Dec 28, 2008
LEVEL PLAYING FIELD The Hindu, 28 December There is one sad, near certainty about 2009: the war in Afghanistan will grow bloodier, more brutal and more dangerous to the region as a whole. Barack Obama has coupled his pledge to withdraw US troops from Iraq (a pledge already heavily qualified) with an insistence on escalating… Read more
Sep 21, 2008
LEVEL PLAYING FIELD The Hindu, 21 September Wherever there are inequalities, there will be no shortage of people rationalising or defending them. That’s easily explicable. Those who benefit from inequalities enjoy, by definition, greater resources and greater access to the public ear and eye. What’s sad for me is that blunt defenders of equality –… Read more
Sep 7, 2008
LEVEL PLAYING FIELD The Hindu, 7 September It’s a paradox. Barack Obama’s candidacy is hailed as “historic” for the very sound reason that he is the first African-American to become the presidential nominee of a major party. In a country whose history is permeated by race, that’s clearly a significant event, at the least a… Read more
Jun 15, 2008
LEVEL PLAYING FIELD The Hindu, 15 June 2008 Four years after it was stolen by masked gunmen in broad daylight, and two years after it was recovered in still undisclosed circumstances, The Scream has gone back on display at the Munch Museum in Oslo. The Scream is one of the world’s most well known and… Read more
Jun 1, 2008
LEVEL PLAYING FIELD The Hindu, 1st June “This is the end of political correctness in London,” exulted a Conservative as newly elected Mayor Boris Johnson entered city hall. Nearly a month after the polls closed, it is still an extraordinary thought that London, of all places, is to be represented in the eyes of the… Read more
May 4, 2008
LEVEL PLAYING FIELD The Hindu, 4 May Reading some English commentators on the Indian Premier League, you’d think it was the end of civilisation as we know it. For years there’s been a steady undercurrent of resentment at the expanding influence of India in world cricket. Now, with the IPL threatening to undermine the English… Read more
Apr 19, 2008
LEVEL PLAYING FIELD The Hindu, 19 April Despite an average of 40 violent deaths a day in recent weeks, Iraq, the British Home office insists, is a safe place. Accordingly, 1,400 Iraqi asylum seekers have received letters informing them that they must return home or face homelessness and destitution in Britain. Those who agree to… Read more
Mar 23, 2008
LEVEL PLAYING FIELD The Hindu, 23 March Is there anywhere like Florence? Or any period of human creativity comparable to that which Florence hosted from the end of the 13th to the beginning of the 16th centuries? These 200 years left behind a material residue – paintings, sculpture, buildings, civic vistas – that never ceases… Read more
Mar 9, 2008
The Hindu, 9 March The most remarkable thing about the Indian Premier League player auction was the spectacle it generated. The heady mix of wealth and fame proved intoxicating for many, not least representatives of the media, who celebrated the auction as a triumph of the new India of the free market. For others it… Read more
LEVEL PLAYING FIELD The Hindu, 9 March In the coming months, the same event will be commemorated by two different groups in starkly contrasting fashions. May 15 sees the 60th anniversary of the birth of the state of Israel. In Britain, the programme of celebrations includes a gala fund-raising dinner at Windsor Castle in the… Read more
