September 2010

The late Sir Cyril Smith is solid proof that fat men are not always harmless men

'The Chinese government is destroying the mud-brick maze of traditional Kashgar to cement control over its rebellious Turkic natives. Uighurs are terrified that by mid-century they will have become the Apache or

So it seems that some of the usual suspects among the cultural great and good - Stephen Fry, Terry Pratchett, Philip Pullman - have signed up to a campaign in opposition to

A welcome chat with David Francis, head of arts at Dartington, produced some interesting info the other day. I'd like to flag it by way of addendum to my recent column in

When Anjem Choudary's Islam4UK/al-Muhajiroun organisation was banned in January of this year, many (including this blog) questioned the efficacy of such a move; would they merely change their name and continue to

It has been reported that al-Qaeda's Anwar al-Awlaki has issued a fatwa calling for the murder of Terry Jones, the Florida Pastor organising the 9/11 'Burn a Koran Day'.

Poor Michael Berkeley - a brilliant composer facing what we hope very much is only a temporary loss of his hearing - has written a fascinating piece about his experience. Required reading

Jasmina Metwaly, the winner of the 2010 Open Prize for video painting, says of her work: ‘It allows me to be in control, but I also lose control over the medium.' The

I have a piece in today's Independent about the great Ryanair fiddle problem which I hope puts across some of the crucial points that people who've never faced the issue usually don't