When is an apology meaningful?
Earlier today I took part in a Facebook discussion about "apologies", in the context of the British government's decision to prohibit blood donations from people who had, or ever had, M.E., in which someone...
Indigo Jo Blogs Blog
Who’s radicalising who?
Today it was revealed that a report commissioned by University College London, the college where Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who attempted to bomb a plane from Amsterdam to the USA last December, concluded that he...
The problem of convert disillusionment
Note: I wrote most of this last week, before the sister who posts here as Africana revealed her suspicions about “sock-puppets” (people pretending to be other people as well as themselves) at the ex-Muslim...
Park51 turning into Abbey Mills re-run
I haven’t commented on the Park51 affair yet — the 13-storey mosque and community centre that some group wants to put up in Lower Manhattan — mainly because other Muslims (and others) have said...
On Virginia Ironside, suffering and pillows
This morning, I witnessed an extraordinary exchange on the BBC morning discussion programme, Sunday Morning Live (in the UK, you can watch it on iPlayer here), a somewhat cheaply produced affair in which various...
Rape is not funny. Yes, even when it’s George Michael. (updated)
A couple of hours ago I went downstairs to chat to my sis who is visiting with her little girl, and one of the new generation of comedy shows, Mock the Week, was on....
Get your halal veal at Wembley Stadium
Britain goes halal (…but nobody tells public) | Mail Online The front page of today’s Mail on Sunday was dominated by the above story: the revelation that a number of entertainment venues, such as...
Sweden: exposing Sharia and rape myths
Swedish elections: The impact of immigration | World news | The Guardian This is an article about the rise of the “Sweden Democrats”, a far-right party which has been increasing its share of the...
British footballers, privacy and gender
Wayne Rooney’s infidelity exposes law’s misogyny | Media | The Guardian This week it was announced that Mr Justice (David) Eady, is being replaced as head of the Queen’s bench jury and non-jury lists,...
Is the iPhone really a design classic?
London Design festival: Has British design lost its way? | Art and design | The Guardian There’s a feature in today’s Guardian about the Anti Design Festival, which starts this coming Saturday in London...
Retaliation and the story of Khidr
I saw an article today posted at Harry’s Place and also at Foreign Policy Journal, entitled “The Problem of Honor Killings” by one Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi, described in his biography as “a student at...
The Humanist dream school
Welcome to my dream school | Education | The Guardian This article appeared in the Guardian last Friday, but only now I've got round to commenting on it. I read it eagerly and think...
How to get women into tech
Why We Don’t Need More Women In Tech… Yet « I just saw an article on why calling for "getting more women into technology" is useless, namely that there just aren't enough female computer...
Bidisha and feminist language policing
Sluts and sweethearts | Life and style | The Guardian Yesterday I saw an article by feminist novelist and arts commentator Bidisha promoting a feminist language-policing site called Name It, Change It which presents...
How to upgrade your T-Mobile G2
For months I’ve been hearing that T-Mobile were going to be posting an upgrade to their Android-based G2 Touch phone, which is their branded version of the HTC Hero which was available on every...
SF Chronicle cluelessness about Afghan paedophilia
Fareena Alam flagged up this article — Afghanistan’s dirty little secret — which is about the Pashtun custom known as bacha bazi, in which boys dress as girls and dance for grown men who...
Seize their buildings
Earlier today I watched the Dispatches programme, Britain’s Secret Slaves (in the UK, you can watch it on their 4oD service), about the mistreatment of domestic workers in the UK. The first half, roughly,...
Afghan gas attacks weren’t hysteria after all
From the New York Times: Blood tests have confirmed that a mysterious series of cases of mass sickness at girls’ schools across the country over the last two years were caused by a powerful...
Getting drawn back into Eastenders
Last week I stopped watching EastEnders (this is a BBC soap opera set in a fictional mostly white east end of London, without any Bengalis or Somalis) because I finally became exasperated with how...
Spectator forced to apologise to Islam Expo
Inayat Bunglawala drew our attention yesterday to an apology published in the Spectator, a British right-wing political magazine (a tedious rag where people flaunt whatever privilege and bigotry they might have). It reads: Stephen...