Catching up with my inbox today I found two interesting emails. One linked to this outstanding (I thought) essay in the JC by Sir Harold Evans. He gives a memorable account of his experiences at Hay-on-Wye shortly after 9/11, and offers an eloquent image for antisemitism in response to reading A Convenient Hatred:
I came to think of reading each chapter from the year 586 BCE to our times as akin to entering a complex of caves and receding chambers, each harbouring its own Minotaur demanding human sacrifices. We cannot summon the Theseus of myth to rid us altogether of a Minotaur that, in one form or another, has survived for centuries, this monster of antisemitism gorging on regular infusions of hate.
The other email just asked ‘what is wrong with the opening paragraph of this?’ – and linked to this piece on an alleged Iranian bomb plot against Israeli diplomats in the Guardian.
