The commentators 19-11-15...on Paris attacksMuch has been said and written about the de facto apartheid that exists between the rundown estates on the fringes of most large French cities – with their poor schools, negligible policing and deficient public transport – and the chic mainstream of urban France. And France may indeed have found it particularly hard to accommodate its North African newcomers, for a host of historical and cultural reasons. That said, no European country has truly succeeded in creating a society where all of the past half-century’s migrants, many of them Muslim, feel at home. Not wealthy Germany, or enlightened Sweden; not even relatively relaxed and tolerant Britain – as Cameron acknowledged in his June speech on extremism. But neither can responsibility for this state of affairs all be laid at the host country’s door
- Mary Dejevsky, The Independent Last week’s terrorist horror reminds us yet again of an unpalatable reality: it’s not just that unemployment, crime and family breakdown in the banlieues remain as bad as ever, in itself an unforgivable cross-party failure, but one element has actually got worse: fanaticism is on the rise. Those who speak and engage with young, alienated banlieusards have been shocked by the gradual change in tone over the years, by the radicalisation, the casual anti-semitism, the conspiracy theories and many other dangerous signs. Economic grievances have mutated in a catastrophic manner; given the rhetoric, it is hardly surprising that many of the deluded French extremists who have travelled to Syria to fight for Isil come from the banlieues
- Allister Heath, Daily Telegraph In these trying times for France, we – especially those of us who are elected representatives – must step up the effort to find constructive solutions for our security and stability. But in our choice of words and in our actions we must apply wisdom and responsibility. That means under no circumstances playing the blame game. Loud and clear, we should be reminding our fellow citizens that the root of the problem is neither immigration nor Islam
- Rachida Dati, The Guardian (Dati is mayor of the 7th arondissement of Paris, an MEP, and a former Justice Minister) For the state to go around banning preachers from the internet, vetting people from working with children because of their perfectly legal political views, and drawing up blacklists and banning orders on non-violent (if horrid) groups which are mostly Muslim. These acts will be seen as restrictions on basic freedoms and will become the focus of resistance. They are manna from heaven for the decadent academic critics of government who believe that their enemies are almost anyone but Islamist extremists. But I worry that these acts are the greatest gift to the recruiters of jihadists. Look, they will say, how shallow is the kufr’s commitment to freedom! Better, much better, to wage a war of ideas on campuses and in schools, against the apologists and relativists. Fight speech with better speech, idea with better idea
- David Aaronovitch, The Times Caution is imperative before escalating military operations in Syria and Iraq (where 179 British service personnel died in the war that toppled Saddam Hussein). If there is one lesson we should have learned from the events of the past 14 years, it is that we should undertake military action abroad only in pursuit of defined and attainable objectives
- Max Hastings, 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, 2015Thursday 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 |
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