What makes appropriate school dress?
School skirt ban is just the latest battle in the uniform wars | Education | The Guardian Recently a secondary school in Ipswich (the third in the town) changed its uniform code making trousers...
Author: Matthew Smith
BBC wants white female Muslims (again)
Wanted: Single White Female (Muslims) | iMuslim.tv The BBC issued an advert asking for “Caucasian” white Muslim women to contribute to a programme about their lives since 9/11. They say: The BBC World Service, Heart and...
The perils of hosting political content in the UK
Atos moves to shut down criticism | Tentacles of doom (also see Carer Watch) The above article is about how ATOS, the French company hired by the British government to conduct disability assessments, has...
Why do hospitals discharge people so early?
These days, if you go into hospital for virtually any procedure or any surgery, chances are high that you will be out in much shorter time than you would have been in the past....
Johnson’s pupil referral plan is ill-informed
Boris Johnson in tough units call for young rioters – Crime, UK – The Independent Boris Johnson has called for school children involved in the riots last week (and presumably any future similar incidents)...
Hysteria follows anarchy
I have held off writing about the wave of rioting and looting that hit London and some other English towns and cities early last week partly because I was busy (work, Ramadan and an...
The Times, Wessely and the ME community
A little over a week ago I responded to accusations that people in the ME community were threatening scientists who were involved in "valuable" research into the cause and treatment of ME, because their...
Somalia? Send a proper journalist
LIZ JONES: The caring professions? They just don't seem to care at all | Mail Online The above article is a rant by Liz Jones, normally a fashion columnist on the Daily Mail also...
Anti-ME brigade play victim
On Friday morning, the BBC’s Radio 4 ran a feature on the supposed intimidation of scientists working on “chronic fatigue syndrome, also called ME” which is claimed to be driving people away from researching...
On Norway
This past weekend was dominated by two major death-related news stories: the bombing and subsequent massacre in Norway on Friday, and the death (to me at least, sudden and unexpected) of the singer, Amy...
Hustvedt’s ignorance over “CFS”
Acting up: is hysteria all in the mind? | Life and style | The Guardian Asti Hustvedt has written a large book on the “celebrity” hysterics of 19th-century Paris, whose doctor, Jean-Martin Charcot, paraded...
Is there money to burn in Basildon?
BBC iPlayer: The Big Gypsy Eviction This programme was on BBC1 last night (you can watch it until next Thursday, if you are in the UK) and is the result of six years of...
Nothing “right on” about rape jokes, Jan
Michael McIntyre endures jealousy of rival comics | Mail Online I'm not all that familiar with the comedy of Michael Macintyre, who has a reputation for being the "nice guy" of British comedy at...
Press attitudes and bureaucratic nightmares
Teenager who doesn't exist: Birth certificate blunder in Spain means British girl can't get passport or even a bus pass | Mail Online The above report is about a young girl who was born...
Inaccessible world beyond London
Note: if you can see Lynn Gilderdale below (that’s the lady with the feeding tube), reload or click the title to read the entry. You should see a still of a footpath through grass....
Hacked or not, Fraser Brown story is wrong
The Sun today was very proud to declare that Gordon Brown was wrong to accuse them of hacking his phone, or illegally accessing his voicemail, to make their "scoop" in November 2006, and that...
Blast from the past: the “Islamic” marriage contract
The new Muslim marriage contract will help empower women | Tehmina Kazi | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk About three years ago, I wrote a response to a new "Islamic marriage contract" which had...
CIA vaccine scam endangers vaccines worldwide
CIA organised fake vaccination drive to get Osama bin Laden’s family DNA | World news | The Guardian The Guardian today reported that an investigation by the paper had uncovered a fake vaccine programme...
News of the Screws — screwed
It was with much satisfaction that I learned that the News of the World, the British Sunday tabloid owned by Rupert Murdoch, was going to publish its final edition today. This happened, for those...
Dawud Adib: letting it eat away?
An evil man in the community | Peace, Bruv The "evil man" in question is Dawud Adib, the African-American "salafi" preacher, who delivered a lecture some weeks ago at a "salafi" conference in New...