Taking the family out for lunch, I naturally couldn’t resist a Turkish coffee to wash it down. Afterwards, I went to get my hair cut. What would they serve me on top of the hot towel and massage? Why, another complimentary Turkish coffee, of course!
Today, I think, I will do a spot of gardening, inshallah.
I spent the return journey of a day trip to Leicester thinking about cars. It was brought on by the sight of our friends’ eldest son’s bright yellow Mercedes turbo on their drive, complete with racing seats and personalised plate. As this was a young man we watched growing up, it got me thinking: why …
Pavement parking to be banned across the UK? Better tell that to the Police, who regularly turn up to force people to park on the pavement if a bus can’t get through. I myself was once under the misapprehension that pavement parking was already illegal, until a Police officer threatened to tow my car away …
It used to be complete strangers who’d yell at me across a street, “What you staring at?” Now it’s our lad when I simply glance at him across the room. Naturally, I can only conclude that my social gaze is broken.
The trouble with our critics is that they speak as if there is no suffering, persecution or oppression in the world. Every grievance raised with them is immediately written off and attributed to fanaticism alone. Their opponents live in a vacuum, unaffected by their conditions. Resisting imperialism is not their right. Poverty and environmental degradation …
“The religion of peace strikes again,” they guffaw to one another. This because there was a fire near the Old Bailey today, and they want to believe it was terrorism. “This is the problem with open borders,” someone cries. What, for letting dodgy electricians through? “It begins,” chimes in another. “It” here referring to the …
On this day a year ago, we were notified of an earthquake 550 miles away by our motion detecting home security cameras. Such was the immense power of that tectonic fracture which flattened whole districts in an instant. Those events should have been a reckoning for corrupt officials. But, alas, memories are short.
Dear Right Honourable, You won’t remember me, but I remember you. I used to sit on your left in our Politics tutorials at college — both literally and metaphorically. When I saw you speaking in Parliament recently, I recognised you instantly, despite the passage of thirty years. Occasionally we would spar in our tutorials. Supposedly, …
The chattering classes can’t help but celebrate the provocateur who clothes his extremist diatribes in pompous prose. “Make this man prime minister,” they chant, lauding his analysis about the death of Europe and the West. None dares challenge him or them on facts, pointing out the flaws in their arguments and calculations. These are civilisational …
Professor Haim Bresheeth speaking in September last year. I should introduce my old classmate to this chap. Let them compare notes.
All those terrifying dystopian movies of the 80s and 90s have been brought to life. The only question left to answer is which side is playing the good guys.
It took me an age to get a job I really liked and enjoyed, but I’d finally got there — a decade after graduating. I’d just been assigned a major website redevelopment project, and thought I was on the cusp of proving my worth. Simultaneously, we were coming to the end of a very long …
The default state of man is to be unjust. Our task is to struggle to be just in every moment, with every sinew and every breath.
Think about it. How many times have you seen films or news articles which celebrate the rich cultures of those with whom we go to war? On the contrary, we are shown images which dehumanise them. Their lands are presented as barren deserts, their cities as ramshackle concrete jungles. Where do we see their bustling …
