I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back

The Trojan Horse Affair: A Documentary Record

Last month I was co-author, along with my colleague Damon Perry, of a report into the Trojan Horse Affair in Birmingham Schools.

You can read The Trojan Horse Affair: A Documentary Record online here. A pdf of the report can also be downloaded below.

Download The Trojan Horse Affair A Documentary Record

The Personal Is Perhaps Not Political

A couple of years after everyone else, I have just finished reading 'The Madness of crowds: Gender, Race and Identity' by Douglas Murray.

It is very good, indeed the only one of his books which has missed the mark is probably the one no one talks about now - the 2006 text 'Neoconservatism: Why we need it'. The truth of course is that we didn't!

In the conclusion to the Madness of Crowds, Murray writes beautifully of the effort people put into politics, and how identity politics in particular becomes all-consuming. It is worth quoting in full:

But of all the ways in which people can find meaning in their lives, politics - let alone politics on such a scale - is one of the unhappiest. Politics may be an important aspect of our lives, but as a source of personal meaning it is disastrous. Not just because the ambitions it strives after nearly always go unachieved, but because finding purpose in politics laces politics with a passion - including rage - that perverts the whole enterprise.

For anyone who has ever been involved in, or observed a political split within an organisation, these words hit home:

If two people are in disagreement about something important, they may disagree as amicably as they like if it is just a matter of getting to the truth or the most amenable option. But if one party finds their whole purpose in life to reside in some aspect of that disagreement, then the chances of amicability fade fast and the likelihood of reaching any truth recedes.

The quotes are on p.255-56 of the 2020 paperback edition.

Why is Extinction Rebellion protesting against gender-critical feminists?

Yesterday spiked were good enough to publish an article I wrote on the Bristol Extinction Rebellion FB page calling a protest against a feminist meeting at Bristol University.

A link to the article on the spiked website is here. A pdf of the piece may be read below.

Download Why is Extinction Rebellion protesting against gender-critical feminists_ - spiked 08 05 2022

Delegitimising Counter-Terrorism: The activist campaign to demonise Prevent

Last month I was one of three authors of a new report for Policy Exchange, looking at the Islamist campaign against the prevent policy.

You can find a link to the report here. And download a pdf of the report below.

Download Delegitimising-Counter-Terrorism 2022

20 Years On From 9/11, Are We Still Funding Those Who Mock Us?

9/11 retrospective articles are everywhere this weekend.

This piece, for the Policy Exchange website, dabbles with that, but attempts to look more broadly at the importance of funding in the propaganda wars which follow in the wake of both terrorism and counter terrorism.

You can view online here, or as a pdf below:

Download 20 years on from 9 11 are we still funding those who mock us Policy Exchange 10 09 2021

Could the Fishmongers Hall attack have been prevented?

Following the inquest into the killing of Saskia Jones and Jack Merritt in the November 2019 terrorist attack at Fishmongers Hall in London, I have written a short piece for Spiked on the question of whether the attack could have been prevented.

The article is on the Spiked website here.

It can also be read as a pdf below.

Download Could the Fishmongers Hall attack have been prevented spiked 02 06 2021

A Review of Al-Qaeda 2.0: A Critical Reader by Donald Holbrook (ed.)

Critical Studies on Terrorism has published my review of Al-Qaeda 2.0, which is largely a compilation of Ayman al-Zawahiri's writings in the post Bin Laden era. It shows the religosity of al-Zawahiri's world view, and the depth of the historical sweep from which he, and indeed Al-Qaeda, view the world.

The first 50 people to do so, can download a free pdf copy here. I think after that, you will need access to an academic library.