Following the dawn anti-terror raids in Forest Gate on Friday, officials have admitted doubts of finding any evidence of a chemical plot. Official statements are now frankly admitting that a single peice of “specific information” from a single police informant precipitated the action of the 250-strong anti-terrorist police squad.
From BlInk:
Senior counter-terrorism officials now believe that […]
Brian Whittaker spotlights a long essay in the Nation magazine today. Written by the expatriate Moroccan author Laila Lalami, the essay called The Missionary Position, dismantles and demystifies the Muslim women “reformers”, Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Irshad Manji.
To many these women represent the lone voices, howling in the Islamic wilderness, the sole purveyors of the […]
This article is about torture and it does not make for easy reading but its worth it. It’s about the work of Manfred Nowak, the United Nations special rapporteur on torture.
And this blogger initiative is necessary and vital at this moment in time.
A blogger alliance formed to promote Torture Awareness Month, June 2006.
Torture Awareness Month […]
The civil liberties implications of US National Security Agency collecting phone records of its citizens is messy enough. The looming prospect of a $200 billion class action lawsuit on the phone companies Verizon and BellSouth means more shit for the fan.
In this age of surveillance, personal privacy which is a basic human right is now […]
openDemocracy presents a conversation between Salman Rushdie and Amartya Sen,which was recorded on 30 April.
Part 1: Migration, plural identity and sectarian violence.
> Link (MP3)
Part 2: Terrorism, choice and “wishy washy” liberalism
> Link (MP3)
Both men on great form as they discuss some of the most pressing ideas of our time such as multicultaralism, religious and secular […]
The G-B4A campaign could well become a test case for grass roots activism for Web2.0. Which, as Robert Sharpe says, are:
21st century methods being employed to hasten the release of Alaa Abd El-Fatah, who has been imprisoned for his part in a peaceful, pro-democracy protest
A lot revolves around deobfuscating the business logic of the algorithms […]
Ruth Kelly, Cabinet minister and Opus Dei initiate thinks homosexuality is a sin. Predictably she has received disproportionate amounts of animus from people who have confused her private opinions with her public office. Chris Dillow writes about the Liberal Tyranny that has over-reacted to her personal opinions:
Also, the belief that social and public life consists […]
Because she, Ayaan Hirsi Ali that is, gets to have Hitchens author hyperbolic, self-gratulatory gush-jobs on her behalf.
But women like Haifa Zangana can never expect Hitchens do the same for her. And the reason why? Because Ms Zangana writes about the plight of women in “liberated” Iraq.
But you are free to read her article on Comment Is Free.
On […]
Ever heard of nixiety? Its a neologism for the emotion that drives a well known journalist to post an article on the local election results in Tower Hamlets that draws more attention to his own prejudices than he probably intended.
Once again, we find a slice of the electorate in a poor part of Britain that […]
Revealed: a story from CNN on which channel the White House TVs are always tuned to:
During a briefing led by White House spokesman Scott McClellan as President Bush was traveling to New Orleans, Louisiana, the Washington Post’s Jim VandeHei asked why the White House televisions always seemed to be tuned to Fox News and if […]