Columns

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December 01, 2023

"Joe Biden is finished" as massacre in Gaza continues

It will be remembered, I hope, as the hug that sank a craven president. It was mid-October. US President Joe Biden made the requisite pilgrimage to Tel Aviv to show that his staunch support for...

Do we need law to protect our sources?

Catherine Faas American blogger Josh Wolf was sent to prison for a month after refusing to give up the anonymity of his sources and his unpublished materials. This situation could have played out even worse if Wolf had been a blogger - without the title of ...

Unshackling the Afro-British mind in history month

Thomas L Blair October’s Black History month comes again - full of contradictions.  It gives local worthies a chance to add undigested “facts” and swatches of colour, comedy and music to the events. But the back-up money and thematic control is firmly ...

Barack Obama: Why I accepted 'undeserved' Nobel Peace Prize

Yesterday morning, Michelle and I awoke to some surprising and humbling news. At 6am, we received word that I'd been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009. To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative fi ...

My relationship with Facebook is on the rocks

Tom BarnesSocial networking is marketed as a digital path to social empowerment and without question websites like Facebook have made interactions between people easier, communications more frequent and humanity more social. However, with British commercia ...

How Rio's passion will deliver an unforgettable Olympics

Ylenia Lemos“Look! Fireworks!” I said to my mom as I peered at red laser lines cutting the sky one nigh outside my uncle’s apartment in Rio de Janeiro. “Those are not fireworks,” said my dad. “The favelas (slums) are fighting again. They are shooting each ...

Campaign of hate, sir? Here, have the Daily Mail

Matt Gardner - Online columnistSometimes, there's a fine line between what can be regarded as good journalism and a vendetta or grudge. However, certain newspapers, blogs, Tv programmes and radio shows make it all too clear just how much they're willing to ...

Keep your cash under a mattress not in a bank

Lee ButtonWhat can the average person say to banks?   They are a law unto themselves. I am bewildered at the incompetence of these large corporate companies. They build up their businesses from the hard work and investments of the ordinary workin ...

It's mayhem on London buses

Grace Boateng  At the risk of sounding like a relative of cantankerous character Victor Meldrew, from the BBC sitcom One Foot in the Grave, I cannot believe some of the bad manners I encounter on bus journeys around the British capital city. Thro ...

Let's do it the American way

Matt Gardner - Online columnist According to the doomsayers, if we don't do something about the global economy now we'll all perish. But maybe we'll have a protracted length of time where we'll register negative or zero growth before slowly ...

Rumours, lies and truth: life after death of 'King of Pop'

Deborah Hobson I've been angry with Michael Jackson for some years now. His sudden death from a heart attack last week at the age of 50 shocked and saddened me, although an unemotional assessment of his rollercoaster life thus far with its many dark tw ...

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