Words Have Consequences

Stories that connect political and public discourse with events

Islam and Colonialism

By Samee Alhwash
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Posted in Words Have Consequences

Whether in the boycott French products campaign on social media or through conversations with friends, Muslims I know feel conflicted about the recent terrorist attacks in Vienna and Nice. (More…)

The Losing Side

By Josh White
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The British premier can’t be happy with the results of the US election. Boris Johnson’s fantasy of an Anglo-American pivot away from Europe has been dashed. (More…)

Pro-Europe, Against Democracy

By Josh White
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Open borders and liberal technocrats. It couldn’t be any more of a caricature than that. Unless you’ve been sleeping under a rock the last decade, that’s the EU to its Fleet Street critics and their MAGA mates in the United States. (More…)

Did the Russians Do It?

By Matt Rubenstein
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Nothing unusual here. The Taliban have been killing NATO troops in Afghanistan for nearly two decades. But this story was a little different. According to the New York Times, recent attacks on US and British forces have been partially sponsored by Russia. (More…)

Modern German cuisine. Karl-Marx-Straße, Neukölln.

Dinner is Ruined

By Joel Schalit
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When the government finally announced restaurants could serve takeout, it was like a rainbow appeared over Berlin. As long as we picked up dinner by six, we were safe. (More…)

The paranoid style. Sheffield, May 2019.

Far-Right Fantasy Life

By Josh White
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Setting fire to the 5G mast, the perpetrator clearly thought they had achieved something worthy of recording and posting online. The world had to know that 5G was a danger to the survival of humankind and how best to deal with that threat. (More…)

The Varieties of Banking Experience

By Joel Schalit
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“We don’t give accounts to Israelis.” The last stage in completing the paperwork for an online bank account, I’d just submitted my passport for review. (More…)

Labour’s Civil War

By Josh White
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Posted in Words Have Consequences

The Labour leaks have crashed the consensus that the party became an Antisemitic organisation under Jeremy Corbyn. (More…)

Hatred Made Him Do It

By Joe Keady
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Posted in Words Have Consequences

The facts of the Hanau killings are not in dispute: the assailant, 43-year-old Tobias Rathjen, entered a hookah bar on Wednesday night and began firing indiscriminately before shooting several more people at a kiosk. (More…)