All entries by this author

Toledo Blade Reports Cover Up *

Aug 10th, 2005 | Filed by

Says police helped Catholic Diocese of Toledo cover up sex abuse allegations.… Read the rest



Errors of Omission

Aug 10th, 2005 12:54 am | By

A little more on that thought. The thought that it’s not very helpful to say that difference always deserves respect, without defining what kind of difference is meant. Evasive language that leaves out the very point that is at issue, is not helpful and is not honest.

There was some of that on the Talking Politics I mentioned. I’ve been meaning to transcribe the comments I had in mind, and I finally got around to it. So – Ann McElvoy. First, on why France is not to be admired on questions of multiculturalism.

The state appropriates to itself, I think entirely wrongly, the right to tell Muslim girls that they may or may not even wear a scarf, let alone

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Which Side Are You On?

Aug 9th, 2005 8:45 pm | By

Remember that old labor song – ‘Which Side Are You On’? Pete Seeger sang it – that’s the version I know. It’s a strike song, a union song, a solidarity song. Well – get out the banjo and let’s sing a few bars. Which side are we on.

Not this one.

…in northern Afghanistan in May, three women workers at a microcredit organisation (which gives loans to women to start up small businesses) were stoned to death by warlords; in India, a woman social worker in Madhya Pradesh state had her hands chopped off by a man furious because she was counselling villagers against child marriage. In Pakistan, the head of the Human Rights Commission was stripped and beaten

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The Bravest Women in the World *

Aug 9th, 2005 | Filed by

In Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq – they face acid, beatings, hands cut off.… Read the rest



Women Worry About Their Rights in Future Iraq *

Aug 9th, 2005 | Filed by

‘We must fight for our rights now – in the future we might not be able to fight at all.’… Read the rest



The Clones We Know Are Jolly Decent Sorts *

Aug 9th, 2005 | Filed by

So why does cloning creep us out?… Read the rest



Inquiry into Anti-Sikh Riots Prompts Protests *

Aug 9th, 2005 | Filed by

India’s parliament has adjourned due to protests after release of inquiry into 1984 riots.… Read the rest



Artist to Recreate Bamiyan Buddhas With Lasers *

Aug 9th, 2005 | Filed by

The images would remind us of what the Buddhas once looked like.… Read the rest



Fear That Iraq’s Charter Will Erode Women’s Rights *

Aug 9th, 2005 | Filed by

‘It’s really a huge setback,’ said Shirouk al-Abayachi of Iraqi Women’s Network.… Read the rest



IT Giant India Has Feet of Chalk

Aug 9th, 2005 | By Rajesh Kumar Sharma

Has information technology arrived in India? I doubt it has.
Notwithstanding the booming software exports, burgeoning BPO services
and mushrooming software parks.

Let us climb out of our fantasy balloons and do a reality check.

Information technology has not affected people’s lives in any
significant way. Apart from a small e-lite segment of the digirati,
most people have no access to a PC and the internet. Nor has
information technology enhanced the quality of their lives. Other than
remix music, Bollywood stunts and special effects, online train
reservations and a few pilot projects in telemedicine, precious little
has happened that touches people’s lives. E-governance has just not
taken off. Public servants and services remain as inaccessible as they
were two … Read the rest



Ripping off the Mask

Aug 9th, 2005 12:00 am | By

Then there was that Nick Cohen piece answering that excommunication by Peter Wilby that I commented on last week. He criticises the same thing I did.

The least attractive characteristic of the middle-class left – one shared with the Thatcherites – is its refusal to accept that its opponents are sincere. The legacy of Marx and Freud allows it to dismiss criticisms as masks which hide corruption, class interests, racism, sexism – any motive can be implied except fundamental differences of principle. Wilby went through a long list of what could have motivated mine and similar ‘betrayals’. Perhaps we became right wing as we got older. Perhaps we wanted to stick our snouts into the deep troughs of the

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Call Out the Women

Aug 8th, 2005 8:40 pm | By

Johann Hari had a good column the other day.

But in among the bad reasons for opposing multiculturalism – hinted at by Davis – there are some good reasons, and it is time we overcame our nervousness and heard them. I am the child of an immigrant myself, and I believe we should take more immigrants and refugees into Britain, not fewer. But it is increasingly clear that, forged with the best of intentions, multiculturalism has become a counter-productive way of welcoming people to our country. It promotes not a melting pot where we all mix together but a segregated society of sealed-off cultures, each sticking to its own.

Which used to sound good, or at least okay. Vibrant, … Read the rest



Michael Walzer on Just War and Torture *

Aug 8th, 2005 | Filed by

The struggle against terror in the intermediate zone hasn’t been theorised much.… Read the rest



Edmund Wilson Was a Journalist Not a Critic *

Aug 8th, 2005 | Filed by

Alfred Kazin and Richard Hofstadter used to read aloud famous ending of Proust chapter.… Read the rest



Why Aren’t Movies Better? *

Aug 8th, 2005 | Filed by

Because the global market is the youth market.… Read the rest



Denis Dutton on Bovary’s Ovaries *

Aug 8th, 2005 | Filed by

Book on evolutionary psychology in literature is interesting but leaves too much out.… Read the rest



Michael Kazin Reviews Christopher Hitchens *

Aug 8th, 2005 | Filed by

Nearly all his writing full of sly observations as well as something to disagree with.… Read the rest



More on Eccentric Reportage

Aug 7th, 2005 11:12 pm | By

The Guardian on Dilpazier Aslam and his critics, part 2. Scott Burgess pointed out this article by Shiv Malik in the New Statesman.

What readers of the Guardian were not told was that Aslam is a member of the extreme Islamist organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir. Though it publicly dissociates itself from violence, Hizb ut-Tahrir is shunned by most British Muslims and banned from many mosques…My strongly held view is that members of such a group should not be allowed to write on this subject in the national press (just as the British National Party, which also claims to be non-violent, is very rarely given space), but if they do their connection should be made clear, preferably at the beginning of the

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Johann Hari on Multiculturalism *

Aug 7th, 2005 | Filed by

Multiculturalism demands tolerance and respect for reactionary traditions. … Read the rest



Salman Rushdie on Need for Reform in Islam *

Aug 7th, 2005 | Filed by

Closed communities are places where young men’s alienations can easily deepen.… Read the rest