William Hague/Chris Myers: a short history of gay rights in Britain
LOOK away now if you have an unduly salacious imagination, but I confess to sharing a hotel bedroom with Newsnight economics editor Paul Mason. Yeah, I know, girls. Dishy, isn’t he? This, you understand, was simply to save the National Union of Journalists a bob or two on conference expenses. It does not imply that we [...]
Why the Zakir Naik ban is wrong
ZAKIR Naik has today joined gangsta rapper Snoop Dogg, television presenter Martha Stewart, gay-hating hot gospel merchant Fred Waldron Phelps Jr, minor league shock jock Michael Savage, Russian skinhead Pavel Skachevsky and Jewish ultranationalist Mike Guzovsky on the list of people banned from entering the UK. That just about covers the full spectrum of odious [...]
BNP teachers: it’s right not to ban them
POLICE officers and prison workers are banned from becoming members of the British National Party. But teachers, the government has confirmed today, are not. Whatever happened to logical consistency here, I haven’t a clue. But on balance, I reckon Maurice Smith has made the right call. Unsurprisingly, the decision has upset some on the left, who argue that the [...]
Unlawful glorification: the trouble with thoughtcrime
I’VE GOT a mate of Basque extraction who works in London. Behind his desk hangs a flag obviously based on the Union Jack, save that the crosses are white and green and the background red. Just for clarification, all his colleagues know that to refer to him even casually as ‘Spanish’ is making a one big mistake. [...]
Let extremists visit Britain
RETIRED though he was at the time, there can be no doubt as to the gravity of the crimes committed by Augusto Pinochet. Sadly, the government had no problem allowing the former military dictator to come to London for medical treatment in 1998. Equally sadly, it had no problem with allowing him to return to [...]
Binyam Mohamed case: Miliband should release the report
BINYAM Mohamed may or may not have received firearms and explosives training from al Qa’eda or fought alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan. He may or may not have been involved alongside Jose Padilla in a dirty bomb plot that may or may not have existed. If there is evidence of involvement in conspiracy to murder [...]
My internet use is none of Jacqui Smith’s business
MAINLY I spend my time online seeking out delicious home baking recipes and downloading Bible study podcasts. But suppose I was the type of guy who waited until the missus was out and then frantically googled for hot Asian teens? Shouldn’t my surfing habits should be for me to know, and not for Jacqui Smith [...]
Should al Qaradawi be allowed into Britain?
I’ve tried listening to those on the left who repeatedly try to tell me that I should see the utterances of Yusuf al Qaradawi ‘in context’. I really, really have. But the man widely regarded as one of the world’s leading moderate Muslim clerics openly argues that it is permissible for husbands to beat their [...]
Should unions be able to exclude political activists?
Among the measures announced in the Queen’s Speech today is an Employment Bill that will reportedly enable trade unions to expel members on grounds of their allegiance to a political party. It comes after the European Court of Human Rights earlier this year overruled British legislation, dating from 1992, that prevented train drivers’ union Aslef [...]
New Labour, civil liberties and the war on terror
It can’t be that long before we run out of civil liberties for New Labour to crack down on. The three successive Blair administrations have effectively torn up the Geneva Convention on refugees, and repeatedly contravened the substance and spirit of the European Convention on Human Rights. House arrest, arbitrary and punitive deportation, a shoot [...]
