SubscriptionsColumn / Investigation: Strangers & Neighbours
Byline Times analysis of community cohesion and sectarian attempts to break it through the racialisation of poverty, Islamophobia as policy, the asylum system as spectacle, and the culture war waged against plural Britain.
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Fake History: The New Brexiter Great Crusade
In the second part of his look at Brexit ‘campaigning’ groups, Otto English explores the attempts of those trying to weaponise their versions of British history and turning it into an orthodoxy which cannot be challenged
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The Precariat Generation: Young Conservative Voters’ Attitudes At Odds With Government Policy
New polling has revealed high support among young Conservatives for a stronger social safety net at a time when the Government is set to cut benefits for the poorest families
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A Royal Cover-Up: The Hidden Hand of Monarchy Blocking the Public’s Right to See Lord Mountbatten’s Diaries
David Hencke reports on the long-running battle of historian Andrew Lownie against the Government over the release of documents which were bought on behalf of the public for millions of pounds by Southampton University The hidden hand of the Royal Family is behind the Government’s determination to stop the publication of some of the diaries…
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The History Racket: Blowing the Whistle on the Official Versions and Perversions of the Past
Peter Jukes and Hardeep Matharu explore the real threats to history – emanating not from ‘wokeists’ intent on rewriting the past but an establishment elite regularly burying inconvenient truths to maintain Britain’s mythic narratives
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Past Imperfect: Astroturfing History
As the battles of Brexit morph into a culture war, Otto English detects a pattern among the ‘concerned citizens’ demanding Britain ‘takes back control’ of its past
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Why We Need New Statues Reflecting Britain’s Diverse History
MP Preet Kaur Gill explains why she is backing a new campaign for public artwork commemorating people who are under-represented and forgotten in the country’s narratives about its past
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The Government’s New Disability Strategy is No Strategy At All
Pepper offers her own suggestions for policies that would help remove barriers for disabled people
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The Child Asylum Seekers Accused of Faking their Ages by the Home Office
The Government has committed to resettling 5,000 Afghan refugees this year – but will they be met with the same culture of disbelief that has led to children seeking asylum struggling to get help?
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The Government is Crying Crocodile Tears Over Free Speech On Campuses
The Government’s Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill will limit, rather than protect, academic freedom, argue Liz Fekete and Liam Shrivastava
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Only 13% of Afghan Children Granted Asylum Since 2009 Were Girls
Data analysed by the Byline Intelligence Team reveals that most Afghan people seeking asylum in the UK are young men and boys – as charities call for an asylum system that works for everybody and fears continue about what Taliban rule will mean for women in Afghanistan
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‘Deserving’ or ‘Undeserving’ Refugees? Johnson and Patel’s Afghanistan Problem
With a key pillar of the Government’s ‘culture war’ protecting our island nation from unpalatable ‘others’, Hardeep Matharu explores the crass and complex classifications at the heart of the Government’s neocolonial immigration policy
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Light and Shadows: Law-Makers and Populist Attacks – A Transatlantic Comparison
Amid the multiple similarities between the populism of Donald Trump and Brexit, Peter Jukes and Heidi Siegmund Cuda look at the stark differences between the way in which the UK Parliament and the US Congress deal with threats to democracy
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Right-Wing Media’s Manufactured Fears Over ‘Blasphemy’ are Another Arm of the Culture War’s White Jingoist Agenda
Constructed fears around the return of blasphemy laws enable Islamophobia and distract from a reactionary recasting of British values, says Dr Richard McNeil-Willson
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Johnsonian Policy: The Lord of Misrule
Professor Chris Painter looks at the Government’s unprecedented and unilaterist policy-making and the dire implications for the quality of UK governance
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Travels on Another Path: Obstacles for a Disabled Explorer
Penny Pepper shares her experiences of trips away and why, despite doing everything to mitigate it, the challenges of travel continue to reinforce disabled people’s second-class status
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Northern Ireland Amnesty: ‘How can you Build Reconciliation on Denying People the Right to Truth?’
Anne Cadwallader reports on cross-party opposition in Northern Ireland and among human rights groups to the UK Government’s decision to end prosecutions for crimes committed during the ‘Troubles’
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The Death of the Last Good Chap
Why do those in positions of power now evade accountability despite numerous examples of incompetence, dangerous liaisons, lies, and even corruption at the heart of Boris Johnson’s Government? Because the British political system allows them to, says Gavin Esler
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‘Dancing Queen?’: The Fixed Term Parliaments Act and the Return of the Royal Prerogative
Historian Robert Saunders considers the constitutional consequences of a new bill which transfers the power to dissolve Parliament to the Crown and removes checks on the Prime Minister
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Subverting the ‘Will of the People’: How Brexit Sowed the Wind
Chris Grey explores the forces unleashed by Brexit and how they reveal the weaknesses of Britain’s unwritten Constitution – vulnerable in its reliance on norms and conventions to deliver representative democracy
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England’s Upper Classes – A Dangerous Cult
Otto English shares the story of his late mother’s ‘double life’ and explores how class continues to define British society in damaging, limiting ways
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Kicking Back: Why the Conservative ‘Culture Wars’ Backfired
Jon Bloomfield and David Edgar analyse a historic victory for anti-racism but warn that the ‘War on Woke’ isn’t over and that new alliances are needed
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The National Trust and the Culture War: A Dissection of Dishonest Journalism as a Tool of the ‘War on Woke’
Again and again, newspapers hounding the heritage body refuse to let facts get in their way, reports Brian Cathcart
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‘Good Chaps’ Left the Building a While Ago, Britain – It’s Time to Wake Up
Hardeep Matharu argues that Labour MP Dawn Butler’s removal from the House of Commons after calling Boris Johnson a ‘liar’ finally exposed the structural failings at the heart of the British state
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Priti Patel, Nigel Farage, and the Fake News Around Asylum Claims
The numbers of people seeking asylum and refugee resettlements in the UK don’t match the rhetoric coming from Government or the Right, finds the Byline Times Intelligence team
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The Prime Monger: Johnson’s ‘Culture War’ is a Core Part of his Strategic Racism
Martin Shaw explains how Boris Johnson’s racist remarks are far from casual, and that fighting ‘woke’ anti-racism is an essential part of his ethno-nationalist electoral strategy
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Own Goal: Government Faces the Consequences of its Culture War
In this turning point in the ‘war on woke’ may be the seeds of a new revolution, says Jonathan Lis
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Raising Racism: Are We Witnessing Progress in How Parliament Discusses Race?
Natasha Livingstone looks at the data around the use of the term in Parliament and explores its importance
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Englishness Evolves
Otto English charts the different strands of English identity over the years and how a dark turn may now be giving way to something altogether more inclusive, decent and inspiring
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How Johnson Decries Racism Against Footballers While Implementing Legislation That Fuels a Racist Culture War
Ben Geblum analyses how recent legislation from the Higher Education Bill to the New Plan for Immigration undermines the Government’s recent anti-racist statements
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Government Accused of Being in Breach of UN Human Rights Obligations on Race
A new report undermines the Government’s claims that systemic racism is not an issue in the UK and that accusations of white privilege is undermining white boys’ educational attainment
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Vote Leave’s Tearing Up of the Rules Comes Back to Bite its Leaders
The ‘culture war’ waged by Boris Johnson and Priti Patel relies on fear and silence – which is why Tyrone Mings’ intervention has been so powerful and unprecedented, says Sam Bright
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Boris Johnson Halts Update to Government Conduct ‘Bible’
The Cabinet Manual is 10 years out of date, yet the Prime Minister has shelved plans to refresh it, reports David Hencke
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A Pitched Battle: Johnson and Patel’s Culture War Flaw Finally Exposed
Peter Jukes and Hardeep Matharu argue that the racist abuse targeted at England’s black players has revealed why the Government’s attacks on ‘wokeism’ will not ultimately win out
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Extinguishing Political Fire and Fury: Kim Leadbeater and the Lessons of Keir Hardie
Reverend Joe Haward reflects on the Batley and Spen by-election, and the necessity for a more compassionate political climate
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Euro 2020: Football Cuts Through Westminster Deception to Reveal England’s Real Soul
Sam Bright explores why the Euros, like the 2012 Olympics, has revealed a more tolerant, unified country than vocal voices on the right aim to depict otherwise
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The Death Of Convention
Stephen Colegrave considers how Boris Johnson has used the vagueness and vulnerability of Britain’s unwritten constitution to erode democracy
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The Desperate ‘Deep Woke’ Attacks on Southgate’s Squad Speak for Themselves
The England football team, under its exceptional manager, has come to embody tolerance, fairness and unity, says Gary Gowers
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Liberty, Equality, Infirmity?
As members of the House of Lords discuss lifting pandemic measures put in place to enable disabled peers to discharge their duties from home, Penny Pepper explains how archaic attitudes are still plain to see in society
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Empire Men: ‘The Sweet, Just, Boyish Masters’
Jake Arnott reveals the repressions that drove British Empire Men such as General Gordon, Lord Kitchener, Cecil Rhodes, Robert Baden-Powell and T. E. Lawrence
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From George Orwell to Priti Patel: How Britain Brought its Colonial Policing Home
As the Metropolitan Police is judged to be institutionally corrupt, Hardeep Matharu and Peter Jukes explore how some of the biggest problems still plaguing British policing are embedded in the soil of British colonialism
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The Batley Battleground: A Microcosm of England’s Fractured Political Climate
The divisive, hostile forces that have plagued politics in recent years are now running wild in the West Yorkshire constituency, says Sam Bright
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The Brexit Project’s Appropriation of the ‘Left Behind’
Five years after the EU Referendum, Sam Bright considers how perceptions of Brexit-voting areas have been warped by radical right-wing forces
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Selective Free Speech: Academics Discussing Race Face the Real Cancel Culture
Black, Asian and ethnic minority academics and university staff increasingly encounter a ‘cancel culture’ when discussing race – as the usual free speech advocates stay silent, Sian Norris reports
