So, Maisie’s home, but …
Last Sunday I mentioned that there was to be a "tweet storm" in support of the "Get Maisie Home" campaign, which was really about re-opening a children's mental health unit in Hull which was...
Author: Matthew Smith
So, the al-Qa’ida chiefs don’t like ISIS
Last Thursday, the Guardian carried a lengthy feature (the "big read" in their comment section) as well as a front-page article on how prominent members of al-Qa'ida have come out against ISIS. The long...
On Thomas Rawnsley’s 21st, Maisie’s tweet storm and the Kesgrave abuse inquiry
Today would have been Thomas Rawnsley's 21st birthday. Thomas was a man with Down's syndrome and autism, who was in a succession of care homes and NHS hospital units from 2013 until he died...
Boycott ISIS? Boycott what?
There is a story going around that the NUS recently passed a motion to align itself with the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, while a year ago having rejected a motion...
Time to bring the air industry down to earth
Yesterday a story started circulating on social media in which an American female Muslim chaplain named Tahera Ahmad, who was travelling on a United Airlines flight (run by a partner, Shuttle America), asked for...
Andy Burnham: an uninspiring, Tory-lite shop-minder
Labour warning by Andy Burnham – You will not win if workshy have an 'easy ride' | Western Daily Press Last week I got a letter printed in the New Statesman, in response to...
Why can’t a leading Muslim cop tell Islam from ISIS?
Today the Guardian published an interview with Britain's "most senior Muslim police officer", Scotland Yard commander Mak Chishty, head of community engagement for the Metropolitan police, in which he claimed that earlier and more...
It’s always different when it’s you
Israel has many injustices. But it is not an apartheid state | Benjamin Pogrund | Comment is free | The Guardian This bit of self-serving liberal Zionist guff was in yesterday's Guardian — actually,...
National Service? If I hear it again I’ll go Spare!
So, in today's Telegraph there's an interview with Prince Harry (right), who is set to leave the Army next month after ten years of service, in which he calls for the return of National...
Picking up the pieces from Thursday’s disaster
As anyone who reads the news will know, last Thursday there was a general election here and on Friday morning we learned that the Tories had gained an absolute majority of the seats, which...
So who’s a mensch, then? And who cares?
Today the Sun put that picture of Ed Miliband trying to eat a bacon butty and getting it all down his shirt, suggesting that if he can't even eat without making a mess, he'll...
Word from the local Lib Dem office
Earlier today I left a message on the local Lib Dem constituency office’s answerphone, as our MP, who is defending his seat, is the Lib Dem Energy secretary Edward Davey. I asked him what...
Sometimes it’s the miles. Sometimes it’s the care. Sometimes it’s both.
This post is part of Blogging Against Disablism Day 2015. Phill Wills, the father of Josh Wills, an autistic boy from Cornwall who has been in a hospital unit in Birmingham since 2012 and...
Lib Dems must understand why they are hated
As I think I've said here in the past, I live in a Lib Dem constituency — specifically, Ed Davey's constituency, Kingston and Surbiton, a constituency where the only main challenger is a Tory...
Don’t go back
Last week the former Prime Minister, John Major (right), popped up to have a go at the Scottish National Party, which opinion polls suggest is likely to get a majority of the seats in...
The Sun on migrants: vagrants, cockroaches, a disease
Yesterday the Sun published an article by Katie Hopkins, former Apprentice contestant and professional loudmouth and bigot, suggesting that we "use gunships" to tackle the problem of migrants coming across the Mediterranean in unsafe...
No, ‘patriarchy’ isn’t killing the planet: the modern lifestyle is
Patriarchy is killing our planet – women alone can save her – The Ecologist Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed, an investigative journalist best known for work on Muslim civil rights and terrorism, wrote the above article...
Will the wheels fall of Maajid Nawaz’s bandwagon now?
In today's Daily Mail there is a report that Maajid Nawaz, the founder of the so-called counter-extremist Muslim organisation Quilliam and Liberal Democrat candidate for Hampstead and Kilburn in the forthcoming election, was filmed...
A new speed limit at midnight
Tonight at midnight, the speed limits for trucks on roads in England and Wales go up by 10mph: the maximum speed on single-carriageway roads to 50mph, and on dual carriageways to 60mph (in practice,...
Leaders’ debate: my impressions
Last night there was a big debate featuring the leaders of the seven major political parties in next month's elections (Labour, Tories, Lib Dems, Greens, UKIP, Plaid Cymru and the SNP). I was driving,...