Letters for January, 2005

Jan 4th, 2005 | By

Letters for January, 2005.… Read the rest



How to Be the World’s Largest Corporation *

Jan 3rd, 2005 | Filed by

Underpay, overwork, bully, spy on, and discriminate against your work force.… Read the rest



Dawkins on the Murderous God *

Jan 3rd, 2005 | Filed by

It could be more consoling to realize that no malicious being slaughtered 125,000 people in South Asia.… Read the rest



Geography Lesson and Girl, 10, Save 100 *

Jan 3rd, 2005 | Filed by

Knowing what the start of a tsunami looks like can save lives.… Read the rest



Consolation?

Jan 3rd, 2005 3:43 am | By

Much as I hate to, I have to disagree with Norm on this one. I think he’s misrepresenting what Dawkins said, with the annotation about the depth and finesse of the adolescent secularist. I don’t think Dawkins is making a shallow point at all, or that he’s expressing a flip certitude, or that he’s being callous about the deaths and griefs of others. On the contrary. (I say that partly because I remember his reaction to September 11 – there was certainly plenty of emotion behind that contribution.) The deaths and griefs are precisely the point. It cuts two ways, this business of clutching at God after a tragedy: yes some people get consolation from the thought of … Read the rest



A Grim Report

Jan 3rd, 2005 12:01 am | By

This is a depressing and disturbing article. And of course it’s just the tip of the iceberg. It’s not just France, obviously, it’s women all over the world, who have miserable coerced restricted cramped threatened lives. A thought we don’t like to dwell on, since there’s not a lot we can do about it. But a thought all the same.

Horror stories of what happened to girls who tried to fight their families circulated in the projects. Yildiz knew of girls who had been tricked by their parents into going on a vacation to Turkey or Algeria, only to find themselves being turned over to the families of their new husbands…The French press, with its need to reconcile political

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The Conflict Between Religion and Free Speech *

Jan 2nd, 2005 | Filed by

‘Murder in the Community Centre’ – it doesn’t sound quite right, somehow.… Read the rest



Westboro Baptist Church Thanks God for Tsunami *

Jan 2nd, 2005 | Filed by

Because some of the Swedes who died may have been gay. … Read the rest



Good Things and Bad Things in Book World *

Jan 2nd, 2005 | Filed by

Richard and Judy, Foyles cheers; Random House, supermarkets boos.… Read the rest



The Independent: Year’s Best Books *

Jan 1st, 2005 | Filed by

A list of three or four thousand to choose from.… Read the rest



Royal Society Plans to Put Archive on Display *

Jan 1st, 2005 | Filed by

‘a unique collection charting the history of science.’… Read the rest



Be Careful Not to Get Too Much Education *

Jan 1st, 2005 | Filed by

Uncensored exposure to science, philosophy, literature ruins ‘values.’… Read the rest



SBS

Jan 1st, 2005 1:59 am | By

It can be very difficult to discuss these issues of ‘community’ and cherished beliefs, ‘offense’ and rights, fundamentalism and fuzzy language, without prompting impassioned if inarticulate yells about Robespierre and stigmatization and the like. It can also be very difficult to get a clear statment of why that is – but the thought bubbling away at the bottom appears to be that all this kind of thing is merely more or less covert racism. So it is heartening to read the letter to the Guardian from Pragna Patel, one of the founders of Southall Black Sisters.

As Asian women of Sikh, Muslim and Hindu backgrounds, we have been struggling for many years against attempts to silence our voices in

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