Category: Culture

September 17, 2019 / / Art

The online mob of commentariats have again got their high-handed politically correct digits in a twist over the ongoing storm concerning white actors performing roles that they deem should be played by non-whites. In August, Scarlett Johansson got into hot water when she proclaimed that an actor should be allowed…

July 11, 2019 / / Culture

There are few things I find more annoying (and intellectually lazy) than the homogenising of groups on the grounds of a “shared” ethno-racial identity. Yet, it is commonplace in the UK, where phrases such as “Black Britons” and the “South Asian community” are used all too often in public discourse.…

July 1, 2019 / / Culture

Welcome to third and final installment of my three-part blog series on the effects of social integration for the UK’s non-white ethnic minorities. In Part 1, I discussed the “discrimination through integration” thesis. Finding that greater social integration is significantly associated with heightened reporting of discrimination, I explained that there…

June 10, 2019 / / Culture
May 17, 2019 / / Art

Martin Parr is a delightful photographer. His bright, sweet shop sense of colour oozes fun, humour, eccentricity and a sense of optimism in being Only Human, the name of this solo exhibition of photographs at the National Portrait Gallery. The show is grouped into themes, from capturing members of hobby…

April 26, 2019 / / Brexit

We have heard a great deal from politicians and pundits over the last three years about how Leavers are bigots and that the Brexit vote marked a step backwards in race relations in the UK. Remain activists have repeatedly taken to social media and the airwaves to explain that leaving the…

April 11, 2019 / / Culture

“Today the University of Bristol SPAIS held an event with Eric Kaufman (sic) who is an apologist for racism. And today we walked out of his event. Bristol uni is not the place or time to be having a discussion that harbours racist ideology.” So tweeted, Nasra Ayub, an undergraduate…

December 31, 2018 / / Culture

Members of Britain’s Muslim population increasingly find themselves under the microscope. As well as 7/7, the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby, the Westminster truck attack and the Manchester Arena bombing, hundreds of British Muslims have recently joined militant transnational Salafist organisations such as Daesh. These events tell a story of…

December 7, 2018 / / Culture
November 26, 2018 / / Culture

A small group of new students were gathered outside, awaiting their first tour of the campus. A tiny, fluffy ewe marched to the front and gestured for their attention. “Welcome to the University,” she declared merrily. “I will be your guide for the morning. I should like to assure you…