All entries by this author

What’s That in Your Eye, Phil?

Jun 6th, 2005 12:11 am | By

Hitchens certainly was busy while he was in the UK. Multiple talks at the Hay Festival, Start the Week, and finally Night Waves. Did I miss any? Did he also fill in for Melvyn Bragg on ‘In Our Time’ and do the weather report on ‘Today’? Did he open Parliament and drive the number 85 bus? Did he announce the trains at Victoria and carry a sandwich-board up and down Oxford Street and sell tickets for the Eye? Was he, like, everywhere, or only almost everywhere?

Whatever, he was on Night Waves, and it’s quite – no, very – interesting. But there’s an irritating bit near the end where Philip Dodd tells Hitchens with much emphasis that he has … Read the rest



Muslim Women’s Group in Malaysia Has Clout *

Jun 5th, 2005 | Filed by

‘Sisters in Islam’ letters to newspapers have caused changes in laws.… Read the rest



What is Science For? *

Jun 5th, 2005 | Filed by

Simon Singh, Colin Berry, Philip Ball and Tracey Brown offer thoughts.… Read the rest



What Science, What Europe? *

Jun 5th, 2005 | Filed by

Mots d’ordre are made not to induce thinking and debating but to produce agreement.… Read the rest



Philosophy Companion and Future Reviewed *

Jun 5th, 2005 | Filed by

Economist calls Nietzsche and Freud
‘unfashionable.’… Read the rest



Women Driving Leads to Evil *

Jun 5th, 2005 | Filed by

They could leave home whenever they like and go wherever they want to. … Read the rest



The Uses of Divisive Partisanship *

Jun 5th, 2005 | Filed by

It is not a virtue to escape thorny questions and postpone larger ones. … Read the rest



Gary Taylor on James Shapiro’s Shakespeare *

Jun 5th, 2005 | Filed by

‘Shapiro connects areas of scholarship usually kept separate.’… Read the rest



Have Mercy

Jun 5th, 2005 2:45 am | By

Humans, humans, humans. One despairs sometimes, one really does. How can one help it.

Police and child protection experts are to investigate the extent of child abuse linked to religious practices after three adults who branded an eight-year-old child a witch and tortured her for months were yesterday convicted of child cruelty offences. The girl, known only as child B, was an orphan from war-ravaged Angola and brought to Britain by her aunt who falsely claimed to be her mother. She was cut with a knife on her chest, had chilli peppers rubbed in her eyes, was starved and repeatedly slapped, kicked and beaten…In one incident child B was bundled into a laundry bag and made to believe she

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Ordeal Lasted Months and was Nearly Fatal *

Jun 4th, 2005 | Filed by

Beaten with a stiletto shoe, cut with a kitchen knife, starved for days at a time. … Read the rest



Police to Investigate ‘Witchcraft’ Child Abuse *

Jun 4th, 2005 | Filed by

Child welfare groups warn there may be dozens of such cases. … Read the rest



‘In our community, kindoki happens’ *

Jun 4th, 2005 | Filed by

‘Kindoki is something you have to be scared of because in our culture kindoki can kill you’… Read the rest



‘Exorcisms are part of our culture’ *

Jun 4th, 2005 | Filed by

Members of communities which practice exorcism say it is not necessarily harmful. … Read the rest



‘Witchcraft’ Abuse Case May be One of Many *

Jun 4th, 2005 | Filed by

Four London charities told BBC News this was not an isolated case. … Read the rest



A Woman’s Life *

Jun 3rd, 2005 | Filed by

Deprived of five years of school, fired for man’s comment, shot in head.… Read the rest



UNESCO Head Condemns Rezayee Murder *

Jun 3rd, 2005 | Filed by

Murder cannot be considered an instrument for cultural policy.… Read the rest



Reporters Without Borders Voice Shock *

Jun 3rd, 2005 | Filed by

Rezayee murder shows press freedom still threatened in Afghanistan.… Read the rest



Rezayee Got Flak From Conservative Mullahs *

Jun 3rd, 2005 | Filed by

Two of her brothers being questioned in police detention about her murder.… Read the rest



Murder of Afghan TV Presenter Shaima Rezayee *

Jun 3rd, 2005 | Filed by

Two months after complaints from religious hardliners got her fired.… Read the rest



Shaima Rezayee or Shabina Begum *

Jun 3rd, 2005 | Filed by

Cultural imperialism analysis forbids people to change.… Read the rest