Making a start on understanding Orlando
Vigils and commemorations have been taking place across the world following the shooting of 49 people in a gay night club in Orlando, USA on Saturday night. Image: Vigil in…
The Security Dilemma, The Media and the Israeli Bombardment
At the time I write this, 90 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, to no Israelis killed by Gazan rockets. There is plenty of moral indignation…
The Real Lessons from the Woolwich Killing
Regrettably, the reaction to the brutal murder of drummer Lee Rigby would seem to imply that Britain has learned little in over a decade of worrying about terrorism. Despite draconian…
Even if Iran did have nukes, what would it do with them?
It took some chutzpah for the prime minister of the country possessing the world’s largest unregulated nuclear arsenal to lecture the United Nations on the dangers of an Iranian bomb.…
Bring back national service!
Having recently read Will Self’s light-hearted call for a return to the draft, I would like to suggest a modest proposal of my own for a new British levee en…
Does the government need new Internet surveillance powers?
Surveillance of citizens by governments is generally a bad thing. All things being equal, the more of it the worse. So regardless of the specific details of the legislation the…
Why a cross is not a hijab
News in the Sunday Telegraph that the government plans to argue at the European Court of Human Rights that Christians do not have the right to wear crosses to work…
Lessons from Libya – Democrats make for effective emperors
You have to hand it to Obama. The man is a smooth operator. When he got into power, Republicans threw up their hands in horror at the prospect of a…
Breivik, Blogging and How Not to Study Terrorism
Claims in early editions of newspapers following the appalling attacks in Norway last Friday that an Islamic group had claimed responsibility have led onto a flurry of accusations regarding the…
Paradoxes of ‘prevent’
In what seems to be becoming my rather curious emerging role as Bright Green’s resident terrorologist, a few words are probably in order about the government’s new ‘Prevent’ strategy, released…