Information as inaction
To be truly empowered we need both to better understand the information we are given, and to realise that the biggest abuses of information concern how it is used, not how it is gathered.
ReadTag: Politics & society
The black tie that binds
Like most dress codes worldwide, the evening suit is a symbol of elitism and exclusion. When people are required to put on special dress, you don’t need to be an anthropologist to recognise that it is designed to emphasise the difference in status between those who wear it and those who do not.
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British politics and the lost art of rhetoric
Hilary Benn and others were acclaimed for their speeches in the Syria debate in the Commons. But if this was the House at its best, its best is not good enough.
ReadRazed to Life
We often feel it is important to preserve what we have inherited, but unless we appreciate that we would not even have such an inheritance unless others had been willing to tamper with what they in turn were bequeathed, we cannot understand what is really at stake and what matters.
ReadHow do we respect others’ choices?
True respect in a multicultural society first requires that everyone sees others as capable of hearing their criticisms and entering into robust debate about them. There is nothing respectful in thinking that people are either too tender or too murderously zealous to defend themselves civilly.
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