Going wherever the evidence leads
Earlier this month, I took part in a debate in London about the Trump presidency. Journalist James Delingpole and I were up against Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland and former Clinton staffer James Rubin. You can listen to the whole debate here; my contribution starts about four minutes in.
Read MoreJoin me here as I discuss with Avi Abelow of Israel Video Network how Trump voters are keeping faith with the President despite – or perhaps because of – the constant furore in which he is embroiled. They think his enemies are their own enemies too, and that they pose a threat to democracy, the rule of law and the US constitution. Right on all counts.
Read MoreThere are two critically important insights in the shattering and moving drama series Three Girls, broadcast on BBC1 last week. The first is the refusal of the authorities to acknowledge what had been going on for years under their noses: the grooming, rape and sexual trafficking of young white girls, some aged only 13, by gangs of overwhelmingly Pakistani-heritage men. The second is the way in which Britain’s indigenous society effectively served up these child victims to their attackers on a degraded cultural platter. To read my entire Times column,…
Read MoreIs Theresa May trying to lose the general election? Her proposal to require people to pay for the long-term domestic care they receive at home by asset-stripping their own house, with a floor of £100,000 below which its value would not fall, could do for the Conservative party what student loans did for the LibDems: turn thousands of hitherto loyal voters against it. At present, people with property worth more than £23,250 are required to pay for long-term residential care. This causes widespread resentment, since people believe they are being…
Read MoreI have now completed my enjoyable and fascinating speaking tour in America. I’m most grateful to all who invited me to speak and who treated me with such graciousness and hospitality: indeed, I was quite overwhelmed by the warmth and enthusiasm with which my presentations were received. I look forward to repeating the experience, and would welcome invitations to undertake further US speaking engagements in due course. On my two week trip I spoke to a wide variety of groups in a number of different cities. In California I spoke…
Read MoreDespite — or perhaps because of — the constant uproar over the doings and sayings of President Trump, those who voted for him remain his passionate partisans. Those against illegal immigration are derided as rednecks and racist bigots. Yet what is enraging them is simply the widespread institutionalisation of illegality and violence. They are trying to promote instead adherence to the constitution, the rule of law and democracy itself. And they believe that the Democrats, the media and even some Republicans who either ignore or tacitly condone such lawlessness and…
Read MoreRecent stories about President Trump’s initiatives in the Middle East have been causing consternation among Israel supporters. First the World Jewish Congress president, Ron Lauder, reportedly told a group of Israeli politicians that the president was confident he could persuade the Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas to make concessions that would renew the peace process. The only concession that matters, though, is to abandon the Palestinian goal of destroying Israel. That one wouldn’t currently seem to be on the cards. The next day, Prime Minister Netanyahu was reported to be…
Read MoreBefore the finale of the French presidential election, I talked with Avi Abelow of Israel Video Network about how French voters were between a rock and a hard place — but how I nevertheless had some optimism about the political convulsions currently occurring in the west, which surely represent a tipping point for the free world.
Read MoreMany universities have stopped being crucibles of reason and knowledge and turned instead into ideological battlegrounds on which protected groups promoting the demonisation of white society or other presumed “oppressors” suppress any challenge to their dogma. University authorities have actively assisted the culture of zero tolerance for opposing views. Lecturers have been disciplined for teaching ideas that fall foul of prevailing orthodoxies. Universities have cravenly given in to violence and intimidation. The universities have steadily replaced education by the enforcement of dogma and then washed their hands of the intolerant…
Read MoreIt’s 45 years since the iconic film The Godfather was first screened and transformed mafia hoodlums into high art in the public imagination. The film can be considered an audacious inversion of morality and an apologia for evil. Although such criticism has undeniable force, it is ultimately misplaced. The film is not in essence a gangster movie but an epic family tragedy of the highest order. It is precisely because it puts loving family life on a pedestal that its deepest message is so devastating. You can read the whole…
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