No, the mosques don’t know
Following the van/knife attacks on and near London Bridge last night in which seven people were killed (plus the three attackers who were shot dead by the police) which have been declared a terrorist...
Author: Matthew Smith
Corbyn’s dreadful interview
I didn't see Jeremy Paxman's interview with Jeremy Corbyn and Theresa May last night which social media was agog over, but I did hear his interview with Emma Barnett on Radio 4's Woman's Hour...
Manchester: an attack on women and girls?
In the aftermath of last Monday's terrorist attack on the Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, the British feminist writer Karen Ingala-Smith wrote a blog entry claiming that it is "essential that we view the...
Good story 1, Facts 0
The other day I came across a story which a lot of people were sharing on my social media feeds since the appalling terrorist attack in Manchester on Monday night. The story, published on...
Lousy parenting advice
Last Sunday Mariella Frostrup answered a letter from a father whose son wanted to drop out of school and become a rock star. He complained: Our son has given up on study. He has...
Facebook, “fake news” and junk news
Since the 2016 election in particular, there has been a lot of discussion about how social media helps to disseminate "fake news", often without really enumerating what that term means. Last week Facebook asked...
On Ian Brady and the death penalty
Last week Ian Brady, a serial murderer of children from the 1960s, died in a "special hospital" (a high-security hospital which takes criminals who are mentally ill) aged 79. He had been convicted of...
On Corbyn, trains and renationalisation
Earlier today I heard Owen Jones, the Labour-supporting Guardian columnist and author of Chavs and The Establishment, on Radio 4's Today programme defending Jeremy Corbyn's plans to "re-nationalise" the railways if he became prime...
Adult education versus university tuition fees
Earlier this week Jeremy Corbyn announced that if Labour wins the election next month, they will abolish university tuition fees, which were brought in under Labour in 1998 and were increased dramatically by the...
On hijab, ‘neutrality’ and threat
Last week I heard a conversation between Shelina Janmohammed, the author of Love in a Headscarf and Generation M and a columnist for The National, a Dubai-based newspaper, and the LBC presenter Sheila Fogerty,...
Before you trust the Tories on mental health …
So, today it was announced that Theresa May has promised new legislation on mental health if her party wins next month's election, which will "rip up" the 1983 Mental Health Act under which people...
Royal fake news?
So, yesterday it was announced that Prince Phillip, the 95-year-old Prince Consort to the Queen, was retiring from public royal duties as of this coming autumn. This followed an awful lot of speculation after...
Review: Colombia with Simon Reeve
A few years ago I wrote two reviews on here of programmes featuring Stacey Dooley, a BBC presenter who features on 'youth-oriented' documentary programmes, and I was pretty scathing about her manner and about...
BADD 2017: On dignity
This post is part of Blogging Against Disablism Day 2017. For the past couple of years, my BADD posts have focussed on the issue of people with autism and learning disabilities and the way...
If we ever leave a legacy…
Today all the papers are marking the 20th anniversary of the Blair landslide, in which Tony Blair's Labour party won a majority of 179, unmatched before or since, defeating John Major's Conservative government and...
UKIP, the ‘burqa’ and FGM
Over the weekend the so-called UK Independence Party published as part of its 2017 election manifesto an "integration agenda" which includes a ban on face coverings, which it describes as a "deliberate barrier to...
NHS compensation is rightful and necessary
Last Monday I saw an article in the Times in which a woman called Susanne Cameron-Blackie, who it turns out was the writer behind the now-removed Anna Raccoon blog (see earlier entry; she was...
St George’s bank holiday? Not such a good idea
So, Jeremy Corbyn has announced that a Labour government would introduce four new UK-wide bank holidays on all four of the national saints' days: St David's Day on 1st March, St Patrick's Day on...
Labour election broadcast a disaster
BBC iPlayer – Party Election Broadcasts: Labour – English Local Elections: 21/04/2017 I just saw the Labour Party Election broadcast, which is intended as being for the local elections next month (4th May), although...
This is a Brexit election
So, Theresa May has called a general election for 8th June, and Parliament has backed her up. After denying that she would have an election or a re-run of the Brexit referendum ever since...