Eugenics has proved a popular subject for authors and scholars in recent years. Adam Rutherford’s Control: The Dark History and Troubling Present of Eugenics is the latest addition to the canon and has attracted much praise by reviewers. The subtext of course is that we can congratulate ourselves on our superior twenty-first century ethical standpoint as we consider the spectacle … [Read on]
I have just watched the 1954 film ‘The Beachcomber’ on the old films channel, Talking Pictures, for some light relief. It is so politically incorrect that the thermometer would have exploded, but naturally hugely enjoyable. It features a bunch of honourable British imperialists and missionaries dispensing justice, medicine, and Christianity to a population of natives who threaten to revert to … [Read on]
The North Shropshire by-election result illustrates more than the shortcomings of Boris Johnson. It reveals the tragedy of contemporary British politics in miniature. It was never going to be difficult to topple Boris in a by-election in the aftermath of ‘Party Gate’, but the Tory candidate did not help matters. Neil Shastri-Hurst, a barrister-doctor, had been parachuted in from Birmingham. … [Read on]
As the flow of migrants across the Channel intensifies, and our anguished mainstream media and political establishment debates the humanitarian dimension of the crisis, (31 dead today in the Channel) considering, for example, how we might speed up their processing, or whether we could let them work and ‘contribute’ while they await processing, one relevant detail is, as usual, omitted. … [Read on]
While we in Britain progress inexorably towards a multicultural utopia and worship at the shrines of diversity, inclusion, and mass immigration, France seems poised to move in a radically different direction. For anaesthetised British viewers, it is quite a revelation to switch from British TV, with its non-stop exposé of white privilege, institutional racism, and colonial guilt, to French TV, … [Read on]
I was horrified to read on the BBC News website today that an A-level textbook has been withdrawn for incorporating a ‘shocking’ Native American question [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-59024961]. The move followed a youth worker at Durham Sixth Form Centre expressing her horror that a question in an AQA-approved book asked students whether the treatment of Native Americans at the hands of white … [Read on]
A quick glance at the BBC News website reveals the predictable headline ‘Record GCSE results’ accompanied by an image of two teenage black girls dressed in hijabs, The Islamic head dress. What a triumph of inclusion and diversity. We can only marvel that our English civilization, which dates back well over a thousand years, that assimilated the occasional influx of … [Read on]
The highlight of Sunday’s match probably came in the 88th minute when a ‘streaker’ (actually, a topless man) invaded the pitch and evaded capture by officials for almost a full minute to cheers from the crowd. He showed excellent movement off the ball and rode several attempted tackles with sudden bursts of speed. But viewers at home were left mystified … [Read on]
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