Here are links to some interesting recent pieces on HP-appropriate topics. First the ever vexed question of free speech. It’s possible to deplore the string of extremist speakers invited to British universities without being sure whether the government’s approach is the right one. Here’s Louise Tickle’s take on this topic in the Guardian.
Meanwhile in Cardiff students have defeated a motion which would have made the student union officially pro-choice with restrictions imposed on pro-life activists.
On Syria and ISIS, I recommend Kellie’s analysis of the current situation in Raqqa, in which he criticises what he sees as Obama’s appeasement of Iran. Also well worth reading is Emily Dyer’s recent piece in which she describes how Afghan women and girls are fighting to defend their rights and freedoms.
Here’s a moving article by Ilene Prusher in response to the arson attack by extremists against the Hand in Hand school for Jewish-Arab coexistence in Jerusalem.
And, also in Haaretz, here is a reminder of the traumas faced by Jewish refugees from Arab lands – their suffering is now being officially commemorated in Israel for the first time.
Via Jacobinism, here’s a great article by Terri Murray – ‘Is Judging Islamic Culture possible’. Judging by recent threads that’s not a question I need to bother John Rentoul with.
Finally – surely the perfect seasonal gift.
