Comedian David Baddiel recently commented that his last play had every line scrutinised to see whether it might offend or ‘trigger’ anyone on the grounds of race, gender or disability. Strangely, he wasn’t bothered at all and wants more policing of our language. Last February, his book, Jews Don’t Count, argued that antisemitic bias remains largely unpoliced and this week … [Read on]

Stephen Barclay, minister for the Cabinet Office (and apparently acting prime minister) has this evening apologised for the government’s mistake in ‘conflating’ its genuine concerns about the standards investigations system (namely, that the Commons Standards Committee had embarrassed the government by finding Owen Patterson guilty of lobbying ministers on behalf of companies for which he was a paid consultant) with … [Read on]

While we in Britain progress inexorably towards a multicultural utopia and worship at the shrines of diversity, inclusion, and mass immigration, France seems poised to move in a radically different direction. For anaesthetised British viewers, it is quite a revelation to switch from British TV, with its non-stop exposé of white privilege, institutional racism, and colonial guilt, to French TV, … [Read on]

I was horrified to read on the BBC News website today that an A-level textbook has been withdrawn for incorporating a ‘shocking’ Native American question [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-59024961]. The move followed a youth worker at Durham Sixth Form Centre expressing her horror that a question in an AQA-approved book asked students whether the treatment of Native Americans at the hands of white … [Read on]

Migration Watch UK reported today that there have been nearly 7 million new GP registrations from those overseas in the past decade (2000 registrations per day in 2017). It’s not just the ‘strain’ on the NHS. “By 2024 an additional 370,000 school places will be needed,” says Migration Watch, “We are losing more and more of our countryside due to … [Read on]

This week’s Spectator features that rare event in the mainstream conservative press, an article that suggests conservatism is not all about global markets, small government, open borders, and general laissez-faire – but that it values traditions, attachments, and communities, even classes and hierarchies, and is protectionist, even green. In short, conservatives are not laissez-faire liberals, neither socially nor economically.  Tim … [Read on]

A lot can happen in a century and a half. In 1871 Parliament broke the hold of the established church on university education with the Universities Tests Act. This forbade Oxford, Cambridge and Durham from requiring its members to hold or profess any religious belief. The preamble is well worth a read: Whereas it is expedient that the benefits of … [Read on]

The commentaries on the Duke of York’s case mostly reflect the stance he seems to have taken, in relation to the allegations of sexual abuse made against him. They and he are misguided. The simple fact is that his position confers no special status on him, whatsoever, as far as either the American, or English courts are concerned. This means, … [Read on]