Books

New books!

I haven’t allowed myself a new book in a while, largely due to the small mountain of unread books I already have. Still, I had to get one one the first war, given the year that’s in it. ‘Speccy Nation’ just slipped in there for nostaglia. Of course, the real reason I was bookshopping was […]

Freedoms Human Rights Politics Society

Empires Love Their Dissidents Foreign

Any regime, no matter how repressive, will gladly fête its enemy’s critics—while homegrown versions of those critics occupy concrete cells. Cooing over foreign dissidents allows establishment hacks to pose like sexy rebels—while simultaneously affirming that their own system is the best. The dissident fetishist takes a brave, principled person, and uses them like a codpiece […]

Arts

Sic Transit Gloria Mundi…

I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on […]

Human Rights Politics

Common Ground

I’m in the unusual position of agreeing with Ronan Mullen (“What is to be done about direct provision? – Irish Times”), someone I generally don’t find common ground with. Perhaps best known for his anti-abortion views, Mr Mullen has struck out from the pack with a proposal to radically overhaul direct provision. He is calling […]