spiked | tell a friend | Professor Nutt: mixing science with politicsWelfareBanning offensive comedyCultivating risk-aversion06 November 2009Why pedagogy is in perilThe Noughties: 10 years of nostalgiaAre we witnessing a counter-Rafalution?Autism: moving beyond the quest for a curePutting a forcefield around green ideasFireworks: the killjoys’ pet hateNo, I’m the real Irish republicanWho elected these knights to rule parliament?American hippies vs the evil JapaneseGiving the young a taste of freedomWhy we must wipe out climate denialismChina’s too lenient: we need a no-child policySmoking parents pose a threat to their kidsOoh, the scary Carbon MonsterThis ‘revolt of the experts’ is revoltingWhy New Labour is so dopey on cannabisTelling unfunny jokes should not be a crimeTrafficking and the sex industryThe comedy crackdownGo veggie - save the planet?MP’s Expenses ScandalDecentralization in MoroccoEditor’s comment, 30 OctoberWhy pedagogy is in perilChina and America: the economic Odd CoupleThe anti-smoking ‘truth regime’ that cannot be questionedFarewell, Norman LevittThe drawn-out decay of the capitalist classSeeing Sweden through the eyes of Stieg LarssonCooking up a new theory of evolutionState intervention is no substitute for innovationA book to set democratic alarm bells ringingRacist kidsGo veggie to ‘save the planet’? Burger off!Steve McQueen, without the car chaseIn defence of terrace abuseWelcome to October’s review of booksWhy do they all want to hijack Churchill?Why they love to hate Mother TeresaIf comedians can’t be offensive, who can?We need to make food local and sustainableSongs of rageMaking ‘The Good Life’ into a realityThe End of Poverty?Mother TeresaVettingMaking a pig’s ear of mass vaccinationArtists: resist this propagandist agendaThe cheap thrill of global warmingQuestioning climate change orthodoxyBanning the BNP from Question Time‘Rescue’: a new PC term for repatriationNYC: the city that never smokesThe calm before the immigration storm?Immigration bookEditor’s comment, 23 OctoberThe UK family court systemGately’s lifestyle was not whiter than white.The striking plight of the UK’s postal serviceThe new divide in British politics: Us and HimHating Nick: a shared national experience‘Would the BBC give a platform to Hitler?’‘My name’s Josie…and I have a penis’Life’s a beachball, and then you dieMuhammad cartoonsThis isn’t a recovery. It’s an Obama Bubble‘Voltaire never saw concentration camps’A tragi-comic censorship campaignThe practice of infant male circumcisionStephen FryThey couldn’t manage a mail service in a post officeWhat do family courts have to hide?An Afghan farce, produced in the WestSkill will always win outOff with their head of stateClimate change is not beyond questioningRecycling: an eco-ritual we should binClaire on GriffinAnthropomorphic TVChild porn or art?Australian TV ‘black face’ scandalThe fight to re-enfranchise the electorate starts hereYasmin Alibiah-BrownI am offended, therefore I amStop presenting gays as whiter than whiteThe right to dieDestroying the House of CommonsMemories of the Brighton bombEditor’s comment, 16 OctoberWe’re all Keynesians now? I’m not‘Welcome to the rohypnol conference’Giving animals human motivations: that’s LifeIt’s not true that ‘black men can’t coach’Why on earth would we grow our own?The self-destruction of the House of Commons


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Friday 6 November 2009

	Jennie Bristow
	Why pedagogy is in peril Frank Furedi explains that the real problem in education isn’t intefering politicians or pushy parents, but a profound crisis of adult authority.

Patrick West
The Noughties: 10 years of nostalgia The most striking thing about this decade is how much of it we spent looking back at past decades.

Duleep Allirajah
Are we witnessing a counter-Rafalution? Most Liverpool fans still believe Rafael Benitez is a tactical genius. But the voices of dissent are increasing.

Dr Michael Fitzpatrick
Autism: moving beyond the quest for a cure The author of Defeating Autism: A Damaging Delusion challenges both those who want to cure and those who want to celebrate autism.

	Nathalie Rothschild
	Putting a forcefield around green ideas The notion that green beliefs in the workplace should be legally protected from ridicule is deeply censorious.

	Barry Curtis
	Fireworks: the killjoys’ pet hate Miserabilists want to make Bonfire Night a less explosive, less colourful affair in the name of protecting pets. No way.

	Jason Walsh
	No, I’m the real Irish republican Jason Walsh spoke to some of those who claim to be the legitimate heirs of 1916 and found their legitimism geeky and unconvincing.

	Mick Hume
	Who elected these knights to rule parliament? Grubby elected – and kick-outable – MPs are still more of a democratic choice than squeaky-clean appointed and unaccountable civil servant Sirs.

	Brendan O’Neill
	American hippies vs the evil Japanese The pro-dolphin documentary The Cove exposes how warped are the misanthropic values of the animal-rights lobby.

	Tim Black
	Giving the young a taste of freedom Prince Edward’s comments may have been crass, but today’s cotton-wool kids need to be allowed to take risks.

	Brandon O’Neal
	Why we must wipe out climate denialism With a survey showing that only 15 per cent of Brits are worried about global warming, it’s time to extinguish the ideas warping the public’s mind.

	Nathalie Rothstein
	China’s too lenient: we need a no-child policy With the swarm of human beings expected to hit nine billion by 2050, it’s time we discussed tough remedies.

	Rob Loynes
	Smoking parents pose a threat to their kids By all means take away the children of obese parents, but parents who smoke and drink are an even greater danger.

Brendan O’Neill
This ‘revolt of the experts’ is revolting It was wrong of the government to sack David Nutt. But it’s also wrong for experts to pose as paragons of wisdom who are above democracy.

	Tim Black
	Why New Labour is so dopey on cannabis The interminable debate about whether dope should be a class B or C drug reveals the government’s incoherence.

	Nathalie Rothschild
	Telling unfunny jokes should not be a crime The fining of French comedian Dieudonné for publicly insulting Jews is a crime against freedom of speech.

	Jennie Bristow
	Why pedagogy is in peril Frank Furedi, author of the new book Wasted: Why Education Isn’t Educating, talks to Jennie Bristow about the politicisation of education and the crisis of adult authority.

	Sean Collins
	China and America: the economic Odd Couple Stephen Roach provides some useful, counterintuitive insights into the economic relationship between America and China, but too often uses the term ‘global imbalance’ as a euphemism for ‘US decline’.

	Dr Michael Fitzpatrick
	The anti-smoking ‘truth regime’ that cannot be questioned Two new books expose how epidemiology has been used as a tool of propaganda in the war on tobacco – and woe betide anyone who tries to inject some real facts into the debate.

	Stuart Derbyshire
	Farewell, Norman Levitt With the passing of Norman Levitt, a rigorous defender of scientific truth against the relativism and cowardice of the ‘academic left’, we have lost a modern Enlightenment hero.

	Tim Black
	The drawn-out decay of the capitalist class Richard Overy’s splendid new book on the ‘morbid age’ of the 1920s and 30s sheds light on the emergence of a profound crisis of confidence amongst the bourgeoisie – a crisis that has never quite gone away.

	Nathalie Rothschild
	Seeing Sweden through the eyes of Stieg Larsson Larsson’s hugely popular Millennium novels are not only brilliant page-turners – they also challenge the clapped-out view of Sweden as a social paradise peopled by buxom blondes and depressives.

	Rob Lyons
	Cooking up a new theory of evolution With his smaller teeth and jaws, what separated Homo erectus from his predecessors was not just eating meat, but cooking what he caught.

	James Woudhuysen
	State intervention is no substitute for innovation British industry isn’t dead by any means, but if low-carbon jobs and protectionism trump new research and development, it soon will be.

	Suzy Dean
	A book to set democratic alarm bells ringing Martin Bell’s account of the expenses scandal has insights, but his willingness to embrace infringements upon parliamentary sovereignty in the name of restoring trust denigrates democracy.

	Rob Lyons
	Go veggie to ‘save the planet’? Burger off! The Stern-endorsed campaign to stop people eating meat shows that greens have no solutions for society beyond launching wars on enjoyment.

Patrick West
Steve McQueen, without the car chase BBC Radio 4’s brave choice to rework the ultra-visual Bullitt showed that old-school noir can still be entertaining.

Duleep Allirajah
In defence of terrace abuse The arguments that football fans have become too abusive and more inclined to violence don’t stack up.

	Mick Hume
	Why do they all want to hijack Churchill? The ‘would Churchill have supported the BNP?’ furore says more about politics today than it does about the role of ‘our hero’ in history.

	Brendan O’Neill
	Why they love to hate Mother Teresa The radical-atheist assaults on the late sister of Calcutta are the intellectual equivalent of mugging an old woman.

	Tim Black
	If comedians can’t be offensive, who can? Jimmy Carr is only the latest public figure to fall victim to the ‘offence hounds’ who love being scandalised.

	Dr Michael Fitzpatrick
	Making a pig’s ear of mass vaccination People are right to be sceptical about the swine-flu scare, but it is telling – and worrying – that they focus their scepticism on swine-flu jabs.

Tiffany Jenkins
Artists: resist this propagandist agenda In a speech for the Battle of Ideas, Tiffany Jenkins argued that cultural diplomacy leads to bad art and bad politics.

	Tim Black
	The cheap thrill of global warming Ed Miliband’s ‘climate map’ confirms that climate change is the only thing providing New Labour with a sense of mission.

	Nathalie Rothschild
	‘Rescue’: a new PC term for repatriation As the sex-trafficking scare is exposed as a tissue of lies, Nathalie Rothschild spells out the need for full freedom of movement for migrants.

	Basham and Luik
	NYC: the city that never smokes A proposal to ban lighting up in New York’s parks has exposed the puritanical agenda behind the crusade against smoking.

	Guy Rundle
	The calm before the immigration storm? The lack of hysteria at a new influx of refugee boats to Australia has disappointed pro- and anti-refugee groups alike.

	Brendan O’Neill
	The new divide in British politics: Us and Him Question Time was no victory for rigorous and free debate – it merely confirmed Nick Griffin’s elevation as the voodoo doll of public life.

	Alex Hochuli
	Hating Nick: a shared national experience Alex Hochuli reports from a London university that showed Question Time on a big screen in a bar, football-style.

	Patrick Hayes
	‘Would the BBC give a platform to Hitler?’ Patrick Hayes joined the rabble of censors protesting outside BBC Television Centre in the run-up to Question Time.

Patrick West
‘My name’s Josie…and I have a penis’ Age 8 and Wanting a Sex Change took an unusually empathic look at ‘gender dysphoria’ amongst children.

Rob Lyons
Life’s a beachball, and then you die Eight weeks in and Liverpool’s season might already be over – thanks, in part, to a little comedy intervention.

	Sean Collins
	This isn’t a recovery. It’s an Obama Bubble Just because the Dow Jones Industrial Average recently reached 10,000, that doesn’t mean the US economy is springing back to life.

	Tim Black
	‘Voltaire never saw concentration camps’ Tim Black reports from a radical-left anti-BNP rally at which free speech was denounced as ‘nonsense’.

	Sarnath Banerjee
	A tragi-comic censorship campaign Cartoonist Sarnath Banerjee illustrates how a website about a sexy Indian sister-in-law got the censors hot under the collar.

	Mick Hume
	They couldn’t manage a mail service in a post office Behind the UK postal dispute is the spectre of privatisation and the authorities’ inability to take responsibility for basic state services.

	Thomas McMahon
	What do family courts have to hide? Opening up UK family courts to the public will not lead to social worker witch-hunts, but to greater public trust.

	Tara McCormack
	An Afghan farce, produced in the West For Hamid Karzai to justify the West’s unjustified war, the Afghan presidential elections had to be rigged.

	Tim Black
	Off with their head of state New Labour’s craven justification for maintaining the Royal Prerogative shows that today’s political class doesn’t trust the people – or itself.

Stuart Blackman
Climate change is not beyond questioning A BBC News journalist's willingness to report more than climate orthodoxy should be encouraged not condemned.

Rob Lyons
Recycling: an eco-ritual we should bin Reprocessing waste might one day be cost-effective, but for now it's a moralistic reminder that humans are greedy.

Brendan O’Neill
The fight to re-enfranchise the electorate starts here If the next General Election is to have any real impact, it must be turned from a technical affair into a big, loud public debate about the future.

	Tim Black
	I am offended, therefore I am The overblown reaction to Jan Moir’s bilious column about Stephen Gately shows offence now trumps open debate.

	Mark Adnum
	Stop presenting gays as whiter than white The editor of a gay website says that, beneath her prejudice and inaccuracy, Jan Moir kind of had a point.

	Sean Collins
	We’re all Keynesians now? I’m not Robert Skidelsky’s book on Keynes gives a good account of today’s economic crisis. But its faith in the ‘master’ of economic debate is misplaced.

Emily Hill
‘Welcome to the rohypnol conference’ Emily Hill watched the Tories in Manchester swig fizz, dodge photographers and talk about as little as possible.

Patrick West
Giving animals human motivations: that’s Life Like so many nature series, David Attenborough’s latest show is visually stunning but built on childish storytelling.

Duleep Allirajah
It’s not true that ‘black men can’t coach’ Just as black players proved themselves on the pitch, so black managers should prove themselves in the dugout.

Brendan O’Neill
The self-destruction of the House of Commons The mock-populist backlash on parliamentary expenses poses a serious threat not only to MPs’ bank balances, but to democracy itself.

Nathalie Rothschild
A naked assault on our right to privacy Airport scanners that will ogle our naked bodies are only a more hi-tech version of everyday state surveillance.

Emily Hill
Jane Austen meets Sex and the City A new BBC adaptation of Emma abandons Austen’s barbed wit in favour of 21st-century dating psychobabble.

Wendy Kaminer
Why libertarians should support the right to die In the US, the war on drugs and federal heavy-handedness are limiting a doctor’s ability to help patients in exceptional pain.

	Patrick Marmion
	Exit stage right, pursued by a banker Former Communist David Hare is now a knight of the realm, yet his play on the recession is his most radical to date.

Tim Black
New Labour’s phoney battle with fascism The more the party’s crisis deepens, the more it cynically ups the ante against a far-right phantasm.

	Mick Hume
	Brighton bomb memories How the world has changed since I was bizarrely accused of involvement in the IRA attack on the Tory cabinet 25 years ago this week.

	Nancy McDermott
	Circumcision: cut the crap ‘Intactivists’ who claim that being circumcised abused their human rights, and ruined their sex lives, should get a grip.

	Shane O’Neill
	Hey, union, leave us kids alone! The NUS’s offer of free alcoholic drinks to students who agree to have STI tests reveals its prudish anti-sex tendencies.

	Brendan O’Neill
	How Hillary became Empress of Ireland Hillary Clinton’s head-knocking visit to the Six Counties confirms that Washington has successfully conquered both Ireland and Britain.

	Gordon Hughes
	The wrong answer to climate change It would be wiser, and cheaper, to adapt to climate change rather than to slash CO2 emissions by 70 per cent.

	Guy Rundle
	Jackson Jive: the return of Aussie racism? Australia’s bizarre TV ‘black face’ scandal springs more from the politics of identity than old-fashioned racism.

	Dr Michael Fitzpatrick
	Stop this witch hunt against ‘evil deniers’ Labelling everyone from critics of the AIDS industry to anti-vaccine cranks as ‘deniers’ is a way of shutting down debate and dissent.

Patrick West
‘To coventrate’: destroy a city from the air A documentary about the Luftwaffe bombing of Coventry in 1940 challenged prejudices about both Germans and Brits.

Duleep Allirajah
Watching football is not a civil right Yes it’s irritating that Ukraine vs England will only be shown on the internet. But a ‘national disgrace’? Hardly.

	Nathalie Rothschild
	What do you think: is this child porn or art? Nathalie Rothschild took the banned picture of Brooke Shields back to the Tate Modern to let gallery visitors decide for themselves.

	Tim Black
	Tory leader in ‘drinking champagne’ shock! When appearance is everything in politics, even David Cameron enjoying a glass of bubbly can become a scandal.

	Tom Slater
	The indie scene is fun, but it isn’t radical A new documentary about the music festival All Tomorrow’s Parties tries far too hard to stand up to ‘the man’.

	Mick Hume
	The Tories have changed - but not for the better Forget the left’s fantasies about the return of Thatcherism. New Conservatives or New Labour, they are all accountants now.

	Matthias Heitmann
	No end in sight for Bundestagnation Angela Merkel’s victory puts an end to the inertia of the Grand Coalition, but German politics still lacks dynamism.

	Rob Lyons
	Are the supermarkets killing British food? Debate: The big chains seem more popular than ever, but are they strangling small businesses and consumer choice?

Jennie Bristow
Population reduction: a war on women’s bodies Pro-choice activists must defend women’s reproductive rights against those who say we should curb population growth to save the planet.

	Rob Lyons
	Weighing into family life - again Obesity campaigners want all expectant parents to be weighed. We should tell them to get stuffed.

	Tim Black
	Strictly No Racism – even in private The reaction to dancer Anton du Beke’s dodgy joke shows that official ‘anti-racism’ is an insidious form of censorship.

	Brendan O’Neill
	A defeat for the democratic instinct The Second Irish Referendum: the Irish people have spoken, yes, but in the voice of someone put into a headlock by far more powerful forces.

	Jason Walsh
	‘There was scaremongering on both sides’ Jason Walsh reports from Dublin where it seems neither the Yes camp nor the No camp voted with much enthusiasm.

	Bruno Waterfield
	A hollow victory for the Yes campaigners Bruno Waterfield reports from Brussels on how the EU’s determination to ‘win’ the Irish vote has damaged its standing.

	Ann Furedi
	Let’s stand up to ‘supernanny’ Jennie Bristow’s important, engaging and witty book both explains and critiques the tsunami of state meddling in family affairs.

	Rob Lyons
	Audley Harrison: a cautionary tale How did the man who won Olympic gold in 2000 fail so spectacularly to become a professional champion?

	David Berkley
	White Lightnin’: violence drugs and Appalachian dancing White Lightnin’, about ‘dancing outlaw’ Jesco White, is a moving film. If only it didn’t romanticise mental illness.

	Nathalie Rothschild
	Not all migrants are scruffy, dirty victims Yes, the residents of the Calais ‘jungle’ have been treated badly, but the no borders case requires a defence of everyone’s right to move.

	Emily Hill
	Sarah Brown: celebrity wife Gordon Brown once rejected the politics of celebrity, now his wife hangs out with Paris Hilton.

	Tim Black
	Feral kids: ‘confident, cocky and in control’? Brown’s latest declaration of war on antisocial behaviour expolits today’s widespread adult fear of children.

Tara McCormack
Are we witnessing ‘the rise of the rest’? The elevation of the G20 over the G8 has prompted talk of an international power shift. The reality is more complicated.

	Mick Hume
	Could this be the worst-ever UK election? With both New Labour and the Conservatives pale shadows of their former selves, the danger is that politics will be the biggest loser. Unless…

	Brendan O’Neill
	Will it be the Sun wot sinks Brown? The Labour Party’s hate-love relationship with the tabloid newspaper speaks volumes about the demise of Labourism.

	Jan Macvarish
	Brown’s inadequate parenting advice Under Brown, New Labour’s obsession with acting in loco parentis for teens has expanded to older parents, too.

Brendan O’Neill
Refighting the Culture War over Roman Polanski The furore over his arrest is not about what happened in LA on 10 March 1977 - it’s a pathetic proxy clash between a clapped-out left and right.

	Rob Lyons
	A blame game you can bank on Alistair Darling’s decision to bash bankers at Labour’s party conference was predictable, misguided and dishonest.

	Ethan Epstein
	Circumcision: the first cut is the deepest A proposal to remove the foreskin of every infant boy in America on health grounds is pointless, illiberal and harmful.

	Frank Furedi
	It takes a village to raise a child? Not anymore Officialdom’s demonisation of two women over their babysitting arrangements is symptomatic of today’s out-of-control child-protection industry.

	Tim Black
	Why shouldn’t people work beyond their 60s? At a time when people are living longer, healthier lives it makes no sense to have a Default Retirement Age.

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	2 November 2009 This ‘revolt of the experts’ is revolting


	4 November 2009 Who elected these knights to rule parliament?

There’s more to parenting than egg production


	4 November 2009: American hippies vs the evil Japanese


	6 November 2009: The Noughties: 10 years of nostalgia