Standpoint - Welcome to Standpoint

Abandoned in Moscow

The Point — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 13:45:55 +0000

BY JULIA PETTENGILL

What will it take for the Obama administration to realise that their treasured "Reset" is the foreign policy equivalent of Monty's Python's dead parrot? The insults and harassment heaped upon Michel McFaul, the American Ambassador to Russia, apparently aren't enough.

Standpoint's New Facebook Page

The Point — Wed, 02 May 2012 12:32:28 +0000

Standpoint now has a Facebook page. "Like" it here to have the magazine's characteristic mix of hardnosed opinions and brilliant writing delivered to your News Feed. It's a great place to spark debate and access additional content. Twitter users can find us at @StandpointMag.

Govemania

The Point — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 15:47:31 +0000

NICK REDGROVE

Following the publication last week of Standpoint's cover article by Iain Martin, entitled "Will Michael Gove Go All the Way to No 10?", both Fleet Street and the blogosphere seem to be taking the question seriously.

Standpoint Recommends: The Tacitus Lecture 2012

The Point — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 12:18:52 +0000

Standpoint readers may be interested in the 25th annual World Traders' Tacitus Lecture, delivered by Terry Smith, Chief Executive of Tullett Prebon and regular Newsnight contributor. The talk, titled "Is 'Occupy' Right?" offers a nuanced view of the Occupy movement from an ardent free-marketeer:

Goodbye, Vienna

The Point — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 14:24:49 +0000

Standpoint's editor, Daniel Johnson, has written today's Daily Feature on Jewish Ideas Daily. It concerns the rich cultural contribution the city of Vienna, and its Jewish inhabitants in particular, has made to Western civilisation:

read more

Friends Indeed — Daniel Johnson on Gertrude Himmelfarb

The Point — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 17:58:32 +0000

Standpoint's editor Daniel Johnson has reviewed Standpoint advisory board member Gertrude Himmelfarb's new history of philo-Semitism for The Weekly Standard. In her magisterial work, Himmelfarb describes how and why Jews have been successful in England:

New Culture Forum Lecture: Jeremy Hunt

The Point — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 16:01:13 +0000

The New Culture Forum — a think-tank run by Standpoint columnist Peter Whittle — is hosting a lecture by Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt on philanthropy and the recession. Standpoint readers are invited to this free event. Details as follows:

Kangaroo Courts Arrive Down Under

The Point — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 14:06:21 +0000

JULIE BINDEL

The influence of cowards and cultural relativists in the UK appears to have spread to the other side of the world. Australia, where sharia law has become a shadow legal system, has cited our apparent tolerance of polygamous and underage marriage amongst the Muslim community in a bid to justify its growing influence.

The BBC's painful novelties

The Point — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 16:12:47 +0000

Daniel Johnson

In his October Wine column, Saintsbury quotes Dr Johnson on novelties to great effect: "...novelty is always grateful where it gives no pain." Well, the BBC gave me pain twice this week with its novelties.

Money can't buy you love - Nichi Hodgson

The Point — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 17:35:22 +0000

Catherine Hakim is not a feminist name you will know. She may yet earn the moniker, "anti-feminist feminist", once bestowed on Camille Paglia, but I doubt it. When you publish a book as risibly unsubstantiated as Honey Money: The Power of Erotic Capital (Allen Lane), being compared to Paglia would be like declaring Katie Price the new Bridget Bardot.

World Youth Day Diary: Day Four

The Point — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 11:11:11 +0000

Every day of this year's triennial week-long Catholic festival in Madrid, Anna Halpine reports from the world's largest gathering of young people.

World Youth Day Diary: Day Three

The Point — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 09:42:06 +0000

Every day of this year's triennial week-long Catholic festival in Madrid, Anna Halpine reports from the world's largest gathering of young people.

read more

World Youth Day Diary: Day Two

The Point — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 10:02:43 +0000

Every day of this year's triennial week-long Catholic festival in Madrid, Anna Halpine reports from the world's largest gathering of young people.
read more

World Youth Day Diary: Day One

The Point — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 10:03:34 +0000

Every day of this year's triennial week-long Catholic festival in Madrid, Anna Halpine reports from the world's largest gathering of young people.
read more

Breivik and Anti-Muslim Bigotry

Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 12:16:35 +0000

BY ALEXANDER MELEAGROU-HITCHENS
I have a piece in the Saturday edition of Lebanon's Daily Star looking at the motivations behind Anders Breivik's attacks last month. Click here if you're interested.

Who'd be a TLA?

Joshua Rozenberg — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 14:29:34 +0000
When is it in the public interest to disclose the details of a TLA's sexual relationships? My latest column for the bumper print edition of Standpoint. http://bit.ly/iTetSa

Daniel Johnson on Elena Bonner

The Point — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 10:29:57 +0000

DANIEL JOHNSON
Read my article on Jewish Ideas Daily, One Woman Army, about Elena Bonner, who died last week aged 88. It describes my meeting in 1991 with the widow of Andrei Sakharov, the Soviet scientist and dissident, and provides a portrait of this indomitable campaigner for human rights.
read more

In praise of the essay

The Point — Fri, 06 May 2011 10:58:30 +0000

The Point would like to alert Standpoint readers to a new publisher, Notting Hill Editions, and its online journal, dedicated to the art of the essay. Sharing Standpoint's aim to provide its discerning readers with unashamedly highbrow pieces in an era characterised by an ethos of instant throwaway communication, Notting Hill Editions — edited by deputy books editor of the Independent, Lucasta Miller — launched yesterday with work from authors Roland Barthes and Georges Perec.
read more

Told You So

Joshua Rozenberg — Wed, 04 May 2011 15:57:04 +0000

Belatedly, the Prime Minister has caught up with the announcement I made on March 24 by confirming that Jonathan Sumption QC and Sir Nicholas Wilson will be appointed to the Supreme Court.
read more

Analysis: Al-Qaeda After Bin Laden

Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens — Mon, 02 May 2011 17:05:09 +0000

The loss of a figurehead as iconic as Osama bin Laden will come as a blow to al-Qaeda and its supporters, but is unlikely to fatally undermine the movement.
read more

Help JIMAS

Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 06:29:06 +0000

ALEXANDER MELEAGROU-HITCHENS
Help JIMAS win a £5000 Co-Operative grant to continue its community work by signing up here and giving them your vote — it won't cost you a thing.
read more

How Western Jihadis See Libya

Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 22:49:25 +0000

ALEXANDER MELEAGROU-HITCHENS
Reproduced below is my latest analysis for the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation, King's College, London.
read more

Sumption plays hard to get

Joshua Rozenberg — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 22:09:24 +0000
The revelation that Jonathan Sumption QC will not be taking up his expected appointment to the Supreme Court until he has a window in his diary has infuriated his future colleagues.
read more

The Commentator — A Serious New Website

The Point — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 15:09:45 +0000

Standpoint readers may be interested in The Commentator, a new website founded by political commentator and analyst — and Standpoint contributor — Robin Shepherd.
read more

Supreme Court: runners, riders and delays

Joshua Rozenberg — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 16:26:11 +0000

I understand that five candidates were interviewed for the two vacancies in the UK Supreme Court. They are (in alphabetical order):
read more

In defence of Quilliam

Shiraz Maher — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 12:38:17 +0000

SHIRAZ MAHER

It's fair to say the Quilliam Foundation (later rebranded to "Quilliam") has not been without its problems since launching in 2008. Since its launch, Quilliam expanded much too quickly, taking on too many staff, and has never stopped to define its remit clearly enough.
read more

Self-censorship in the British Media

The Point — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 13:14:03 +0000

British journalists pride themselves on their freedom to write without fear of censorship (but with due regard for good taste and our sometimes draconian libel laws). In a thoughtful posting on his blog, however, the Guardian's veteran political commentator Michael White wonders whether he and his fellow writers aren't being too complacent. He starts out by examining a worrying crackdown on Turkish journalists by the country's supposedly moderate Islamic government but broadens his argument to look at self-censorship closer to home. Read on to the end for a very honest exposure of the predictable targets that the Guardian's fearless writers habitually aim at, and the subjects that are traditionally taboo for them:
read more

Parliament Square is not Tahrir Square

Shiraz Maher — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 13:07:14 +0000

SHIRAZ MAHER

Laurie Penny has published a remarkably ill informed piece over at the New Statesman today. Ordinarily, I would have described it as "disappointing" but to do so would overlook the spectacular decline of the Staggers in recent years. Penny writes:
read more

How does this end?

Shiraz Maher — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 11:28:37 +0000

SHIRAZ MAHER
And so Pakistan's descent into chaos continues to gather pace this morning with the news that another opponent of the country's blasphemy laws has been assassinated. Shahbaz Bhatti, minister for religious minorities, was gunned down in Islamabad while travelling to a meeting. The Dawn reports:
read more

Gaddafi has little to fear from ICC

Joshua Rozenberg — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 08:35:03 +0000
The UN Security Council resolution referring the situation in Libya since 15 February to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court is, of course, to be welcomed. But I don't suppose Muammar Gaddafi will lose much sleep over resolution 1970, adopted unanimously last night.
read more