I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back

A Quote To Leave 2020 On.....

Just before Christmas I finished reading Paul Embery's 'Despised: Why the Modern Left Loathes the Working Class'.

It is very good, although I fear that the people who need to read it, and to learn from it, will not. Embery risks that cruellest of fates, being a Prophet in his own land, destined only to be heard from those outside his own tribe.

These are some of the lines on which he finishes the book:

We have learned that any drive to create an 'open' 'diverse' and 'progressive' nation will alienate a large part of the populace if it is forced upon them too rapidly, violates their sense of order and belonging, and comes at the expense of social solidarity and stability.
The British working class has found its voice. Politics in our country is realigning at speed as the old tribalisms crumble. The Left, if it is to halt the slide towards irrelevance, had better start listening.

I suspect this overstates the extent to which life may be breathed into a corpse. But that politics is realigning, is self-evident. And it is genuinely exciting.

Is Macron's Stance Against Islamism Applicable in Other Countries?

On Tuesday 22nd December I will be chairing an online event at 1500 for the Henry Jackson Society entitled 'President Macron's Response to Islamism and Jihadist Terror: Lessons for Other Nations'.

The discussion should last for about an hour, with three leading researchers in the field - Liam Duffy, Dr Tommaso Virgili and Simone Rodan-Benzaquen. There will also be a Q and A session. Sadly, as the event is online, the anticipated mince pies and glasses of sherry will have to wait until next year.

To attend, all you need to do is register online with HJS, and you will receive an emailed link to join the event as it starts.

Where Covid19 Leaves Us

It seems likely the Oxford Covid vaccine will be rolled out across the UK in January.

I was one of over 600 people to take part in the trials for this in Corby, Northamptonshire. Finishing off the tests on Thursday, I was told only 5 people had negative reactions to the jabs, none serious. That is less than 1 percent.

It seems appropriate to be deeply pessimistic about the future. The economic hit we have suffered from Covid has not been fully grasped. The gap between the security and status of public and private sector workers is deepening, and may get worse. The civil liberties lost at times this year, and the cultural revolution that piggy backed on top of the George Floyd protests in America, disastrous. There is not much point having a parliament full of human rights lawyers if, as I found, the police stop you playing football in the park with your children. On race, Britain is not the United States, no matter how much our woke warriors wish it to be.

Internationally, China is greatly strengthened by the events of 2020, the west economically weakened and culturally divided. Those cultural divisions will accelerate in 2021.

But this vaccine is a sign of progress, in the middle of reaction. It is green shoots sticking out of the concrete, and for that we should be grateful.

Is the Tamil Tiger Free to Roam Britain's Streets?

One of the issues in the in-tray of Home Secretary Priti Patel, is the question of whether to revoke the ban on the Sri Lankan Tamil Tigers organisation.

In the page of the Indian newspaper the Sunday Guardian, I argue strongly against this. It would be a poor way to treat our allies, but would also send a dangerous message to other militant exiled groups who are, regrettably, exiled here in the UK.

Remembering 26/11: Mumbai and State Sponsored Jihadist Terrorism

Bridge India has now published on its You Tube page the discussion marking the Mumbai terror attacks of 2008, which I participated in last Friday.

You can listen below to

involving Burzine Waghmar of SOAS University of London, the author Priyajit Debsarkar, and myself.

Discussing The Mumbai Attacks with TAG TV

This is a 45 minute discussion of the 2008 terror attacks carried out by Lashkar-e-Taiba, at the direction of the Pakistani deep state.

From the Canadian station TAG TV, I contribute to a panel with the SOAS orientalist Burzine Waghmar. The sound is a little ropey at first (part of one answer sounds as if I am impersonating the late Norman Collier) but it soon improves.

You can view the discussion below

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We should be wary of laws criminalising conspiracy theories

The Metropolitan Police, and the leadership of the Labour Party, have both spoken out about anti-vaccination opinions, and activists who are circulating such views on social media. As we move closer to immunising people against Covid19, these debates are likely to increase.

I think it would be a bad idea to create legislation against these views, and set out my arguments in this piece for Spiked.

Mumbai 26/11: The nature and impact of a state sponsored jihadist attack

Over the weekend I had a short article published in the Sunday Guardian in India, concerning the 2008 terror attacks in the city.

In it I attempt to characterise some aspects of jihadist violence, for example its anger and hatred directed at 'the other', and also discuss aspects of the impact of the attacks. For example, the view of Pakistan as a state sponsor of terrorism, was reinforced.

You can read the article on The Sunday Guardian website here, and also get a pdf of the piece
Download Nature and impact of Mumbai attacks 21 11 2020.

Now - what are my chances of getting a commission to write for the Guardian in this country?

In Praise of Bob Moran

Who is the UK's best political cartoonist?

This year that mantle has been claimed by The Telegraph's Bob Moran, who has produced a series of superb cartoons articulating the loss of personal freedom, and the fears experienced by those trying to understand the changes that have followed in the wake of Covid19.

You can view his website, with a compilation of this years cartoons, here. My personal favourite is from July, and features our national dog, the British Bulldog both scared and muzzled.

Islamism threatens us all

There is much to be encouraged by in the response of President Macron to the wave of jihadist attacks in France.

His understanding of the threat posed to the west's freedoms is correct, and in casting the question in terms of sovereignty, Macron illustrates that the goal of both Islamists and jihadists is to enforce the laws of Islam in the west. That cannot pass.

I discuss this, the emergence of President Erdogan's Turkey as a key player in Islamist circles and the response of British Islamists to events in France, in an article today for Spiked. It can be read here.

A pdf of the article is available
Download Islamism threatens us all - spiked 04 11 2020.

Three Points of the Triangle: Islamic State, Britain and the Indian Subcontinent

The Sunday Guardian in India has published my article on the overlap between British jihadists, Islamic State and the Indian subcontinent. You can follow a link to it here.

I have also saved the article as a pdf attached
Download Three points of the Triangle Islamic State Britain Indian subcontinent - The Sunday Guardian Live 03 10 2020

More generally, most of my writing is collected on my Academia.edu page here. It is all free to download, but you will need to register to do so. In time I will bring over everything from there, to here.

A Jihadist Triangle: Islamic State, Britain and South Asia

On Tuesday I was part of a panel organised by the European Foundation of South Asian Studies, on Islamic State in South Asia. This should have been held in Geneva at the United Nations as one of the side meetings by accredited organisations at the UN HRC, unfortunately Covi19 forced us onto zoom.

Along with Malaiz Daud from Afghanistan and the analyst Tim Foxley, we spent two hours battling through the nature, characteristics and ambitions of Islamic State, as well as discussing more generally the Afghan peace process, Pakistan's influence in the region and America's intentions.

My twenty minute presentation, delivered in a somewhat wintery blue jumper, can be seen below.

A Return To Blogging

Just when you thought 2020 could not get any worse...............

I am going to use this space to promote some of my research and writing, and to draw attention to things I find interesting.

But for Covid19 I would have been over in Geneva this month with the European Foundation for South Asian Studies (EFSAS) at the side meeting of the UN's Human Rights Council. The EFSAS intervention has instead moved online, and I will be speaking on Tuesday afternoon (details below) on the triangle between Islamic State, the UK and Pakistan.