Battle of Ideas | Reading for Battle

Once they were portrayed as the salt of the earth. Nowadays, they take to the streets when paedophiles and asylum seekers are in their midst; they expose their lives in TV documentaries; they love Gucci and hate the Euro - the broadsheets cast them as xenophobes and exhibitionists and mock their tastes and attitudes. Who are the white working class and what have they done to deserve this portrayal?

Michael Collins, Granta Books, 6 June 2005

From China with Love: A Long Road to Motherhood

Emily was determined that her child should come from a country where adoption was properly regulated and China, where many baby girls are abandoned, seemed an obvious choice. Eventually the mountain of bureaucratic and emotional challenges gave way to the utter joy of bringing up Jade and Rose, her two Chinese daughters.

Emily Buchanan, John Wiley & Sons, 20 May 2005

Toleration as Recognition

Examines the most intractable problems which toleration encounters and argues that what is really at stake is not religious or moral disagreement but the unequal status of different social groups. Liberal theories of toleration fail to grasp this and consequently come up with normative solutions that are inadequate when confronted with controversial cases.

Anna Elisabetta Galeotti, Cambridge University Press, 17 February 2005

Celebrity Media Spinning Out of Control?
What historically has been a cozy and symbiotic relationship is now in many cases turning sour, and celebrities are seething.
Jake Tapper and Dan Morris, ABC News, 5 February 2005

The Islamophobia Myth
Does Islamophobia really exist? Or is the hatred and abuse of Muslims being exaggerated to suit politicians' needs and silence the critics of Islam?
Kenan Malik, Prospect, 1 February 2005

The Naked Crowd: Reclaiming Security and Freedom in an Anxious Age

In the aftermath of September 11, 2001, Americans have been willing to give up their liberty, not for security, but for the illusion of security.

Jeffrey Rosen, Random House Trade, 11 January 2005

What future for the family?
Behind the 'mommy wars' and the new politics of the family.
Jennie Bristow, spiked, 17 November 2004

Copycat arguments
Claims that videogames such as Manhunt can provoke players to commit violence have been made many times before – but they remain unproven.
Graham Barnfield, spiked, 30 July 2004

Anti-doping policy
Doping control in sport is a relatively recent phenomenon. The first compulsory Olympic drug testing took place at the Winter Olympic Games at Grenoble in 1968, and in the thirty plus years since then anti-doping policy has been based almost exclusively on what might be described as a punitive or 'law and order' approach.
Ivan Waddington, University College Chester, 19 April 2004

A waste of time
Rob Lyons, spiked, 1 April 2004

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Engineering the future: cautionary tale or utopia?

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