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SubscriptionsSection: Argument
Honestly held opinions and provocative argument based on current events or our recent reports.
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Tear Down the Tyrants, Reappraise the Past
As the Black Lives Matter movement removes a symbol of slavery and Empire from the heart of Bristol, Otto English explains why misplaced reverence for these relics of a shameful past has had its time
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Make Black Lives Matter By Ending the ‘War on Drugs’
More than 50 years ago, Richard Nixon decided to deliberately vilify and disrupt black communities in America through his ‘War on Drugs’ – the consequences of which must be tackled if fresh calls for an end to racial injustice are to succeed
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Privatised Failure: The Conservatives Sidelined Public Health for the Market
Molly Scott Cato detects a pattern in the multiple failures of the UK Government to get to grips with the Coronavirus pandemic
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Beyond Exceptional: The Etonian English Imperialism at the Heart of a Deadly COVID-19 Crisis
With one of the highest Coronavirus death rates in the world, the UK has proven itself to be exceptional. But its problems go beyond shallow notions of complacency and are rooted in deep-seated structural and cultural oppression
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White Complicity Matters: The Nazis by the Lake
Musa Okwonga’s message to white people following the murder of George Floyd.
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The Government’s Reaction To BAME Deaths Tells Us Everything We Already Knew About Our Society
Two frontline NHS doctors explain why racism at the heart of British institutions must be called out and eradicated to stop any more unnecessary deaths of minorities.
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The US Protests Reveal How Gun Culture Has Always Been About White Supremacy
CJ Werleman explores how the right to bear arms and racial injustice in America have always been intertwined – a relationship which can be seen again in the reaction of gun advocates to Donald Trump’s use of force against protestors now
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The Sick Man of Europe: How Historians Will View the UK’s ‘Lockdown Generation’
Stephen Colegrave looks at the structural failures behind Britain’s COVID-19 catastrophe from the perspective of ten years’ time
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Wales Should Go Its Own Way to Tackle the Coronavirus Crisis
The Leader of Plaid Cymru sets out why he believes that following the Westminster Government has left Wales on the back foot in controlling COVID-19.
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Donald Trump: Make America Hate Again
James Melville explains why the US President was always destined to burn bridges rather than build them, and how he fans the flames of racism
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Blinding Science: Boris Johnson is Unravelling a 200-year-old Tradition of Public Health
Dr John Ashton, a former director of public health, argues that the Prime Minister’s handling of the Dominic Cummings scandal is a tipping point in the politics of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Is the United States on the Brink of Another Civil War?
With protests taking place across cities in America following the murder of George Floyd, CJ Werleman considers whether the country could descend into all-out conflict sparked by continuing racial injustice.
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Will Boris Johnson Strike a Bad Deal on Brexit as the Coronavirus Crisis Continues?
Mike Buckley on why, amidst the pandemic, the public should still be kept informed of the looming deadlines over the UK’s future relationship with the EU – and whether it will be deal or ‘no deal’.
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‘Tommy Robinson’ and the Hundred-Year-Old Racist Rape Meme
Stephen Yaxley-Lennon’s former producer explains why sexual fears of non-white foreigners are being used to aggravate racial tensions in the UK.
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Conservatives Want Boris Johnson to be the Fall Guy for Britain’s Coronavirus Catastrophe
Drawing on his experience working on political campaigns and advising governments, Stephen Colegrave sees a bleak future for the Prime Minister after his handling of COVID-19
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Five Things Dominic Cummings Could Have Over Boris Johnson
With the Government mounting an unprecedented defence of the unelected chief advisor, Peter Jukes tries to work out what makes him so indispensable.
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The Coronavirus Crisis: 100,000 People Are Dead – But America Doesn’t Mourn Black and Brown Lives
The COVID-19 pandemic has once again exposed what ‘White America’ believes to be of value in the US, argues CJ Werleman.
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In this Age of Untruth BBC Journalists Are Being Taken for a Ride
Former BBC producer Patrick Howse considers the different approaches of Laura Kuenssberg and Emily Maitlis and what this tells us about the state of the public service broadcaster.
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The Cummings Scandal Shows Us Just How Dependent the Billionaire Press is on Boris Johnson
Brian Cathcart explains why Britain’s right-wing newspapers will try their best to support the Government in its attempts to ‘move on’ from the scandal of the Prime Minister’s chief advisor.
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Cummings’ Contempt for Us All has Revealed the Real Man Behind the Myths
Otto English shares a personal story of tragedy during the lockdown which was unfolding at the same time as Dominic Cummings was conducting his Barnard Castle eye test. My family loves Easter Sunday. It marks the start of spring and who doesn’t like a party? This year, the visits from favourite relatives and friends were…
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The COVID-19 Crisis is a Chance to Reinvent Education for the 21st Century
Dr John Ashton, a former director of public health, argues that we must not miss the opportunity to modernise education in the UK and, at the same time, tackle social injustices following the Coronavirus pandemic.
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The Conservative Government is Protecting Dominic Cummings More than they have Protected our Care Homes
James Melville argues that the Dominic Cummings Scandal has become Boris Johnson’s ‘Black Wednesday’ moment when authority drains away even from his core support
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Dominic Cummings’ Biggest Blind Spot is Dominic Cummings
Hardeep Matharu explores why the chief advisor’s revelation about his failing eyesight was so revealing – about his lack of self-knowledge and need for reality.
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Boris Johnson Cannot be Allowed to Treat the Country as his own Private Urinal
To Musa Okwonga, the Dominic Cummings scandal proves that the Prime Minister and his Cabinet are no longer public servants — they treat the public as their servants.
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14,000 Brits Could Now Appeal Lockdown Fines Thanks to Dominic Cummings
Gareth Roberts explores the unexpected legal consequences of the Government’s defence of the Prime Minister’s chief advisor
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Bearing False Witness: How Mr and Mrs Cummings Broke the Ninth Commandment
Reverend Joe Haward provides a Bylines Times ‘Thought for the Day’, in light of current events and the duty in the Ten Commandments to tell the truth.
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Ruling from the Shadows: Why Dominic Cummings Poses a Threat to the Country
The track record of the Prime Minister’s chief advisor – under fire for breaking lockdown rules – has proved him to be anything but transparent, writes Iain Overton.
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Is Murdoch’s New Radio Station Part of Dominic Cummings’ Onslaught on his ‘Mortal Enemy’ the BBC?
Ellin Stein considers whether Times Radio could be part of a wider campaign against public service broadcasting in the UK
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Boris Johnson’s Latest Weapon of Mass Distraction
Knighting Captain Tom Moore – rightly admired for his fundraising for the NHS – is a cynical ploy by a populist Prime Minister struggling to do his job in an actual crisis, says Otto English.
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PEAK DENIAL: How the Corporate Press Negates Journalism
By failing to be transparent about themselves, it is difficult to trust most of the mainstream newspapers when it comes to the truth about others.
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The Northern Hemisphere Must Not Stand by and Let Coronavirus Devastate the South
Portia Antonia Alexis looks at the devastating results if COVID-19 runs rife in the southern hemisphere and how an international response is needed to save more than 30 million lives.
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After the COVID-19 Crisis, Social Care Needs a Rapid Ownership Re-Think
After more than 12,500 care home deaths, Iwan Doherty considers what should happen now that business model for social care has proved itself to be not fit for purpose.
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The Coronavirus Crisis: Boris Johnson’s COVID-19 Message Exploits a Long-Established Culture of Individualism
Jon Bailes explores why the Government may have changed its Coronavirus messaging to ‘Stay Alert’ and how this represents the tenets of a culture in which social problems are blamed on perceived individual failings.
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The Mainstream Media Needs to Give Learning Disabled People their Own Voice
Saba Salman calls on the mainstream media to more accurately reflect the lives of those with learning disabilities and explains how her new book of essays, written by the learning disabled, aims to change the narrative.
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A LAX LOCKDOWN: ‘On Behalf of the Children Keep the Schools Closed’
16-year-old student Olivia Eren explains why students distrust the Government’s plans to reopen schools and defends teachers against the tabloid onslaught.
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The Coronavirus Crisis: It’s Time to Discuss the United States’ Most Dangerous 36%
CJ Werleman discusses a new poll which indicates sustained support for Donald Trump over COVID-19 and distrust of the country’s top infectious disease expert – and where this lethal aversion to the truth among a sizable part of the population could lead.
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In a Life and Death Crisis, Will the British People Finally Wake-Up to the Reality of Boris Johnson?
Musa Okwonga explains why, despite the Government’s objectively scandalous handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, those in the UK remain broadly supportive of the Prime Minister.
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The Coronavirus Crisis: Beware the Hawks and Vultures Cashing In On Public Health
Azfar Shafi examines how the conflation of security and public health, as the COVID-19 pandemic unfolds, has the potential to hollow out our public services to an extent not seen before.
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Stay Alert. Take Back Control. Don’t Blame Us
Mike Buckley argues that the UK Government’s apparently confusing ‘Stay Alert’ messaging is actually carefully calibrated to wash their hands of blame.
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BAME Coronavirus Deaths Inquiry: Trevor Phillips Appointment ‘Insensitive and Insulting’
As British Muslims on the healthcare frontline bear the brunt of COVID-19 fatalities, Dr Shazad Amin joins mounting calls for Public Health England to reverse its decision.
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Nigel Farage’s End of the Pier Show
Otto English delves into how the Brexit Party leader is keeping himself relevant now that we have taken back control and his American dreams have not come to fruition.
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Strangling Democracy: Millions Paid to Corporate Press at the Expense of Journalism
With Boris Johnson handing out millions of pounds of public money to subsidise a cheerleading press, Brian Cathcart says that the corruption is so brazen it takes your breath away.
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Dangerous and Subversive – The Government’s New ‘Stay Alert’ COVID-19 Messaging
Rebecca Welshman detects a disturbing subtext which echoes Boris Johnson’s Churchillian rhetoric over the pandemic while shifting blame away from his administration.
