@drdominicdean
Lecturer in Literature at the University of Essex. Researcher and author (Killing Children in British Fiction - SUNY, 2024). I work on contemporary British fiction and film, children, Ishiguro, migration, intergenerational conflict. All views my own.
It should not be overlooked that Mahmoud’s actions are also an attack on women that shows utter contempt for their safety and interests. I hope this will be brought up any time in future when she, or the Home Office she runs, poses as being on the side of women.
Heartbreaking
Shabana Mahmoud is a destroyer, not a builder. She only knows how to cause harm, and is unfit for any position of responsibility, let alone the high office she holds.
The Home Secretary’s attack on Chevening scholars from troubled countries suggests resentment against those with talent and bravery she lacks. While she coasts off sacrifices past immigrants made, they fight for basic safety. She thrives in Labour’s toxic culture; they work hard to better the world.
It was a proper pea-souper yesterday evening
It was a proper pea-souper yesterday evening
Father al-Rahi was the Maronite Catholic parish priest of Qlayaa in Marjayoun.
When an Israeli Merkava tank hit a house there, wounding the owner and his wife, Father al-Rahi and others rushed to the scene to help. The tank then fired a second time, killing him.
It’s clearly circling before it finds its true target…
I’ve asked before but does anyone know of work on British soldiers and their families in Bermuda, 1850-1900ish? And how to find out about them? (Newspapers aside)?
Brighton is currently being blanketed by a The Others-level fog (despite having had a clear blue sky no more than an hour ago).
A big problem, mentioned at the end of this article, is that the Home Office is institutionally hostile to its ‘customers’ on immigration matters, and you cannot flick a switch to change a hostile organisation to a supportive one in one particular case or for one particular group. It doesn’t work.
Many Labour MPs persist in believing that because the public support strong borders in the abstract, they will tolerate any consequences of ‘strong borders’ measures in practice, despite there being a live example proving otherwise *right now*.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
Sounds really dreadful - fingers crossed for some amelioration soon
Credit to your parenting!
This is important, I think - comments like Tickell's shouldn't be published without at least some attempt (even if initial and incomplete) to establish the relevant facts.
As a boy who loved Batman, your son sounds morally and intellectually well ahead of where I was at that age, Bob (probably no surprise to anyone).
Absolutely, though not especially surprising, I think.
I have the impression that the former Crown Prince taking over Iran as a potential outcome of this war is not really taken seriously by either those in positions of power or those with a well-informed opinion; would any of my Iran-watching people like to confirm or challenge that impression?
We don't have the death penalty here for many reasons, including the possibility of wrongful convictions. It is therefore imperative that prison time should never become a death sentence via tolerance of violent conditions; however beyond doubt the crimes of any one man may be, this remains true.
that somebody, even someone who committed the most depraved, unspeakable crimes, can be murdered in prison, is a problem. The last inspection of HMP Wakefield found that violent incidents had increased, and that 3 quarters of prisoners reported feeling unsafe at some point of their time there
Strong agree with this.
Gender Studies is the most vindicated academic field of all time
Bumped into a recently-retired colleague from my former institution who mentioned that, given the multiple rounds of cuts underway, that university is likely to end up at roughly the same size of staffing base it was in the early 00s. This really brought it home - over 20 years of growth wiped out.
What this invented £10 billion cost does is provide misinformation - in a way that stokes grievances and resentment. It can be challenging for governments to deal with misperceptions, but proactively fuelling resentment with demonstrably false numbers is not legitimate
bsky.app/profile/sund...
I loved Aiken as a kid, and it would be nice to see her work have a revival (not that it's ever disappeared, but it deserves some renewed prominence). And her intelligent alternative history is great for getting kids - and adults - to reflect on Britishness, Englishness and historical contingency.
I'm sure that, with her background in engineering, she will come up with a well-considered, robust plan for how the UK should manage the impacts of Qatar's action.
Yes - I think in practice caveats are needed on all sides of that assertion, but it definitely has some truth! I think academic life itself pulls in different directions and Goodwin is in part a product of the tensions there.
His previous success is essentially algorithmic, allowing him to sweep up followers who are no doubt geographically very spread, while picking up majority support in what is really quite a concentrated geographic area is a very different challenge.
I don't think most academics would make good politicians (and although he's no longer working as an academic and has long carved out a different niche, I still see a lot of traits in him that read as quite 'academic'). There are exceptions of course, but generally it's quite a different skillset.
Police intrusions on religious settings should be incredibly rare and confined to instances of immediate risks of serious harm. I hope that other churches and faiths will join the Quakers in opposing this attack.