Essay · Race, universities and the public sphere The uses of Jason Arday A national press campaign about scholarly rigour is resting on a self-published, machine-generated blog post. The campaign defending him is resting on a claim the evidence will not carry. Both have made one man stand in for an argument he never agreed…… Continue reading The uses of Jason Arday
Category: Analysis
The Pen and the Poison
Satire, Cynicism, and the Lasting Legacy of Rod Liddle’s Islamophobia Rod Liddle has died at 66. The tributes call him brilliant, provocative, inimitable. They are silent on the twenty years he spent making British Muslims the punchline — and on the industry that decided this was a style, not a record. Rod Liddle died on…… Continue reading The Pen and the Poison
Mosque Security in Britain Must Be About Trust, Not Just Protection
At a time when mosques in Britain are reportedly attacked, vandalised, or physically damaged every few days, the question of mosque safety is no longer peripheral. It sits at the centre of British Muslim life, shaping how people worship, travel, organise, and imagine their place in society. This essay reflects on the National Emergency Conference…… Continue reading Mosque Security in Britain Must Be About Trust, Not Just Protection
The Zionist Label and the Two Failures of Recognition: Muslim–Jewish Relations After 7 October
There is a figure who has become almost invisible in the polarised argument that has followed 7 October 2023: the Jew who is attached to Israel, calls themselves a Zionist, and is at the same time anguished, critical, and sometimes ashamed about what has been done in Gaza. This person exists in very large numbers.…… Continue reading The Zionist Label and the Two Failures of Recognition: Muslim–Jewish Relations After 7 October
Reading the Tables, Not the Headlines: What Britain Under Strain Leaves Out
The UK Extremism and Democratic Resilience Centre has launched with an inaugural report, Britain Under Strain, authored by Dame Sara Khan and Dr Matthew Godwin. It arrives with the grammar of alarm already fixed: a broken social contract, a collapsed cordon sanitaire, the mainstreaming of extremism, and a nation whose foundational bargain is failing. Much…… Continue reading Reading the Tables, Not the Headlines: What Britain Under Strain Leaves Out
When Tolerance Fractures: How Everyday Exclusion Fuels Political Violence in the Netherlands
The Myth That Cracked For decades, the Netherlands wore its reputation for tolerance like a badge of honour. Amsterdam’s canals, the country’s liberal social policies, and its historical embrace of multiculturalism created an image of a nation that had solved the puzzle of living together across difference. Yet scratch beneath this polished surface, and a…… Continue reading When Tolerance Fractures: How Everyday Exclusion Fuels Political Violence in the Netherlands
The Weaponisation of Racial Inequality: How the Far Right Sells Working-Class Communities a Lie
There is a dangerous fiction taking hold in British politics, and it is being sold hardest to those who have the least. Across the airwaves, in manifestos, and through social media channels, the far right and populist radical right are pushing a single, seductive message: that diversity, inclusion and equity initiatives are themselves a source…… Continue reading The Weaponisation of Racial Inequality: How the Far Right Sells Working-Class Communities a Lie
Why London Manufactures Its Own Extremists
Why the typical urban radical isn’t who you think — and why it matters When we picture a modern extremist, our mental image is often shaped by a familiar story. The “left-behind” white working-class voter from a deindustrialised town. The forgotten resident of a former mill city. Someone whose anger about immigration and identity has…… Continue reading Why London Manufactures Its Own Extremists
The Three Lives of Faragism: How British Populism Reinvented Itself – and Built Its Own Trap
When the UK voted to leave the European Union in 2016, many commentators assumed Nigel Farage’s political story had reached its final chapter. After all, what use is an anti-EU insurgency once the country has actually left the EU? The assumption was simple: Faragism was a single-issue fever, and the fever would break as soon…… Continue reading The Three Lives of Faragism: How British Populism Reinvented Itself – and Built Its Own Trap
The Messy Truth of Golders Green: Antisemitism, Mental Health, and the Politics of the Easy Narrative
It is important to reflect on the recent incident in Golders Green, which has left the Jewish community in a state of shock and despair at what has been recognised as an acute act of antisemitism. When random Jewish community members are targeted on the streets of Golders Green for no other reason than that…… Continue reading The Messy Truth of Golders Green: Antisemitism, Mental Health, and the Politics of the Easy Narrative