The Silence is Deafening

On 11th September 2001 I gave my one year old daughter her lunch and idly watched Neighbours. The short BBC News music came on with breaking news (for years afterwards that theme gave me chills) and showed footage of the World Trade Centre in New York. Over the course of 90 minutes I watched in …

Hearing Voices for Gaza

The last few years of my daughter's studies have been difficult for many reasons; lockdowns, home schooling, reopening with restrictions, not knowing whether final GCSEs would be exams or teacher assessments, and on top of that strikes on and off during A levels. To top it off her history syllabus included Nazi Germany, and this …

Warm and Bright

It’s that time of year when the dark hits you, night draws in too quickly after tea time and the clocks going back at the end of October makes it suddenly evident. I don’t really mind dark evenings and prefer them to dark mornings. While waking up for pre-dawn prayer is difficult after such little …

They’re Coming For Tchaikovsky

On University Challenge this week, a music question came up where they had to guess the Russian composer; the first answer was Tchaikovsky and I couldn't help thinking, oh they're not allowed to talk about him, he's Russian. But then I thought, that's going too far, what has music got to do with anything? It's …

Cycle of Conflict

This year has been a difficult one with Covid-19 causing so much fear and anxiety in people around the world; as the virus dominated the news with reports of infection rates and restrictions, it sometimes felt as if all other news had faded into the background. When we have a common enemy this great we …

The Moon and Beyond

"Make America Great Again", shouts (or tweets) US President Donald Trump every time he feels people are not paying attention to him. This will be our "Independence Day" cried Nigel Farage and his fellow brexiteers in the run up to the EU Referendum. This is a pattern followed by right wing groups in many places …

Freedom And The Slippery Slope

Where freedom of expression is concerned we're often balanced precariously at the edge of the slope; exercised responsibly it is a great thing, part of the freedoms of this glorious nation. However each time freedom of expression is used in the wrong way we risk slipping down the slope into chaos. Racist comments have been …

Your Comments Are Misguided, Mr Johnson

  Anti-Muslim comments from members of far right groups have become quite regular, but prominent politicians are not normally expected to make them. So when I saw comments made by Boris Johnson despite his having a history of prejudice and making gaffes, I was shocked. Mr Johnson has written about Danish liberty and advocates that …