Author Archives: Kenan Malik

A YEAR OF PANDAEMONIUM

December 28, 2019 by Kenan Malik

Another year of Pandaemonium, and three lists to finish off the year: the most read posts in 2019, the most read posts published in 2019 (because most of most-read posts from this year are actually from previous years) and my favourite posts of the year. My thanks to all readers of, and contributors to, Pandaemonium. And most especially to all the Patrons. And best wishes to all for 2020. . Most read posts in 2019 . 1 What’s the problem […]

Categories: Pandaemonium

SOCIAL CONSERVATISM AND THE WORKING CLASS

December 23, 2019 by Kenan Malik

This essay, on the debate about social conservatism and the working class, was my Observer column this week. It was published on 152December 2019, under the headline ‘The idea that the British working class is socially conservative is a nonsense’. ‘It is easier for the right to move left on economics than it is for the left to move right on identity & culture.’ So tweeted politics professor and TV pundit Matthew Goodwin on the morning of the Tory election victory as […]

Categories: Britain, Class, Politics • Tags: british politics, conservatives, grunwick strike, identity politics, immigration, labour party, left, liberalism, matthew goodwin, metropolitan liberals, social conservatism, trust, working class

PLUCKED FROM THE WEB #65

December 21, 2019 by Kenan Malik

The latest (somewhat random) collection of essays and stories from around the web that have caught my eye and are worth plucking out to be re-read. . India’s new citizenship act legalizes a Hindu nation Anil Varughese, The Conversation, 18 December 2019 India’s recently passed Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 is a frontal assault on the idea of India as a secular, pluralist democracy. For the first time, legal sanction has been given to the recasting of India as a Hindu majoritarian […]

Categories: Pandaemonium

TOO SCEPTICAL AND NOT SCEPTICAL ENOUGH

December 16, 2019 by Kenan Malik

This essay, on the British election campaign and the relationship between politics, journalism and truth, was my Observer column this week. It was published on 15 December 2019, under the headline ‘The sick boy, the ‘punch’: the local can still capture the national picture’. In the maelstrom of debate about Boris Johnson’s victory, and amid the acrid ‘self-reflection’ now facing Labour, it’s easy to lose sight of some of the wider issues raised by the election campaign. One of the most important, […]

Categories: Britain, Politics • Tags: allison pearson, boris johnson, british politics, cynicism, fake news, general election 2019, jennifer williams, journalism, laura kuenssberg, leeds general infirmary, local newspapers, manchester evening news, media, robert peston, scepticism, truth, yorkshire evening post

INHUMANITY AND REDEMPTION

December 9, 2019 by Kenan Malik

This essay, on the debate about deradicalisation and redemption in the wake of the London Bridge terror attack, was my Observer column this week. (The column included also a short piece on the shooting dead of rape suspects in India.) It was published on 8 December 2019, under the headline ‘Redemption defines a civilised society. We must not forsake the idea’. Can terrorists be deradicalised? Do all offenders, even those who commit the most abhorrent of crimes, deserve a second chance? […]

Categories: Britain, War on terror • Tags: deradicalisation, healthy identity intervention, human nature, islamism, jack merritt, jihadism, joseph mccann, london, london bridge attack, radicalisation, redemption, saskia jones, terrorism, usman khan

A PRICE WORTH PAYING?

December 7, 2019 by Kenan Malik

This is a link to my talk on the cost of current immigration policy at the Brainwash Festival in Amsterdam. The talk was given on 26 October and broadcast on the Dutch channel NPO on 1 December.

Categories: Race & Immigration • Tags: amsterdam, brainwash festival, european union, fortress america, fortress europe, immigration policy, usa

AN OUTRAGE THAT DARE NOT SPEAK ITS NAME

December 2, 2019 by Kenan Malik

This essay, on the EU’s outsourced migration controls as the new imperialism, was my Observer column this week. (The column included also a short piece on easy answers in the wake of the London Bridge attack.) It was published on 1 December 2019, under the headline ‘When refugees in Libya are being starved, Europe’s plan is working’. A hospital that finds its patients so burdensome that it denies them medical care. A homeless hostel that turfs its residents out on the […]

Categories: International, Philosophy & Ethics, Race & Immigration • Tags: africa, european union, immigration, immigration policy, janjaweed, khartoum process, libya, niger, refugees, sudan, unhcr

ON THE RIVER IN DHAKA

November 30, 2019 by Kenan Malik

These are photos from Sadarghat, the river port of Dhaka, which in many ways is a microcosm of the city itself – in-your-face, bursting with life, tumultuous and gritty, with people and goods and boats all on the move. There are huge multi-storeyed ferries, carrying both passengers and cargo, bound for destinations all over the country. The poorest passengers simply lay a mat on the lower deck; the upper decks have individual cabins for those who can afford it. In […]

Categories: International, Photos • Tags: bangladesh, dhaka, photography, sadarghat

ON THE DEGRADATION OF POLITICAL DEBATE

November 25, 2019 by Kenan Malik

This essay, on contempt for the electorate and degradation of political debate, was my Observer column this week. (The column included also a short piece on passport checks in Oxford.) It was published on 24 November 2019, under the headline ‘Once, politicians treated voters as adults. Now they are contemptuous’. Two men go head to head in a TV debate. They wrestle with Britain’s relationship to Europe, the meaning of sovereignty, the nature of global influence, the question of job losses. […]

Categories: Britain, Politics • Tags: brexit, british politics, everyman library, jonathan rose, roy jenkins, tony benn, working class

PLUCKED FROM THE WEB #65

November 23, 2019 by Kenan Malik

The latest (somewhat random) collection of essays and stories from around the web that have caught my eye and are worth plucking out to be re-read. . The West’s obsession with border security is breeding instability Ruben Anderson & David Keen, Foreign Policy, 16 November 2019 Or consider Sudan, where the country’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group formerly linked to the genocidal janjaweed in Darfur, have trumpeted their credentials in fighting migration. This is the same force that killed dozens of […]

Categories: Pandaemonium

VAR, TECHNOLOGY AND HUMAN JUDGMENT

November 18, 2019 by Kenan Malik

This essay, on what VAR tells us about our relationship to technology, was my Observer column this week. It was published on 17 November 2019, under the headline ‘Technology will never replace human judgment. Look at football…’ Even if you can’t tell your offside from your elbow (in the face), you’ve probably heard of VAR. The video assistant referee has been introduced into top-level football to cut out errors by referees. At every Premier League game, a VAR referee watches TV feeds of […]

Categories: Human, Philosophy & Ethics, Science & Technology, Sport • Tags: ai, football, human judgment, technology, var

A QUESTION ABOUT IMMIGRATION

November 16, 2019 by Kenan Malik

Should net immigration to Britain rise or fall? That’s the question many British journalists have been asking party leaders this past week and it’s one that neither Labour nor the Tories are able to answer. Partly, that’s because the immigration policies of both parties are incoherent. The Conservatives have quietly ditched their commitment to reduce net immigration levels to ‘tens of thousands’ while continuing to promise to ‘reduce’ immigration, though being unable to say how, or to what numbers. Labour, as […]

Categories: Britain, Politics, Race & Immigration • Tags: britain, british politics, european union, immigration policy, windrush scandal

TO IMAGINE, TO HOPE, TO TRANSCEND, TO TRANSFORM

November 11, 2019 by Kenan Malik

This essay, on the Dhaka Lit Fest, was my Observer column this week. (The column included also a short piece on a new survey of English dialects.) It was published on 20 October 2019, under the headline ‘Literary festivals are not a luxury, a bauble for the middle classes’. Sadarghat is not a place for the faint-hearted. The river port of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, it’s a microcosm of the city itself – in your face, bursting with life, tumultuous […]

Categories: Culture & Books, International, Philosophy & Ethics • Tags: bangladesh, bangladesh war of liberation, daniel baremboim, dhaka, dhaka lit fest, freedom struggles, gaza, kazi anis ahmed, louis kahn

A MOSQUE LIKE NO OTHER

November 9, 2019 by Kenan Malik

Faidabad, in the northern suburb of Uttara, is among the poorest areas in Dhaka. The narrow dirt streets and the shacks that line the main arterial road are witness to that. It is far from any tourist spot – it can take a couple of hours of driving through Dhaka’s chaotic traffic and legendary jams to reach Faidabad from the centre of the city. Faidabad is also home to a remarkable mosque, modernist, austere and strikingly beautiful. Designed by Marina […]

Categories: Atheism & Religion, Culture & Books, Photos • Tags: bait ur rouf mosque, bangladesh, bengal, dhaka, islam, islamic architecture, marina tabassum, modernism, mosques, photography

FAILING TO SEE THE DEEPER CAUSES OF SOCIAL TRAGEDIES

November 4, 2019 by Kenan Malik

This essay, on the shallowness of public debates about social tragedies, was my Observer column this week. It was published on 3 November 2019, under the headline ‘From Grenfell to migrant deaths, we fail to see the deeper causes of tragedy’ The 72 people killed in the Grenfell Tower fire. The 39 migrants who died in a shipping container left in a car park in Purfleet, Essex. Little may seem to connect these two dreadful events except the sense of horror we […]

Categories: Britain, Justice & Liberties, Philosophy & Ethics, Politics • Tags: dany contton, eh carr, fbu, firefighters, flammable cladding, grenfell tower, hein de haas, human traffickers, immigration controls, matt wrack, migrant deaths, people smugglers, purfleet, social tragedies