The Enlightened White Man on September 20, 2017Forest School in northeast London was home to me for most of the 1980s. As it had been to the creators of a pioneering comedy sketch show that turned the mundane post-colonial narrative on its head by superbly satirising British cultural stereotypes about South Asians. Whilst poking equal fun at the latter’s own idiosyncrasies and […]
Theresa May is right about policing social media on September 19, 2017Theresa May is not a woman with whom it is easy to agree. Her hubris in calling a general election that she didn’t have to remains one of the greatest missteps in modern British politics. That she did so in a bid to secure her own majority — as opposed to the one she had […]
Time for change at British Museum on September 16, 2017 The British Museum this week learned a harsh, yet long overdue, lesson. Namely, that just because as an institution it is dedicated to documenting evolutionary and cultural history of a world it long ago plundered — doesn’t mean there it should remain. Britain has long prided itself on a multicultural tradition that subscribes to […]
Myth of civil disobedience on September 15, 2017Sitting here across the border, it is hard but to admire the vibrancy and resilience of Indian civil society. One week on from the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh, one of the country’s most notable progressives, and the protests have not lost their momentum, with some running into the tens of thousands. Yet India has […]
Is Trumps tough talking on Pakistan set to backfire? on September 14, 2017The Afghan quagmire looks set to place Iran at the centre of the multilateral stage at the General Assembly later this month. Which is not at all how Donald Trump had planned it. First of all the IAEA rained on his parade by confirming that Tehran was playing by the nuclear rulebook. Then came Pakistan’s […]
Trumps aversion to multilateralism should put Pakistan on guard on September 13, 2017Who would want to be Donald Trump? There he is readying to play the showman as he hosts the who’s-who of world leaders as they descend upon New York for the annual session of the UN General Assembly summit. And that blasted IAEA has only just gone and reiterated that Iran is playing by the […]
Trumps aversion to multilateralism should put Pakistan on guard on September 13, 2017 Who would want to be Donald Trump? There he is readying to play the showman as he hosts the who’s-who of world leaders as they descend upon New York for the annual session of the UN General Assembly summit. And that blasted IAEA has only just gone and reiterated that Iran is playing by […]
Peddling Austerity to the masses on September 13, 2017No one was dancing in the street, even after fourteen long years, it was true. But neither was anyone trying to hang the blessed DJ. A new party, after all, meant a new drug to peddle. Far and wide. Austerity was its name. Though word on the street said it weren’t cheap.And no one knew […]
9/11 and the unchanged war agenda on September 12, 2017Sixteen years after 9/11 and the world is still burning. In fact, contrary to what the song says, it hasn’t always been this way since the world has been turning. A casual glance at how things have ‘progressed’ reads like a comedy of errors, with the US cast in the role of blithering sidekick. In […]
Those heady days of Enlightened Moderation on September 9, 2017In Pakistan did I fall in love. With cats. For a time I found myself sharing a pad with 18 of the little furpots. Those who knew me before my move here were astonished. Not so much by the sheer number – but because I had always been a committed dog person. Which may explain […]