Green light for gridlock
Today the government gave its backing to plans to expand Heathrow airport in west London by building an extra runway to the north-west of the existing site, with all the necessary access roads and...
Indigo Jo Blogs Blog
Why is Quilliam pamphleteering about FGM?
Last week Quilliam, the self-styled counter-extremism think-tank set up by former member of Hizb-ut-Tahreer Maajid Nawaz, released a pamphlet on FGM written by one Muna Adil, complete with a foreword by Ayaan Hirsi Ali,...
Is there really a driver shortage?
A couple of weeks ago I had a very brief stab at being an all-week truck driver, or as they call them in this country, a tramper. The job would have involved picking up...
The mystery of Ruth Wilson
Recently a half-hour film featuring Martin Bright, the former New Statesman, Spectator and Jewish Chronicle contributor, and a retired Northern Irish cop named Liam McAuley, was published on YouTube about the disappearance of a...
No, this treatment won’t save Demi’s life
This morning I came across an appeal to raise money to help an 11-year-old British girl, Demi Knight, to receive 'treatment' for her cancer in Houston, Texas, from a guy called Stanyslaw Burzynski at...
Money versus culture in care
In the light of two recent inquests into the deaths of young men with learning disabilities, one in an NHS hospital (Oliver McGowan, right) and one in a Mencap-run care home (Danny Tozer), both...
The Wadsworth affair and the “anti-Semitic trope” gambit
So, today a Labour and Momentum activist (and film-maker and co-founder of the campaign for justice for Stephen Lawrence) named Marc Wadsworth was expelled from the party by the National Constitutional Committee (NCC) for...
Times forced to admit: we printed garbage
Last year, the Times carried a story that a young girl of Christian background had not been allowed to eat pork under her Muslim foster carers' roof, on their front page. They also claimed...
Has the “Human Rights movement” failed?
How the Human Rights movement failed (from the New York Times) In this article, Yale law and history professor Samuel Moyn argues that the backsliding of various countries such as the Philippines and Hungary,...
The Lib Dems’ despicable bargain
I sometimes regret the fact that I still live in a fairly affluent part of outer London which has been, for most of the past generation, a Lib Dem stronghold, particularly when I see...
Animal rights are no excuse for racism
The other day the 80's pop star Morrissey, best known for being the frontman for the Smiths, gave an interview in which he backed the far-right party called For Britain, set up by a...
Who really loses out here?
This is a sign which, allegedly, appeared on a college hall of residence in Toronto, Canada. It points left to a non-accessible bathroom for men, and right for an accessible one with a hoist...
Does it matter where the term ‘Islamophobia’ comes from?
Why are so many left-wing progressives silent about Islam’s totalitarian tendencies? by Julie Bindel (free registration required) This article is on Unherd, a right-leaning opinion site edited by Tim Montgomerie (founder of ConservativeHome), and...
About those free rides …
Some friends of mine have been sharing a Labour election video on Facebook. The 15-second video claims that the next Labour government will make bus travel free for under-25s in England before telling people,...
On DIY SOS and accessibility
The other day I watched a repeat of an episode of the BBC series DIY SOS: The Big Build. It's where the BBC get some architects, designers and local builders and other workers and...
Keeping Corbyn out is not enough
Yesterday I came across a blog post by Nora Mulready, one of the most sanctimonious anti-Corbyn agitators among the centre-Left, welcoming the announcement of a "new party" in last Sunday's Observer — which, as...
Centrists must learn that it’s not 1997 anymore
According to a report in today's Observer (effectively the Guardian on Sunday), a group of "entrepreneurs, philanthropists and donors" have been developing plans for a new centrist party for about a year. The foundation,...
Review: The Silent Child
The other day I watched a repeat of an episode of the BBC series DIY SOS: The Big Build. It's where the BBC get some architects, designers and local builders and other workers and...
Why Egyptian TV covers American police violence
Earlier today I saw a tweet by Shaun King, an American race activist, about Egyptian media coverage and popular interest in American police shootings and resulting protests: I am in Egypt. The murder of...
How (not) to argue with Brexiteers
Last Friday Nick Cohen posted a series of tweets about what he described as the tendency of Labour Remainers to "snuggle down in the soft warm bed of conspiracy theory" in explaining why the...