. Probably. From yesterday evening’s coverage of his release, it’s actually surprisingly difficult to find any specifics as to what it is he’s actually supposed to have done – according to the Guardian “judges accept [he] remains a threat to national security”, and the Daily Mail quotes someone [...]
This is a guest post by Matt Mahon Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe of the Met – played excellently on Monday by Iain Glen, fresh from the set of HBO’s Game of Thrones – was supposed to explain his ‘total policing’ policy at LSE on Monday. In fact, he flannelled for half an hour about the challenges [...]
Last week’s seminar at the Frontline Club asked a very pertinent question of the Occupy London movement pitched outside St. Paul’s. What do you want? I was surprised to see from the show of journalistic hands that the majority in the room did not know exactly what the protesters are camped out for, though, given [...]
Yesterday’s news that the Met is giving its officers access to plastic bullets for tomorrow’s student demonstration is, obviously, pretty disturbing. I’d guess it’s pretty unlikely they’ll actually be used – making a big announcement to the press two days before the event looks a lot more like an attempt to warn off any would-be [...]
On Saturday one of my fellow Third Estaters (I’m assuming Reuben) tweeted: Definitely don’t think the left should be calling for a state van [sic] on the EDL march While compelling, I think this view is seriously mistaken. Granted, it’s always a good idea to be wary of calling on the State to do anything [...]
