In an atmosphere when anyone can close down the conversation by saying “I feel uncomfortable”, rational discussion becomes impossible.
The sooner we deal with our Party’s past, however difficult, the easier it will be to drive out the hatred emerging on the Left today.
But some, perhaps many, Tory MPs have these tendencies – including one no less senior than the Prime Minister herself.
“I am announcing new dedicated team that will be set up to help these people evidence their right to be here.”
“It is inhumane and cruel for so many of that generation to have suffered for so long in this condition.”
Across this half-century, from Scarman after Brixton to MacPherson after Stephen Lawrence, governments have engaged only sporadically engaged with race.
We feel a commission, a working group, an inquiry coming in – to look these inconsistencies, accidents of history and quirks, to see if some tidying-up is required.
Afua Hirsch recounts her inability, as a person of mixed race, to feel she truly belongs in either Britain or Ghana.
There are electoral opportunities in binding whole groups to a party based on collective identity – but what happens when those groups come into conflict?
All credit to her. She’s the first prime minister since Tony Blair to do one phone-in outside an election period. They always carry a slight risk for a politician.
David Lammy and the Social Mobility Commission both made a big splash on the basis of weak evidence and flawed assumptions.
Much of the 20th century fight for liberation involved explaining that it was wrong to discriminate on the grounds of someone’s unchangeable nature.
A comprehensive programme could both greatly reduce avoidable incidents and speed the rehabilitation of offenders.
Johnson’s critics who accuse him of Islamophobia are either confused or disingenuous. Their tactics harm mainstream Muslims.