The Politics of Dancing

There is something childlike about Twitter, something of the playground. Gangs form, fights break out and others pile in. Shaming and name calling are rampant and bullying widespread. I say these things as a regular contributor to Twitter and also as someone not without sin himself. Indeed, even the most intelligent and erudite contributors sometimes seem unable to resist the temptation of the trite and unfair sideswipe.  Twitter is not Britain, although it does sometimes accurately reflect some of the more unpleasant aspects of a particular type of Englishness. And it also provides a mirror image of the most politically exercised and excitable elements of the population. In this way it provides a portrait of a certain mindset that may dominate the politically active. Which brings me to bookshelves. Bookshelves have suddenly gained an unexpected prominence in public life. Given the need for social distancing and safe isolation politicians have been invariably interviewed at hom...

“The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction (i.e., the reality of experience) and the distinction between true and false (i.e., the standards of thought) no longer exist.” ―  Hannah Arendt,  The Origins of Totalitarianism T witter is a place of anarchy, malicious vitriol, ill-will, racial hatred and partisan political venom. It is also an arena for the exercise of free speech and a forum for the exchange of views and, occasionally, enlightenment. Twitter is also a home, either from the left or right, for the opponents of free speech and unfettered discourse. Rarely does a day go by without a demand that someone should be silenced, ‘no-platformed’ or prosecuted. In some instances, the silencing involves less sophisticated methods, by subjecting ‘miscreants’ to a tsunami of vitriol and hate designed to drive them off twitter, women being disproportionately...

Life is a constant tension between the desire to explore, to take risks, to be adventures and the desire to stay safe, secure, and well within our aptly named ‘comfort zone.’ The way our lives pan out largely depends on how we manage this tension. Absolute safety is impossible, we are all born into a risky environment, [1] life being both perilous and ending in death.  A few years back when I was working as a clinician and manager, running therapeutic groups which sought to assist clients with serious long term mental health problems. When we discussed the literature describing the nature of the groups the Director wanted to describe the groups as a ‘safe space.’ “I certainly hope not,” would have been an appropriate response, however my response was more nuanced, and I demurred. For a ‘safe’ therapeutic group would be about as useful as a chocolate teapot. A therapeutic group requires the right element of challenge, of risk, if it is to have any hope of facilitating chang...

A Boys Own Adventure?   " Recently, as a result of events in Iraq, some have called for powers to seize people’s passports at the border and to leave people stranded if they’ve been foolish enough to go on some ridiculous Boy’s Own adventure. " Shami Chakrabarti, Director of the Human Rights Organisation, Liberty. I want to start with, what Martin Amis called, a thought experiment. I want you to imagine an organisation established in the US and Canada, let us call it Aryan State. It’s an outfit that has already kidnapped a number of Imams, human rights workers and journalists. Several of these prisoners have been beheaded in the most savage way imaginable, video made of the event which was then posted on social media. Further decapitations are threatened unless the security services back off. The groups programme, the establishment of a state for Aryans only, no Muslims, Jews or people of colour, has attracted the attention of white supremacists across the world. Fr...

Recently I wrote about the events at the LSE’s Fresher’s Fair, which saw two members of the student atheist society being escorted from the premises for wearing mildly satirical T shirts. http://alextalbot.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/london-letter-october-2013.html The figure at the heart of these events is the General Secretary of the Student Union at the LSE, a Mr Jay Stoll. [1] He is now at it again, condemning the outrage over advice given by Universities UK, that the segregation of audiences along gender lines should be permissible should religious speakers, ( read Islamic), [2] demand it. [3] This time the Islamacist appeasers of the left had gone too far and met with the appropriate response. Mr Stoll is not happy and immediately denounced the campaign gainst such segregation as…you guessed correctly, ‘Islamaphobic.’ Jay Stoll General secretary LSE Student Union Mr Stoll has already been denounced as a “sanctimonious prig” by Richard Dawkins. I fear Mr Dawkins was being...

“If you’ve done nothing wrong you’ve nothing to worry about.” William Hague House of Commons earlier this year If you have got nothing to hide, nothing you would prefer to keep private. if you have led a blameless life, this article need not detain you any further. You may go off and listen to Louis Armstrong’s rendition of 'What A Wonderful World.' No, touched by sin, one or two things you would rather were kept private; join the club. Relax, we are not alone, I would hazard a guess that 90% of the population share our blemished record. I am not talking here, of course about significant criminal activity, major crimes and misdemeanour's but of minor infractions of the law, infidelity, lapses of moral taste and judgement, a failure to live up to the standards that, ideally, we would all wish to attain. There is nothing new here, thus it is and thus it ever was, and was ever destined to be; man an imperfectly developed animal, flawed from the moment of conception. ...

We all err at times ethically. We all make mistakes, do morally questionable things; however it takes blind hatred to bury all moral sensibility. The Malodorous Mr Dacre I loathe Paul Dacre and everything that he stands for; he is as they say a very nasty piece of work. As for his father I know little and what little I do know is less than impressive, but to attack Dacre because of the non-life of his father is ethically impermissible; besides there is so much of a target in the loathsome Mr Dacre himself, rightly called out by Alistair Campbell as “a bully, a liar and a coward.” Though it might be legitimate to ask what Dacre’s father’s precise contribution was in the creation of a monster; to go beyond that is bad manners and trespasses into the   illegitimacy of the ad hominem. The Daily Mail’s attack on Ed Miliband’s father represented an example of blind hatred and it is a hatred that runs deep. Moral boundaries cannot contain this hatred, anything goes in the war...

Listening on the radio the other day to someone opining about the BNP* and English Defence League [EDL]. [1]   He was, he explained all in favour of free speech, “but,” he insisted “we do not have the freedom to preach hate.” To which my response was, shouted at the radio, “Oh yes we bloody well do!” I guess here a little throat clearing is required, though I do so wearily. Now I strongly disapprove of both the BNP and the EDL, indeed believe I can claim to have opposed fascism in all its guises all my life. Looking for a word to describe my feelings about fascism I find that I alight upon the word hate. I hate the BNP and EDL and all that they stand for, I am happy to commit this vehemence to words. It seems I have just transgressed this fellow’s boundary; I have become a preacher of hate. Of course he did not mean me, well certainly not in relation to the BNP and EDL; I stated above though that I opposed fascism in all its guises, one of those guises I believe to be...

LABOUR councillors are blocking plans to honour campaigning journalist Christopher Hitchens with a statue, with one of them branding the late writer as a “pro-war Islamophobe”. http://www.camdennewjournal.com/news/2012/oct/labour-politician-threatens-quit-if-bust-%E2%80%98pro-war%E2%80%99-journalist-christopher-hitchens-goe An Open Letter to Councillor Awale Olad  I read your exchange of E-mails with the British Humanist Society in the Camden New Journal, I quote; “I don’t mean to speak ill of the dead but I would resign before I’d ever support the bust of a pro-war Islamophobe,” he wrote. Now I do not know how familiar you are with the work of Christopher Hitchens, but the remarks above suggest very little familiarity, indeed these remarks suggest ignorance of his writings. Christopher always used to say that as soon as the opponent in a debate slips into, as you obviously so easily do, the ad hominem, the argument is as good as won. Vulgar abuse and misrepresen...

Last week saw Lord Leveson produce his much anticipated report on press regulation. I took much satisfaction in watching the Leveson hearings and must confess had a great deal of fun watching the dregs of the press and Murdoch sycophants dragged in front of a judge and be exposed for the thuggish hypocrites, perfidious liars, self serving morally bankrupt riff raff that they are; I didn't take to them much. As I say all good fun, but all good parties have to come to an end and we are left with what to do with a criminal inclined popular press. Leveson’s report has tried to tread a clever line between self regulation and statutory involvement. However unsurprisingly he does call for statute to provide an underpinning of press regulation. [1] Whilst this would not, as some rather hysterical commentators imply, turn this country into North Korea or Zimbabwe overnight, it would set a precedent for political oversight of the press and thus the slippery slope argument cann...

Freedom of speech is always under attack, even in those countries with a long tradition of free expression and even in the United States with has a constitutional guarantee of free speech; free speech has never been guaranteed by the British unwritten constitution. As I write this British citizen’s are in prison purely for words then have written either on Facebook or have tweeted, someone is in the cooler for having set fire to a copy of the Koran and someone else for painting poppies on the side of a mosque.  Two recent newspaper stories:- ‘ A British Muslim [Ahmed Azhar] faces jail for claiming soldiers should “die and go to hell” following a horror attack on British troops in Afghanistan. [1] ’ These comments he posted on his Facebook page. Azhar Ahmed, 19, posted the comments on his profile page and has been charged with a racially aggravated public order offence. ‘Detectives arrest man, 22, over 'offensive' Facebook page set up following deaths of the shot poli...