The everyday language of hate

It wasn’t so much what a young woman called Naz Kahn said about Jews a few weeks ago that triggered my flight or fight response. It was how she said it.

To recap: Ms Kahn is a recently appointed woman’s officer in the party, Respect, which plays backing band to Bradford West MP George Galloway’s political PJ Proby.

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Facts behind a skewed survey

On October 23 Ha’aretz published a sensational headline, supported by a breathtaking editorial. It read: “Survey: Most Israeli Jews would support apartheid regime in Israel.” The editorial, penned by the paper’s well-known, empty rhetorician (and editorial board member) Gideon Levy, did not mince its words.

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Assiduous campaign? Where?

The irrationality and prejudice inherent in the vilification of Israel are becoming ever more egregious.

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Taxpayer-funded discrimination

How far should the British state go in enforcing the private religious prejudices of its citizens?

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Similar fathers, different views

Years ago, when Roy Hattersley published a book arguing in favour of equality of result rather than of opportunity, I remember remarking that, in which case, we would all have, like him, to aspire to be leader of the Labour Party. In fact, seeking that office would become compulsory.

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Smell of garbage clears the air

I've just finished watching Innocence of Muslims, the film that has led to worldwide, often violent and occasionally murderous protests by adherents of the Islamic faith. As I did so, news came through that Muslim leaders are threatening to bring the film to the attention of the United Nations, with a view to persuading the international community to enact a law against religious defamation.

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Hobsbawm’s blinkered vision

The history of the past century is dominated by the clash between universalism and nationalism. Eric Hobsbawm, who died last week at the age of 95, wrote about it and lived it. He combined scholarly brilliance and monumental political error.

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Imperfect prize, perfect winner

I have been thoroughly bemused by the international furore surrounding the decision of the municipality of Frankfurt-am-Main to award a 50,000 euro prize to Dr Judith Butler, an academic who teaches critical theory at Berkeley, California.

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Help! I’m an internet addict

I realised that I had a problem straight after Yom Kippur went out. I had spent the last two hours of the fast with a splitting headache and was desperate for something to eat. So, as soon as the clock struck 19.37, I ran to the kitchen - to find my mobile phone and check my email. After 25 hours, supper could wait.

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Tragedy of an academic stage

Royal Holloway and Bedford New College - to give it the mouthful of a title by which it was established by private Act of Parliament in 1985 - sits majestically at the top of Egham Hill, Surrey. Its origins lie in the ambitions of one of the great Victorian entrepreneurs and philanthropists, Thomas Holloway, by whom it was founded in the 1880s as an institution for the higher education of women.

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