Bojo the Foreign Secretary has dropped the mother of all ‘gaffes’. And this time, his carefully manufactured image of harmless toff-about-town complete with floppy hair just won’t do. After all, Britain had long ago given that role to a certain Hugh Grant. And even he appears to have gone for the chop. Nevertheless, it appears […]
Armistice Day and the hierarchy of grief
On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month; or possibly a few hours later, certain quarters of the British media erupted over veteran journalist Robert Fisk’s ‘tribute’ to Armistice Day. He had once gain dared to berate the not-so-innocent poppy that has long been an emotive emblem of blood spilled during […]
White feminism and western academia
Forest School in northeast London somewhat lacked the gritty drama that played out on the BBC’s popular tea-time television show, Grange Hill, which first aired back in 1978. This fictitious London comp was a bit rough; with tales of drugs and bullying. Oh and more than the odd smattering of racial abuse. Well, this is […]
The Crown Prince’s regional coup
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is a busy man. One can almost tell by the way he walks; he has no time to talk. And who can blame him? It’s hard work, this business of regional coup making. For make no mistake. This is exactly what is happening in Saudi Arabia right now. Riyadh is […]
What the CIA dump about Bin Laden and Iran means for Pakistan
The timing for Pakistan couldn’t be better. In a week where the US Secretary of State has handed over a list of 20 terror groups said to be operating within this country’s borders — the CIA has come to Pakistan’s defence over harbouring the world’s most wanted man. It says that we didn’t. Or rather, […]
‘You say you want a revolution . . .’
No sooner was I in the taxi, then the driver turned to me and began asking if I spoke Dari. He seemed rather disinclined to believe me when I told him, no. But he was a cheery soul and as we began to make our way through the drizzly streets of Islamabad he began to […]
India and the world’s rape problem
India has a rape problem. That much, we all know. Yet it was all supposed to change following the case of Jyoti Singh, the young physiotherapy student who was brutally and quite literally raped to death back in 2012. Then, India appeared united, saying no more and never again. Here, on this side of the […]
Tillerson and the hoodwinking of Afghanistan
Pakistan needs to stop playing to the cheap seats. If for no other reason than it no longer needs to, not when Afghanistan has taken on the role so well. There. That would signal a significant shift in this country’s relationship vis-à-vis the South Asia security paradigm. Though likely not in the way that the […]
Sadiq Khan — earning his GQ award
The London Mayor is today calling for a second vote in the event that Parliament blocks Brexit. Which is fair enough, really Sadiq Khan, it must be said, scrubs up well. There he was on the cover of GQ looking neither shaken nor stirred after the magazine had named him Politician Of The Year last […]
War on the Pakistan girl child
In Pakistan, the Girl Child constantly finds herself battling the forces that would wage war on her. All of which seek the same thing: to rob her of a childhood. The hurly burly macho men of the Taliban tell her that she can’t go to school. And if she doesn’t listen they will bomb the […]