The nastiness of the right
People flinch whenever one mentions "the right". It's true: right wing arguments are a hard sell. Here goes. Read more...
Politics & campaigns.
This is not a party political site and not very partisan in any way. My emphasis has tended to be on the quality of debate and campaigning, and especially on the need to appreciate represtentative democracy (government through elected representatives whose own views matter), and to be sceptical of the claims of vox pop, "the people", social media, Crowd Wisdom, and "direct action".Page 21
A conflicted right-wing manifesto
Intellectual and practical life is a series of paradoxes and conundrums. I would never follow a purist, though purism can be wonderfully clarifying. Read more...
Handling protest (1 of 3)
We should be tougher in the way we think about protest. That was the burden of my written evidence to a Parliamentary committee on Human Rights. Sometimes we seem to get heavy about very little. But more often we think disruptive or vicious protest is really sort of OK. It isn't. Read more...
Handling protest (2 of 3)
A note following evidence to the JC on Human Rights, 23 October 2008 Read more...
Handling protest (3 of 3)
Second note following evidence to the JC on Human Rights, 21 October 2008 Read more...
A few tart words on Barack Obama
Mr Obama has created or been created by a moment in history.
It is a mixed blessing, this triumph. Whilst it is good that the US has overcome years of racism to produce a black president, it is less obviously good that a man has been elected president because he is black. No way out of that conundrum, probably, but it sours things a little. Read more...
Jack Zwirn, furrier, obituary
This is the obituary of Jack Zwirn, one of London's most extraordinary furriers. Written by RDN, the Independent ran it soon after Jack's death in 2004. Read more...