Race
Cambridge deserves better than Stephen Toope
Regular readers may be aware that in recent months I have been having a running-spat with a Canadian lawyer called…
France is divided on 'taking the knee'
Until this month ‘taking a knee’ has not been a French phenomenon. When the Black Lives Matter movement spilled out of…
Two hours of kitsch tomfoolery: Amélie at the Criterion reviewed
The latest movie to turn into a musical is Amélie, from 2001, about a Parisian do-gooder or ‘godmother of the…
The problem with Equity’s anti-racism guidelines
‘Rouse tempers, goad and lacerate, raise whirlwinds.’ Those were the words that Kenneth Tynan, the most celebrated drama critic of…
The case against reparations for slavery
Last week, a bill cleared the US House Judiciary Committee that would establish a 13-person commission to consider federal reparations…
What's the problem with Apu?
Remember Apu, the kindly Indian shopkeeper from The Simpsons? Well, in the time since most people have stopped watching that…
America isn’t speaking our language
I haven’t yet read the report published by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities. But, looking at the recommendations,…
The facts about race and education
Judging from the reaction to last week’s Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities report, you’d think it had been written…
When 'white privilege' doesn't count
First off the blocks criticising Dr Tony Sewell’s report of the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities was Professor Kalwant…
The false narrative of white vs BAME
Almost 20 years ago, Michael Howard spoke about the ‘British dream’: that immigrant families like his could come to this…
In praise of David Lammy, a true Englishman
David Lammy, the shadow justice secretary, has been doing his LBC radio phone-in show. If you believe LBC, he has…
The dark history of dance marathons
Stuart Jeffries on the dark history of dance marathons
Letters: What really irritates Meghan’s critics
Meghan’s adroitness Sir: Tanya Gold suggests that people criticise Meghan Markle because she is mixed race and a woman, and…
The truth about my father, Philip Guston
Musa Mayer talks to Hermione Eyre about her father Philip Guston’s cancellation and her fear that he will for ever be known as the artist who painted the Ku Klux Klan
Why is it racist to wonder what colour your child’s skin will be?
Why is it racist to wonder what skin colour your child will have?
Barack Obama will make you cringe: Renegades: Born in the USA reviewed
Barack Obama wants the world to know how much he loves singing. In his new podcast, which takes the form…
The best film of the year: Judas and the Black Messiah reviewed
Judas and the Black Messiah is a biopic about Black Panther leader Fred Hampton, but it’s not your regular biopic…
The trouble with 'BAME'
Are Black people and Asians the same? Are they different from other ethnic minorities? What about Jews? And who do…
Is it time to cancel Sophocles?
Gstaad The sun has returned, the snow is so-so, and exercise has replaced everything, including romance. What a way to…
Snopes versus Abraham Lincoln
One of the most dreadful developments of the Donald Trump era has been the rise of the fact-check mafia. Every…
No one wins in the race race
After the explosion of international self-abasement over George Floyd’s killing in Minneapolis, much theatrical soul-searching ensued. So your basic man…
The ‘anti-racism’ movement is sowing deeper divisions
Why the ‘anti-racism’ movement is dangerous
My advice to Trump supporters? Smile and take it
New York There are times, living in this here dump, when I doubt if anyone’s heard of the word magnanimity.…
The cultural elite has a new enemy
New York Election night parties are usually dreadful affairs, with the idiot box blaring and hysterical listeners screaming out the…
I’m now considered a freak in New York
New York It’s nice to finally be in the Bagel, a place where the cows have two legs and no…
