There was a gypsy family always roaming between Windsor and London. The first words taught to their youngest child were “Romany rye!” and these it was trained to address to me. The little tot came up to me, a little brown-faced, black-eyed thing, and said, “How-do, Omany ’eye?” Great was the triumph, rejoicing and laughter of the mother and father, and all the little tribe. (More…)
It’s been a year since the Rotherham child abuse case broke. It was one of many similar cases. The media had a framework ready-made: the victims were mostly white, the abusers were mostly Asian men. Multiculturalism is to blame. An estimated 1,400 underage girls had been abused. The tale resembles the lowest fantasies of fascists: dark-skinned men stalking pristine caucasian girls. It’s a familiar story. (More…)
“Naturally, the peasants want Haiti for the Haitians,” concluded the Senate Select Committee on Haiti of the 67th United States Congress in 1922. And naturally, that was not going to happen until they were ready, in the judgment of the US government. (More…)
It was commonly said at the beginning of this war that, whatever Germany’s military resources might be, she was hopelessly and childishly lacking in diplomatic ability and in knowledge of psychology, from which all success in diplomacy is distilled. (More…)
British newspapers are overwhelmed with stories about paedophilia scandals. The latest name on the growing list of accused public figures is the late Ted Heath, who served as premier between 1970 and 1974. With over 40 politicians currently under investigation, what began with the BBC’s Jimmy Savile in 2012, now seems to be engulfing the entire political class. (More…)
Congress Party lawmaker Shashi Tharoor has gone viral with an Oxford Union speech in which he outlines a case for British reparations to India (and, implicitly, other South Asian countries.) Commentators have gleefully reproduced the Tharoor’s finest moments, including flamboyant insults against his opposition. (More…)
From the moment Barack Obama moved into the White House, conservatives have been turning to him for sustenance. They know they can rely on him to recharge their ideological batteries. In the suburban and rural enclaves where the right is strongest, particularly in the South and Southwest, trying not to find public expressions of hated towards the President is almost impossible. (More…)
At first, Britain’s Labour leadership contest was just about remixing Tory clichés. Andy Burnham issued bromides of ‘aspiration’ with a Northern accent. Yvette Cooper criticised Ed Miliband’s pledge to ban EU migrants from benefits for two years, on the grounds that it should be four years. Unable to add anything new, Liz Kendall gave up, and accepted almost every Conservative policy. (More…)
“If I can’t dabke dance, it’s not my revolution.” We paint these words in the colours of our favourite flag on a white canvas, the banner for our flashmob in the British Museum on the first anniversary of Operation Protective Edge, in Gaza. (More…)
Although the fighting among prospective Republican candidates for President in 2016 has been receiving the majority of the media’s attention recently, thanks to Donald Trump, the conflict in Democratic circles may be nastier. Hillary and Bill Clinton may have stored up a lot of goodwill over the years, but a decent-sized percentage of their party still resents them for dragging it rightward in the 1990s. (More…)
The politic of Fascism revolves wholly about the concept of the national State; and accordingly it has points of contact with nationalist doctrines, along with distinctions from the latter which it is important to bear in mind. (More…)
The headlines of German papers today say everything you need to know. The Frankfurter Allgemeine is, as usual, full of useful tips for how to handle the exasperating upstarts in Athens. It’s also happy to report that German tourism in Greece set a new record this year. For its part, the Süddeutsche Zeitung gets to the heart of the matter, with a lead article on Germany’s “image problem”; and what a problem that is. (More…)