As an academic, I am now required legally to have "due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism" and other forms of extremism. The Government says "We also include in our definition of extremism calls for the death of members of our armed forces, whether in this country or overseas ( Read more... )

[Meta note: I'm experimenting with writing more things but less thoroughly, so this will be less thought-through than I would normally do. And where better to start with that sort of approach than with a highly contentious and very complex international affairs issue ( Read more... )

I've been reading a book about the American Civil War (James McPherson's Battle Cry of Freedom).

I really should have read up on this before. So much of modern American politics only makes sense with this as a background. Here's some of the stuff I've learned from it.

( Not quite as long as the war ... )

Before having kids, I used to think about how I'd want to support them, even if they were making decisions about their life path that aren't what I'd have chosen for them. It's very important to me to bring them up to make their own decisions, which has to include the possibility of them making decisions that I wouldn't. One hard case I picked to ( Read more... )

My considered and full answer to the complex but pressing question of whether the UK should take military action in Syria:

No.

( Further elaboration of my position to supply much-needed nuance and clarification ... )

I heard earlier today that the UN Security Council had passed resolution 1973 explicitly authorising "all necessary measures" to protect civilians in Libya - i.e. a no-fly zone and aerial attacks ( Read more... )

So our bold Prime Minister, champion of human rights and freedom, has made a surprise visit to Egypt, and is this the first head of government to visit after the ousting of Mubarak. When I heard that, I thought, well, that seems a bit crass and imperialistic and could backfire horribly, but on the other hand, if he's taking a strong line on this ( Read more... )

Fascinating article in the New Yorker by Jared Diamond (as in Guns, Germs and Steel) on vengeance in New Guinea. He discusses a New Guinea Highlander friend's experience of exacting vengeance, and contrasts it with that of his father-in-law, Jozef. Jozef passed up an opportunity in 1945 Poland to shoot the killer of his mother, who was instead ( Read more... )

There's a lot of debate around at the moment about the ethics of torture. Alas, unlike the last round I remember from Amnesty taking off in the 1980s, the direction of travel is very much in the opposite direction ( Read more... )

Since I'm clearing out old half-written stuff, the promised posts about foreign policy. These would be more convincing if I tidied them up and sourced things a bit more specifically, but life is short.

First, the question arises as to whether my LiveJournal needs to have a foreign policy at all.
( Read more... )