The commentators 17-11-15...on the Paris attacks
Our memories are short. At the weekend, the cry went up that if we don’t act decisively and ruthlessly after Paris, it will happen here. But it has already happened here. The attack on the London transport system in July 2005 differed only in scale. There were four terrorists rather than eight and they used bombs instead of guns. Fifty people died as opposed to 128; and hundreds were injured. What happened in the French capital on Friday night was the latest bloody manifestation of the violent jihadism we have been experiencing for decades. This is not only France’s war
- Philip Johnston, Daily Telegraph 
The state changes in size and function only when society wills it. Welfarism happened after the industrial working class was given its electoral say. Defence spending was high during the cold war because of our existential dread. When that insecurity abated, Britain spent the peace dividend on tax credits and a larger National Health Service. Demand determines supply, not vice versa. Years will pass before we know for sure but the terrorist attacks on Paris may bring another of these inflection points, when the demands we make of the state change
- Janan Ganesh, Financial Times 
While we are trying to destroy Isis, what of the 500,000 civilians still living and trapped in Raqqa? What of their safety? What of the very real prospect that by failing to think this through, we turn many of them into extremists? The priority must be to protect these people, not to take more bombs to Syria. We need no-fly zones – zones closed to Russians, the regime, the coalition. The Syrian people need security or they themselves will turn to groups such as Isis
- Nicolas Hénin, The Guardian (Hénin was kidnapped in Raqqa in June 2013 and held hostage by jihadists until April last year) 
It’s a dismaying and damaging truth that Westerners care about and empathise with images of white-skinned women grieving in Topshop bobble hats far more than brown-skinned women grieving in niqabs and, when you lend your voice to Euro-centric campaigns such as Facebook’s flag filter, you exacerbate this. When we buy into such easy corporate public mourning, we uphold white supremacy. We’re essentially saying that white, Western lives matter more than others
- Lulu Nunn, The Independent 
The West’s reaction to terrorist attacks is usually knee-jerk, piecemeal and hopelessly insufficient. Maybe that’s all we can do and hope that things get back to normal (ish), as we did after Madrid and the London Transport bombings. After Paris, will the response be any different? I’d like to think so but I fear not
- Richard Littlejohn, Daily Mail 
Only a few years ago, the puff would have been chucked out the moment the scale of a story like this became apparent, partly as a matter of taste and partly to maximise the potential for display and give the story room to breathe.
Last night only the Telegraph dispensed with the blurb - and that decision may have been influenced by the oversized ad at the foot of the page. The Times had signed up Bake-Off's Nadiya and wasn't about to surrender a millimetre of her promo. The Guardian was similarly wedded to its taste of autumn and the Mail to its Lego toy... but journalism was still the winner How the papers covered the Paris attacks Comment Awards, 2015
Thursday 17 September, 2015 The Financial Times and The Times again lead the way in this year's ei Comment Awards, with eleven nominations apiece in the shortlists announced today.
Sathnam Sanghera is responsible for four of those Times nominations - featuring in the media commentator, diversity, technology and individual comment piece categories. Freelance Yomi Adegoke who founded Birthday Magazine for black teenage girls, is among four writers shortlisted in two categories - in her case young commentariat and media commentator. George Monbiot of the Guardian completes the media line-up and is also nominated as science commentator and Gillian Tett of the FT is listed in both business and economics. Her colleague Janan Ganesh is shortlisted for political commentator and the big prize - commentariat of the year, where he is up against the two most recent winners David Aaronovitch (also nominated for comment piece of the year) and Caitlin Moran. SubScribe is honoured and surprised to find a place on the individual blogger shortlist, and fully expects to come third behind Barrister Blogger Matthew Scott and Stuart Forster of Go-eat-Do. You can see all the shortlists here. Comment archive, 2015 |
|
November 13
Politics November 12 Politics November 11 Politics November 10 Britain and Europe November 9 Remembrance Sunday 
November 6
Sinai jet crash November 5 UK politics November 4 UK politics November 3 State surveillance November 2 Politics 
October 30
Politics October 29 Tax credits October 28 Tax credits October 27 Tax credits October 26 Lords v Commons 
October 23
UK politics October 22 UK politics October 21 Xi Jinping October 20 Xi Jinping visit October 19 Xi Jinping's visit 
October 16
Politics October 15 Politics October 14 Politics October 13 EU referendum October 12 EU referendum 
October 9
Politics October 8 Cameron speech October 7 Conservatives October 6 Conservatives October 5 Conservatives 
October 2 UK politics October 1 Labour conference September 30 Labour conference September 29 Politics September 28 Volkswagen 
September 25
Politics September 24 Volkswagen September 23 Politics September 22 "Pig-gate" September 21 Politics 
September 18
Labour September 17 Jeremy Corbyn September 16 Jeremy Corbyn September 15 Jeremy Corbyn September 14 Jeremy Corbyn 
September 11
Jeremy Corbyn September 10 Migrant crisis September 9 Drone strikes September 8 Migrant crisis September 7 Migrant crisis 
August 28
Virginia TV shootings August 27 Jeremy Corbyn August 26 Politics August 25 Politics August 24 Labour leadership 
August 21
Politics August 20 Student debt August 19 Labour leadership August 18 Labour leadership August 17 Labour leadership 
August 14
Labour leadership August 13 Politics August 12 Politics August 11 Politics August 10 Labour leadership 
August 7
Kids Company August 6 Kids Company August 5 Labour leadership August 4 Labour leadership August 3 Calais 
July 24
Labour leadership July 23 Labour leadership July 22 Labour leadership July 21 Counter-terrorism July 20 Boris Johnson, Greece 
If you would like
to subscribe to help to keep SubScribe going, please click here |
- Home
- General Election 2019
-
Brexit
- Whitetops immigration
- Theresa's travels
- Gove and Trump
- Theresa May's trousers
- Brexit blog
- Events
- Daily Express
- Daily Mail
- Daily Mirror
- Daily Star
- Daily Telegraph
- i
- The Guardian
- The Sun
- The Times
- Daily Star Sunday
- Mail on Sunday
- The Observer
- The People
- Sunday Express
- Sunday Mirror
- Sunday Telegraph
- Sunday Times
- Sun on Sunday
- The schedule
- Blogs
- The industry
-
SubScribe commentary
- Paris terror attacks
- Mohammed Emwazi and Isis killings >
- Charlie Hebdo massacre >
- Kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls >
- Ebola
- Frontline reporting
- Typhoon Haiyan
- Obama's selfie
- It takes all sorts to make a family >
- Ashya King and the force of authority >
- Poppymania
- Cameron's tax cut promise >
- Brooks Newmark sting
- Scottish referendum >
- The European elections audit >
- Maria Miller
- Harman, Hewitt and the paedophiles >
- Immigration >
- Prince Charles and the floods >
- Food banks
- Why is football more important than all the news? >
- The weather
- Odds and sods
-
OpEd
-
Oped December
>
- Politics 22-12-15
- Brexit: 21-12-15
- Politics 18-12-15
- Politics 17-12-15
- Politics 16-12-15
- EU referendum: 15-12-15
- Politics 14-12-15
- Right-wing politicians 11-12-15
- Donald Trump: 10-12-15
- Donald Trump: 09-12-15
- Politics: 08-12-15
- Politics: 07-12-15
- Syrian airstrikes 04-12-15
- Syrian airstrikes: 03-12-15
- Syrian airstrikes: 02-12-15
- Labour and Syria: 01-12-15
-
OpEd November
>
- Syrian air strikes: 30-11-15
- Autumn Statement: 27-11-15
- Autumn Statement: 26-11-15
- Russia in Syria: 25-11-15
- Comment awards 24-11-15
- Paris attacks: 23-11-15
- Politics: 20-11-15
- Paris attacks 19-11-15
- Terrorism: 18-11-15
- Paris attacks 17-11-15
- Paris attacks 16-11-15
- Politics: 13-11-15
- Politics 12-11-15
- Politics: 11-11-15
- Britain and Europe: 10-11-15
- Remembrance: 09-11-15
- Sinai jet crash: 06-11-15
- UK politics 05-11-15
- UK politics: 04-11-15
- State surveillance: 03-11-15
- Poliitics: 02-11-15
-
OpEd October
>
- Politics: 30-10-15
- Tax credits: 29-10-15
- Tax credits: 28-10-15
- Tax credits: 27-10-15
- Lords v Commons: 26-10-15
- UK politics: 23-10-15
- Politics: 22-10-15
- Xi Jinping: 21-10-15
- Xi Jinping: 20-10-15
- China visit: 19-10-15
- Politics: 16-10-15
- Politics 15-10-15
- Politics: 14-10-15
- EU referendum 13-10-15
- Europe: 12-10-15
- Politics 09-10-15
- Cameron's speech: 08-10-15
- Conservatives: 07-10-15
- Conservatives: 06-10-15
- Conservatives: 05-10-15
- Politics 02-10-15
- Labour conference 01-10-15
-
OpEd September
>
- Politics 01-09-15
- Europe 02-09-15
- Migrant crisis 03-09-15
- Migrant crisis 04-09-15
- Migrant crisis 07-09-15
- Migrant crisis 08-09-15
- OpEd: Drone strikes 09-09-15
- OpEd: Migrant crisis 10-09-15
- OpEd: Jeremy Corbyn 11-09-15
- OpEd: Jeremy Corbyn 14-09-15
- OpEd: Jeremy Corbyn 15-09-15
- OpEd: Jeremy Corbyn 16-09-15
- OpEd: Jeremy Corbyn 17-09-15
- OpEd: Labour 18-09-15
- OpEd: Politics 21-09-15
- OpEd: "Pig-gate" 22-09-15
- OpEd: Politics 23-09-15
- OpEd: VW 24-09-15
- OpEd: Volkswagen 28-09-15
- OpEd: Politics 25-09-15
- OpEd: Politics 29-09-15
- Oped: Labour conference 30-09-15
-
OpEd August
>
- OpEd: Calais 03-08-15
- OpEd: Labour 04-08-15
- OpEd: Labour 05-08-15
- OpEd: Kids Company 06-08-15
- OpEd: Kids Company 07-08-15
- OpEd: Labour 10-08-15
- OpEd: Politics 11-08-15
- OpEd: Politics 12-08-15
- OpEd: Politics 13-08-15
- OpEd: Labour 14-08-15
- OpEd: Labour 17-08-15
- OpEd: Labour 18-08-15
- OpEd: Labour 19-08-15
- OpEd: Student debt 20-08-15
- OpEd: Politics 21-08-15
- OpEd: Politics 24-08-15
- OpEd: Politics 25-08-15
- OpEd: Politics 26-08-15
- OpEd: Jeremy Corbyn 27-08-15
- OpEd: TV shootings 28-08-15
-
OpEd July
>
- OpEd: Grexit 01-07-15
- OpEd: Heathrow 02-07-15
- OpEd: Greece 03-07-15
- OpEd: Taxation 06-07-15
- OpEd: Greece 07-07-15
- OpEd: Budget 08-07-15
- OpEd: Budget 09-07-15
- OpEd: Budget 10-07-15
- OpEd: Greece 13-07-15
- OpEd: Greece 14-07-15
- OpEd: Iran 15-07-15
- OpEd: UK politics 16-07-15
- OpEd: UK politics 17-07-15
- OpEd: Boris Johnson and Greece 20-07-15
- OpEd: counter-terrorism 21-07-15
- OpEd: Labour 22-07-15
- OpEd: Labour 23-07-15
- OpEd: Labour 24-07-15
- OpEd: Labour 27-07-15
- OpEd: Lord Sewel 28-07-15
- OpEd: Labour 29-07-15
- OpEd: Calais 30-07-15
- OpEd: Calais 31-07-15
-
OpEd June
>
- OpEd: Fifa 01-06-15
- OpEd: British politics 02-06-15
- OpEd: Charles Kennedy 03-06-15
- OpEd: Politics 04-06-15
- OpEd: Fifa 05-06-15
- OpEd: Politics 08-06-15
- OpEd: Europe 09-06-15
- OpEd: politics 10-06-15
- OpEd: Politics 11-06-15
- OpEd: Politics 12-06-15
- OpEd: Politics 15-06-15
- OpEd: Social mobility 16-06-15
- OpEd: UK politics 17-06-15
- OpEd: UK politics 18-06-15
- OpEd: Greece 19-06-15
- OpEd: Greece 22-06-15
- OpEd: Greece 23-06-15
- OpEd: UK politics 24-06-15
- OpEd: UK politics 25-06-15
- OpEd: Brexit 26-06-15
- OpEd: Tunisia 29-06-15
- OpEd: Grexit 30-06-15
-
OpEd May
>
- OpEd: Election 01-05-15
- OpEd: Election 05-05-15
- OpEd: Election 06-05-15
- OpEd: Election 07-05-15
- OpEd: Election 08-05-15
- OpEd: Scotland 11-05-15
- OpEd: UK politics 12-05-15
- OpEd: The Labour party 13-05-15
- OpEd: The Labour party 14-05-15
- OpEd: Ukip and Labour 15-05-15
- OpEd: UK politics 18-05-15
- OpEd: The NHS 19-05-15
- OpEd: The Labour party 20-05-15
- OpEd: UK politics 21-05-15
- Oped: UK politics 22-05-15
- OpEd: UK politics 26-05-15
- OpEd: Europe 27-05-15
- OpEd: The Queen's Speech 28-05-15
- OpEd: Fifa 29-05-15
-
OpEd April
>
- OpEd: Election 01-04-15
- OpEd: Election 02-04-15
- OpEd: Election 07-04-15
- OpEd: Election 08-04-15
- OpEd: Election 09-04-15
- OpEd: Election 10-04-15
- OpEd: Election 13-04-15
- OpEd: Election 14-04-15
- OpEd: Election 15-04-15
- OpEd: Election 16-04-15
- OpEd: Election 17-04-15
- OpEd: SNP 20-04-15
- OpEd: Refugees 21-04-15
- OpEd: Election 22-04-15
- OpEd: Election 23-04-15
- OpEd: Election 24-04-15
- OpEd: Election 27-04-15
- OpEd: Election 28-04-15
- OpEd: Election 29-04-15
- OpEd: Election 30-04-15
-
OpEd March
>
- OpEd: Election 31-03-15
- OpEd: Depression 30-03-15
- OpEd: Prince Charles 27-03-15
- OpEd: UK politics 26-03-15
- OpEd: David Cameron 25-03-15
- OpEd: Singapore 24-03-15
- OpEd: UK politics 23-03-15
- OpEd: UK politics 20-03-15
- OpEd: the Budget 19-03-15
- OpEd: UK politics 18-03-15
- OpEd: race in Britain 17-03-15
- OpEd: UK politics 16-03-15
- OpEd: UK politics 13-03-15
- OpEd Jeremy Clarkson 12-03-15
- OpEd: UK politics 11-03-15
- OpEd: UK politics 10-03-15
- OpEd: UK politics 09-03-15
- OpEd: Scotland 06-03-15
- OpEd: Isis 05-03-15
- OpEd: UK politics 04-03-15
- OpEd: Radicalisation 03-03-15
- OpEd: Russia 02-03-15
-
OpEd February
>
- OpEd: UK politics 27-02-15
- OpEd: minority party leaders 26-02-15
- OpEd: the Greens 25-02-15
- OpEd: Rifkind and Straw 24-02-15
- OpEd: world affairs 23-02-15
- OpEd: UK politics 20-02-15
- OpEd: Chelsea and racism 19-02-15
- OpEd: UK politics 18-02-15
- OpEd: UK politics 17-02-15
- OpEd: Copenhagen 16-02-15
- OpEd: UK politics 13-02-15
- OpEd: UK politics 12-02-15
- OpEd: politics 11-02-15
- OpEd: politics 10-02-15
- OpEd: UK politics 09-02-15
- OpEd: UK politics 06-02-15
- OpEd: Isis atrocity 05-02-15
- OpEd: UK politics 04-02-15
- OpEd: UK politics 03-02-15
- OpEd: UK politics 02-02-15
-
OpEd January
>
- OpEd: rape law 30-01-15
- OpEd: UK politics, 29-01-15
- OpEd: Greece 27-01-15
- OpEd: UK politics 28-01-15
- OpEd: UK politics 26-01-15
- OpEd: UK politics 23-01-15
- OpEd: Chilcot inquiry 22-01-15
- OpEd: Page Three 21-01-15
- OpEd: anti-semitism 20-01-15
- OpEd: religion and freedom 19-01-15
- OpEd: world politics 16-01-15
- OpEd: election debates 15-01-15
- OpEd: Charlie Hebdo 14-01-15
- OpEd: Charlie Hebdo 13-01-15
- OpEd: Charlie Hebdo 12-01-15
- OpEd: Charlie Hebdo 08-01-15
- OpEd: Charlie Hebdo 09-01-15
- OpEd: UK politics 07-01-15
- OpEd: UK politics 05-01-15
- OpEd: UK politics 06-01-15
-
Oped December
>
- You have to laugh
-
Backnumbers
- About SubScribe
- Join the SubScribers
- Contact us
- Subscribe to SubScribe
