Reflections after the University of Salford’s symposium on Islamophobia in Higher Education, 5 November 2026 Yesterday I travelled to Salford to give a keynote (with slides) at the University of Salford’s symposium on Islamophobia in Higher Education, held at the New Adelphi Theatre and convened by the University’s Pro Vice-Chancellor for Social Justice and Equity.…… Continue reading Pulling Together, Not Apart: Reflections on Islamophobia and the University
Category: Opinion
Clash Course: Islamophobia, Power and the Generation Changing the Script
I’ve been thinking about Islamophobia a great deal. Not just reflecting on the concept and its intellectual dimensions, but also writing about it in various ways: its structural, cultural, institutional, legal, societal and political norms, outcomes and processes, and the many different ways of trying to make sense of it. This has been going on…… Continue reading Clash Course: Islamophobia, Power and the Generation Changing the Script
Birmingham’s Muslims: A Call to Action
On Friday night at Soul City Arts in Birmingham, the Muslim Institute, in collaboration with the An-Nisa Society, launched Birmingham’s Muslims – Conversations on grassroots community and change, authored by Humera Khan, a civil society campaigner, author, and activist with over forty years of experience working in the third sector on questions relating to Muslims…… Continue reading Birmingham’s Muslims: A Call to Action
Englishness Is Not an Ethnicity
It is both amusing and revealing to watch Suella Braverman talk about race, identity, belonging and citizenship. Her comments can be dumbfounding, not least because they confuse the issues, subvert reality and reflect a completely disjointed understanding of what is indeed a complex matter, yet also a relatively straightforward one. The old adage that you…… Continue reading Englishness Is Not an Ethnicity
Who Gets to Be British? The Far Right’s Dangerous Conflation
Imagine standing in a crowded town square, watching a mob chant about “taking our country back”, while a young man of South Asian descent clutches his dark blue passport — a document that legally declares “British Citizen” but is treated by the rioters as a worthless piece of paper. I am keen to explore the…… Continue reading Who Gets to Be British? The Far Right’s Dangerous Conflation
British Muslims at a Crossroads: Class, Belonging and the Politics of Representation
There seems to be quite a distinction in current commentary concerning the view that British Muslims are at a particular juncture in their history. One view suggests that they are at a precipice, about to fall into an oblivion from which there may be no way back. There is also the concern, however, that Muslims…… Continue reading British Muslims at a Crossroads: Class, Belonging and the Politics of Representation
The Cost of Racist Media Harassment: Jason Arday, Racism and the Violence of the British Press
It is the morning after the day before, and I am still numb. The death of Jason Arday will be remembered as one of the worst episodes of racism in the British press. He was found at his home in south London on Friday afternoon. He was forty-one. The police have said only that the…… Continue reading The Cost of Racist Media Harassment: Jason Arday, Racism and the Violence of the British Press
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
The Algorithm of Apocalypse
The Algorithm of Apocalypse Essay · Geopolitics & History The Long View The comfortable myth & the harder reading The Algorithm of Apocalypse Why the viral “planetary renewal” trend is a comforting fantasy laid over a brutal geopolitical reality — and why genuine civilisational renewal has never once arrived quietly. Long read · 9 min…… Continue reading The Algorithm of Apocalypse
Farage, Farage, Farage
Infamy, infamy, they have it infamy! Nigel Farage has resigned his Clacton seat, explicitly citing ongoing parliamentary standards probes into his failure to declare a £5 million crypto gift and related funding questions. His resignation has triggered a by-election, although the deeper question is whether he ultimately intends to contest it or use the moment…… Continue reading Farage, Farage, Farage