Trumpism is only the latest phase in a global shift to the right; a shift that has seen public opinion manipulated by a right-wing corporate press, and governments across the world use this manufactured consent to impose ever more draconian measures on people fleeing from poverty and conflicts invariably caused by the developed world’s liberal interventionalism. In many respects this shift has been progressing much like the proverbial boiling frog. Provided the temperature is rising slowly enough, the unfortunate amphibian is never aware that it is being cooked alive.
Understanding ‘Muslim Grooming Gangs’
The grooming of vulnerable children for sexual exploitation is an undeniable reality, and it is a fact that in most of the cases uncovered in England the majority of the perpetrators have been men from British-Pakistani backgrounds. But to limit our analysis of this crime to the criminals’ religions and ethnicities singularly fails to grasp the true nature and scope of the problem. It ignores the facts that most sex offenders who commit crimes against children are lone white males and that organised grooming for sexual exploitation is nothing new.
Reeling in Shock at the Muslim Ban
In direct contravention of the Geneva Convention on Refugees the door to the United States has been closed on Syrian refugees, leaving them stranded and homeless either in a warzone or in other nations where their rights are being daily violated.
Voyage from one Baby to Another
Zuka, their other son who is in the throes of that developmental crisis known to every parent as the terrible twos, got a selection box. He tore this open immediately and sent Maltesers flying all over the room – exactly what I would have done if there were no rules.
Aleppo: The First Casualty of War
The truth, whatever that is in this post-truth environment, is for the moment impossible to discern. Neither side in the conflict wants us to know what is actually going on. What is clear is that this is a proxy war being fought out in Syria between the US and Russia, a conflict that is bringing us ever closer to a more serious and global showdown
Cup of Tea with a Refugee
You can imagine my delight then when the words “Cup of Tea with a Refugee” appeared on my Twitter feed. The Scottish Refugee Council has launched a project to help people see refugees not as statistics or news stories, but as real people – just like us.
Not Even Gary Lineker is Safe from the Racists
The Sun has led the tabloid press in calling for his sacking from Match of the Day – that bastion of English nationalism – and set upon him the hordes of nasty, small-minded, and illiterate Twitter trolls.
Who and What We Are
Yet our nationalism – as Nicola makes so clear – is a nationalism of a nation that knows who and what it is. What it is – is wonderful. With leadership like this in our Scotland there will never be soil deep enough for the blood and soil poison of that uglier nationalism of Westminster.
Random Public Journal 