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
Category: Analysis
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
Square Zero: Anxiety, Geopolitics, and the Weight of Constant Crisis
I am in one of those really weird moments when one suddenly thinks it’s all going to go really bad, but actually, how much worse can it get? A bit of good political news I’ve heard today is that Hungary is about to elect a centre-right prime minister, shifting the current landscape dominated by Viktor…… Continue reading Square Zero: Anxiety, Geopolitics, and the Weight of Constant Crisis
Saying the Quiet Part Out Loud (So I Don’t Have To): An Establishment General’s Verdict on the Middle East
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPt47bhsVy8 I am writing today simply to summarize and amplify the astonishing, unvarnished insights of a man who possesses the kind of unimpeachable establishment credentials that I do not. Major General Charlie Herbert is not a brown Muslim activist. He is a retired senior officer who spent 34 years in the British Army, rising from…… Continue reading Saying the Quiet Part Out Loud (So I Don’t Have To): An Establishment General’s Verdict on the Middle East
The “Muslim Threat” Video: How Numbers Lie
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/VatuEcSKn4U You’ve probably seen the video or presentation slides. Confident framing, a stark green background declaring “Official UK Government data”, and a simple, dangerous message: Muslims are a burden and a threat. It feels convincing because it borrows the credibility of the Office for National Statistics. But here’s how the presentation actually manipulates you. The…… Continue reading The “Muslim Threat” Video: How Numbers Lie