The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it. (From The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam, 1859. Translated by Edward Fitzgerald.) I had decided not to write an Old Year/New […]
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Why We Need Diverse Books
http://kidlit.tv/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/shelf-159852_640-412×215.png We live in a diverse world, of diverse people with diverse cultures. The world contains a treasure trove of knowledge, philosophy, art, music, history and so many other subjects. Looking around our world, at the magnificent architecture, the technological achievements, the social and political organisations, I’m amazed, astonished and humbled by what […]
The Challenge of Writing British-Asian Characters.
That’s a long title. The challenge of writing British-Asian characters is almost the challenge of writing a new kind of human being, a new kind of character. Because they’re at the juncture, the confluence of major cultures (with lots of sub-cultures thrown in). Stir into this bubbling cauldron the history and legacy […]
Dialogue Not Drones
The Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet Beating off hotly tipped favourites such as Pope Francis and Angela Merkel, the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize was won by the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet. ‘The Tunisian what…?’ asked everyone in surprise. Is it a string quartet? A debating society? Well, actually, it’s a rather unusual coming together of four […]
The Political Hunger Games
fasting, force-feeding and suicide bombers Day 1… day 2… day 27… day 90… day 118… day 174… day 200… day 253…. proceeding one after another, impossible numbers delivering both relief and pain, telling their tale of suffering, endurance and sacrifice. Cataloguing the body’s drawn out deterioration, the protracted anguish of its shrinking and shrivelling; […]
Corbyn, Content and Consensus
What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason, How infinite in faculty? In form and moving how express and admirable! In action how like an Angel! In apprehension how like a God! The beauty of the world! The paragon of animals. And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust? Man […]
Dishonour, Disobedience and Death
July 14th was the first memorial day for victims of honour based violence in Britain. The memorial day was secured by the charity Karma Nirvana, in conjunction with Cosmopolitan magazine and the Henry Jackson Society, and is officially called The Day of Memory for Britain’s Lost Women. It occurs on the birthday of Shafilea Ahmed […]
Bloggers, Floggers and the Magna Carta
Bloggers, Floggers and the Magna Carta 15th June 2015 is the 800th anniversary of the sealing of the Magna Carta. 17th June 2015 is the 3rd anniversary of the arrest of Raif Badawi. A mighty 800 years separate these two events and yet they are intrinsically and fundamentally linked. Both are to do with the […]