This essay, on the debate over Shamima Begum, was my Observer column this week. (The column included also a short piece on the BBC’s attitude to abortion.) It was published in the Observer, 17 February 2019, under the headline ‘The possibility of redemption is central to a humane society’. How do you solve a problem like Shamima? In February 2015, 15-year-old east London schoolgirl Shamima Begum travelled to Syria with two friends, Amira Abase and Kadiza Sultana, to join Islamic State. Last […]

Categories: Britain, Philosophy & Ethics, War on terror • Tags: citizenship, ethics, islamic state, islamism, jihadi returnees, jihadism, moral responsibility, morality, sajid javid, shamima begum