Harry's Place

This is a guest post by Rev. Nick Howard
The word ‘racist’ probably brings to mind a skinhead with a snarling face. But this image can blind us to the presence of well-spoken racists in very respectable jobs, who can capitalise on their social status to inflict more serious long-term damage than their counterparts on the [...]

For just £6 plus £3 P & P, you can treat yourself or a loved one to a 2012 calendar, full of images drawn by Raed Salah whilst at HMP Bedford, where John Bunyan himself wrote the Pilgrim’s Progress.
Raed Salah continues the fascinating tradition of producing great works of art whilst being detained by prison [...]

After Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich failed to secure enough valid signatures to qualify for the primary ballot here in Virginia, his national campaign director Michael Krull wrote:
Newt and I agreed that the analogy is December 1941: We have experienced an unexpected set-back, but we will re-group and re-focus with increased determination, commitment and positive [...]

I have previously mentioned that one of my favourite blogs is Letters of Note. Brought to my attention via that blog is a letter that Benjamin Franklin sent to the British Member of Parliament, William Strahan. I copy the text below:
Philada. July 5. 1775
Mr. Strahan
You are a Member of Parliament, and one of that Majority [...]

By Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi
Recently the French news agency AFP reported that the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood (MB) claimed responsibility for the bomb attacks in Damascus on its website.
The only trouble is, that this claim was taken from a fake Ikhwan site (now deleted) cloned by Assad loyalists. The actual site for Syria’s MB is here. It [...]

Blogger Charles Pierce posts the original version of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” as sung by Judy Garland in the movie “Meet Me in St. Louis,” and notes that in 1957 Frank Sinatra replaced the verse “Until then we’ll have to muddle through somehow” with “Hang a shining star upon the highest bough”– thereby [...]

I couldn’t resist reproducing this letter from the latest edition of the Weekly Worker:

How much?
David Lee says that no-one should be allowed to earn more than £75,000 a year (Letters, December 15). Surely, no-one would need that much. Why not provide all citizens with a free supply of basic essentials – eg, bread, eggs, potatoes, [...]

1) Read this letter:
In view of the Iranian government’s condemnation of the storming of the British embassy by protesters and its call on the Iranian judiciary to identify and prosecute all those responsible, we find the hasty reaction of the UK government in cutting off diplomatic relations with Irandisproportionate, damaging and counterproductive (Is war with Iran [...]

Unesco has now withdrawn its funding from the Palestinian youth magazine Zayzafouna, following reports that it featured a story which held up Hitler as a role model. The Telegraph article quotes the editor’s response:
The magazine’s director, Shareef Samhan, did not dispute the translation, though he said the girl was “accusing” Hitler and not praising him. [...]

How often does the United Nations General Assembly hold minute silences?