Category Archives: Elsewhere

The Internet is A Really Nice Place

Posted on 15 November 2010 by Robert

In the Independent, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown writes on the delights that post-colonials bring to the English language, and laments the decline of language and civility online: The future looks bright then, until you notice those who use new technology without due … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Rights, Index on Censorship, Internet Philosophy, Political Correctness, UK | 1 Comment

Quoted on Libel Tourism

Posted on 12 August 2010 by Robert

Yrstrly in the Metro Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere, Human Rights, USA | Leave a comment

This Is The Digital Election We Have Been Waiting For

Posted on 14 June 2010 by Robert

Last week, Anthony Painter launched a Digital Election Analysis he wrote for Orange. A key conclusion was the that the eager awaited ‘Digital Election’ we had all been expecting (after the fantastic Obama ’08 campaign) simply failed to materialise, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Internet Philosophy, Liberal Conspiracy, London, New Labour | Leave a comment

Politics of Persuasion on Proportional Representation

Posted on 9 May 2010 by Robert

*This post contains excessive alliteration, which some readers may find offensive. Politics means different things at different times.  During the election campaign, it was the politics of presentation:  of a leader (and his lovely wife), and of a suitable narrative … Continue reading →

Posted in Debate, Liberal Conspiracy, London, Politics | 1 Comment

Behzti is no longer taboo

Posted on 6 May 2010 by Robert

While everyone else has been banging on about the election, I’ve been banging on about free speech.  Here’s a review that was commissioned for Index on Censorship and cross-posted at Comment is Free, so choose your forum for comments.  As … Continue reading →

Posted in Comment is Free, Index on Censorship, Theatre | Leave a comment

Do Daily Mail Journalists Cry at Night?

Posted on 23 April 2010 by Robert

I posted this on Liberal Conspiracy yesterday. Happy to say it got a lot of RTs. The pathetic and desperate hatchet job on Nick Clegg, by our friends at the Daily Mail, was pretty much instantly rebutted last night, in … Continue reading →

Posted in Liberal Conspiracy, Media, Politics | 1 Comment

Judging a Book by its Cover

Posted on 1 April 2010 by Robert

An event report I wrote for the English PEN website. I’ll admit, I judged this event by its cover. I assumed that an discussion titled ‘Judging a book by its cover’ would be about book jacket design, rich and fertile … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Elsewhere, Literature | Leave a comment

Creating the Haystack

Posted on 6 January 2010 by Robert

An adequate approach to discovering terrorist plots might be to collect less information. Continue reading →

Posted in Debate, Modern Liberty, Terrorism, USA | 1 Comment

Wootton Bassett

Posted on 5 January 2010 by Robert

The greatest tribute to our soldiers, living and fallen, would be to maintain our principles consistently at home and abroad: This means allowing the Islam4UK march. Continue reading →

Posted in Debate, Human Rights, Liberal Conspiracy, Middle East, Multiculturalism, Religion, UK | 13 Comments

Answering the McCann Question

Posted on 23 December 2009 by Robert

Mark Pack asked me to write a guest piece for the Liberal Democrat Voice on Libel Reform. It was a good opportunity to dig a little deeper into the argument for reform, and rebutt one of the most common objections to making changes. Continue reading →

Posted in Debate, Human Rights, Law and Order, Lib Dem Voice, UK | 1 Comment