hostile environment | Pandaemonium

A SMALL STATE NOT SO SMALL FOR SOME

October 13, 2022 by Kenan Malik

This essay, on the myths of the “small state”, was my Observer column this week. It was published on 9 October 2022, under the headline “Libertarians will let you live life as you wish – as long as you’re rich and powerful”. “I’m not going to tell you what to do or what to think or how to live your life,” Liz Truss told the Conservative party conference last week. “When the government plays too big a role, people feel smaller.” Conservatives have […]

Categories: Britain, Politics • Tags: anti-union laws, conservative party, hostile environment, liz truss, policing, small state, strikes, suella braverman, workers rights

LEVERAGING CRUELTY AS A SOCIAL GOOD

December 8, 2020 by Kenan Malik

. This essay, on the cruelty of “Imprisonment for Public Protection” and what it tells us about social policy, was my Observer column. It was published on 6 December 2020, under the headline “Our leaders can’t preach respect and treat the vulnerable with contempt”. “My family were going, ‘Why are you not out? They can’t give you a 13-month sentence and keep you in there for ever!’” Oh, but they can. And not just in China or Saudi Arabia, but in Britain, […]

Categories: Britain, Justice & Liberties, Politics • Tags: antisocial behaviour, asbos, david blunkett, hostile environment, imprisonment for public protection, inequality, ipp, new labour, prisons, respect, respect agenda, richard sennett, tony blair

THE NEED TO TRANSFORM THE IMMIGRATION MINDSET

June 30, 2020 by Kenan Malik

This essay, on the fundamental problem with the way British officials view immigration, was my Observer column this week. It was published on 28 June 2020, under the headline ‘That Clayton Barnes is still not a citizen shows the ongoing cruelty of ‘hostile environment’. Clayton Barnes came to Britain from Jamaica in 1959. He spent a lifetime in this country, working, paying taxes, raising a family. He was in his mind British, as he was in the eyes of his family, his […]

Categories: Britain, Race & Immigration • Tags: british politics, clayton barnes, colin yeo, hostile environment, immigration policy, priti patel, windrush scandal

THE LIVED EXPERIENCE OF RACE AND CLASS

July 15, 2019 by Kenan Malik

This essay, on race and class in contemporary Britain, was my Observer column this week. (The column included also a short piece on the politics of human fossil finds.) It was published on 7 July 2019, under the headline ‘Working class versus minorities? That’s looking at it the wrong way’. Officials eyeing you with contempt. Police treating you as scum. A sense of being constantly watched and judged by professionals. Living in fear of benefit sanctions. A lack of community facilities. […]

Categories: Britain, Class, Philosophy & Ethics, Race & Immigration • Tags: britain, ethnic pay gap, hostile environment, identity politics, migrants, minorities, precariat, race and class, runnymede trust, white working class, working class

WHERE DOES THIS BULLY GET HIS IDEAS FROM?

December 3, 2018 by Kenan Malik

This essay, on an assault on a Syrian refugee schoolboy, was my Observer column this week. (The column included also a short piece on the CRISPR baby). It was published in the Observer, 2 December 2018, under the headline ‘I know all about being bullied by racists. That’s the Britain I grew up in’. I cannot recall ever being ‘waterboarded’. But nor can I recall many days when, as a schoolboy, I did not return home without a bruised lip […]

Categories: Britain, Philosophy & Ethics, Race & Immigration • Tags: british politics, hostile environment, immigration, racism, racist attacks, refugees, social media, theresa may, tobias ellwood