Rakib Ehsan in Spiked, and signatory of DDU’s open letter, points to the anti-democratic, wholly ideological response of some of the CRED Report’s critics: Then there is UK Black Lives Matter. UK BLM strives for the eventual abolition of the police in the UK – even though fewer than one in five black Brits would […]
We Need to Defend the CRED Report And Its Authors
The hysterical and vicious reaction to the simple point that labels of ‘institutional, systemic and structural racism’ need to be supported by a wider range of empirical evidence and logical reasoning tells us that more of us need to be brave and speak out – we need to publicly defend both the report and its […]
Inequalities, Patriotism and Solidarity
In this essay from 2020, Yaya J. Fanusi argues that the struggle for equality does not mean you have to anti-patriotic. At a time when many on both sides of the pond seem to think otherwise, this offers some timely insights into some positive aspects of patriotism: ‘We as African Americans have debated views about […]
The Danger of Apologising Too Quickly
Events at Batley Grammar School this week have resulted in a teacher and his family having to go into hiding. His ‘crime’,at the very worst, was having given a poor lesson that offended the religious sensibilities of some Muslim parents. Reprehensible as the protests outside the school gates are, they are not the main problem. […]
‘Lived Experience’ Is A Sin Against Literature
Ella Whelan at The Telegraph argues that Janice Deul’s complaint that the original choice of translator for Amanda Gorman’s poetry amounts to a sin against literature as well as ride roughshod over the poet’s own judgment: Deul claimed that her concern wasn’t just Rijneveld’s skin colour, but the Booker-winner’s lack of experience in spoken-word poetry […]
Cancel Culture Is Out Of Control – Will The Adults Please Stand up!
Matthew Hennessy at the New York Post argues that generation X needs to stand up to the irrational demands of the younger generation that threaten to keep people fearful and divided – there is no superhero waiting in the wings to restore universal principles of justice and equality, or even just sensible discussion: We are […]
Colonial Guilt Prevents Understanding History
Kamel Daoud at The Financial Times reviews a report by historian Benjamin Stora on France’s colonial war with Algeria Critical of the trend in Western academia that sees history in terms of guilty and victimhood, Stora writes: . . . being a “victim” prevents us from seeing how the memory of colonisation is manipulated by political […]
The Spectre of Totalitarianism
We live in a democracy, but are we witnessing worrying signs of a totalitarian culture?
Churchill and the Genocide Myth
In February, an academic event at Oxford University presented an ill-informed historical caricature of Winston Churchill’s role in the Bengal Famine. Whatever one’s views about the man, the subject of history deserves better treatment. Here, Zareer Masani for The Critic provides an alternative, more nuanced account supported by historical knowledge more than personal opinion: Much […]
Can Victims Forgive?
Written shortly after the death of George Floyd, Marie K. Daouda at The Critic, considers the earlier, parallel case of Adama Traoré. She argues against a cultural narrative that presents a simplistic picture of victimhood at the expense of the actual and moral complexities involved: Public discourse has canonized George Floyd and Adama Traoré. […]