Regarding Brandon Reid
Brandon Reid is a 16-year-old boy with Asperger's syndrome whose family home is in Sheffield. He was in the news in November when a local paper and then the Daily Mail reported that the...
Author: Matthew Smith
Some thoughts on the Berlin truck atrocity
On Monday evening, someone hijacked a 40-tonne Scania articulated lorry, murdered the driver, and then drove it into the Berlin Christmas market, killing 12 people. Police arrested a suspect, an asylum seeker from Pakistan,...
Does Sleaford really matter much more than Richmond?
Why Sleaford matters more than Richmond – CapX Last week there were two by-elections in the UK triggered by resignations of MPs. One was in Richmond Park, in which Zac Goldsmith had resigned from...
Why ban National Action?
Today the Home Secretary announced that she intends to proscribe the Far Right group National Action, which she describes as "a racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic organisation". An organisation can be proscribed if the home...
Time to change the law on disability hate crime
Update 12th December: The Disability Hate Crime Network has written to the Attorney General to seek a review of James Wheatley's sentence. Last week in Newcastle, a man who had imprisoned and tortured to...
Why I’m against Universal Basic Income
Recently the idea of a Universal Basic Income (UBI) has gained a lot of traction in Left circles in the UK, with calls for Jeremy Corbyn to adopt it and try and make it...
Castro saved his country
Years ago, there used to be a common explanation for why communism didn't work. It was all nice on paper, people would say; the state would share all the wealth around and make sure...
What is a congestion charge for?
London mayor Sadiq Khan issues £2.5m VW congestion charge call So, Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, is demanding that Volkswagen pay up £2.5m to compensate the London taxpayer for a discount that drivers...
Lego and the Daily Mail: Before you get too excited …
Lego ends advertising with Daily Mail after calls for companies to 'Stop Funding Hate' (from the Independent) According to this report, widely shared by people I know on social media, Lego have announced that...
So, about those Democrat infiltrators …
Yesterday, someone posted a link to the blog by the author of the Dilbert cartoons, alleging among other things that violence at Trump rallies had mostly been caused by infiltrators from Clinton's campaign, who...
Is anti-Semitism really “a hate apart”?
Let’s be clear – antismetism is a hate apart | Howard Jacobson | Opinion | The Guardian The above is in last Sunday's Observer, and is part of a genre of articles in which...
Heathrow: No free ride for Zac Goldsmith
Today the government announced its preferred option for airport expansion in the south-east of England, and as had been expected, that was a third runway at Heathrow in west London. The other main option...
A waste of a life
Last Wednesday, Nicky Reilly, who attempted to blow up a restaurant in Exeter with a home-made bomb which exploded in the toilet, injuring only himself, died in Manchester prison (otherwise known as Strangeways) where...
What is the real “education gap” in politics?
How the education gap is tearing politics apart | David Runciman | Politics | The Guardian This was the Guardian's "long read" Wednesday before last, and it explores how education levels are becoming a...
Cure or accommodate? It’s not an either-or
Yesterday I saw an advert for a free public lecture at the University of Melbourne (won't be going; bit too far for me to travel) on the subject "Persons with Disabilities: Cure or Accommodate?"...
A few weeks back on Android
Over the summer, my iPhone broke down. The charging point initially stopped charging when the Lightning plug was not plugged in at exactly the right angle, but one morning while I was out driving...
“Sunnis condemn the Saudis” isn’t news
The Independent carried a story last Thursday in which Robert Fisk claimed that "for the first time", Saudi Arabia was under attack from both Sunni and Shi'ite scholars as some two hundred scholars, including...
On safety around trucks and mobiles
Part of this is a public service announcement. I was involved in a minor collision a couple of weeks ago. The scene is in the photograph on the right. I was taking this bend...
No, we do not need to act on that referendum
In the months since the referendum on leaving the EU, opinion seems to have hardened on the matter of whether there should be any question of leaving, given the 51.9% vote in favour. In...
Modi should have been Keith Vaz’s undoing
Last Sunday some of the tabloids led with a story about Keith Vaz, the Labour MP for Leicester East, paying male prostitutes, asking them to bring 'poppers' and offering to cover the cost of...