Kathleen Stock reminisces about the old days when distinguished, largely male, philosophers were featured in Bryan Magee’s old BBC series Men of Ideas and, later, The Great Philosophers, now on  iPlayer. It’s a distant world. All of this is very old-fashioned, and not just because nobody has the requisite powers of concentration anymore. The concept…

Considering North Korea’s designation of the South as a hostile state, and its draconian punishment of those watching South Korean TV or videos, up to and including execution, the tone of the entertainment presented on Sunday night at the Pyongyang Sports Palace was something of a surprise. As Richard Lloyd Parry tells it in the…

In yesterday’s post abut the Maccabi Tel Aviv visit to Aston Villa next month, and the Birmingham Islamic scholar who pronounced that, as regards the fans, “we will not show them mercy”, I suggested – slightly tongue in cheek – that the police might wish to question him on the matter of promoting racial hatred…

Whatever happens now in Gaza -and it’s not looking good, as Hamas regains control through public executions and the killing of any possible rivals – at least let’s hope some lessons have been learnt. Like, for instance, not promoting the lies, which enabled groups like Hamas to gain control, that all Palestinians are refugees, waiting…

They tried to break him in every way: they offered him food and soap in exchange for converting to Islam, demanded that he fasts during Ramadan and read from the Quran. They lied to him that Iran had bombed Israel, that his parents had forgotten about him and did not protest. But Rom did not…

On Tuesday I posted about the BBC’s emotional coverage of the release of a Palestinian prisoner as part of the hostage release deal – his poor sister in tears – without bothering to mention that the man was jailed for his part in sending a suicide bomber dressed as an Orthodox Jew to blow up…

From a Times editorial today on the Free Palestine crowd, and their uncritical support of murderous terrorists who kill “collaborators” in public executions, and feed on antisemitism: For nearly 20 years, ever since it routed its Fatah rivals, Hamas has ruled with the gun in Gaza: the ballot box was quickly rendered redundant. It has…

“It’s so strange and unsettling to live through a mass delusion of this magnitude. Completely bewildering at times, but also endlessly fascinating.“

Michael O’Flaherty, Commissioner for Human Rights at the Council of Europe, has addressed a letter to the UK Parliament expressing concern over the Supreme Court’s recent ruling and what he described as the “current climate for trans people in the UK.” Janice Turner in the Times: No one bears more blame for gender ideology capturing public institutions…

Down the Lea in Hackney: And the Regent’s Canal at Islington: