Category Archives: Crime and Justice
Jodie Foster on why The Silence of The Lambs is a perfect film
I recently wrote about why the 1990s was such an amazing time to be a young woman. Jodie Foster confirmed the sense of a breakthrough at a screening of The Silence of The Lambs on Friday night at the BFI … Continue reading
Posted in Crime and Justice, Film
Tagged 90s, anthony hopkins, bfi, cinema, feminism, film, Hollywood, jodie foster, jonathan demme, the silence of the lambs
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Filth, fury and the funny way Britain feels about Joe Orton
You never forget your first time. I was 19 years old. I descended into a dark, cramped basement where student actors brought to life a weird, twisted sexual triangle. Going to student drama productions in odd spaces around the University … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Crime and Justice, Culture, Film, Media, Radio, Theatre, TV, Uncategorized
Tagged 60s, crime, culture, dr emma parker, elitism, film, joe orton, john lahr, kenneth halliwell, Kenneth Williams, Leicester, leonie orton, literature, London, prick up your ears, satire, sheila hancock, soft touch arts, tv
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The poison that is destroying civility and how to fight it
âHow did you get into first class? You donât deserve to be in first class. âYou should be in common class. In fact, you shouldnât be in this country at all. âYou donât deserve to be here. âšBloody foreigners. Where … Continue reading
Posted in Crime and Justice, Culture, journalism, Media, Politics, Theatre
Tagged alexander mackinnon, BIG ISSUE, faisal islam, gina miller, jo cox, john bercow, John Major, monday club, Racism, sanaa shahid, this house
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Bye Bye Baby: The Bay City Rollers & the lost innocence of the 70s
Three ageing rockers are holding up big glasses of milk in a toast. Thereâs always something poignant about seeing how teen stars have aged, but the Bay City Rollers really were angelic faced teeny boppers, and I am stung by … Continue reading
Posted in Crime and Justice, Culture, Music, TV, Uncategorized
Tagged 1970s, 70s, bay city rollers, Caroline Sullivan, jimmy savile, les mckeown, pat mcglynn, tam paton
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Serial killer stories: From Burke and Hare to Tales Of The Grim Sleeper
It was late, I was tired and I needed cheering up and I found this great comedy on TV that Iâd never seen before which did just the job. Burke and Hare, directed by John Landis in 2010 and starring … Continue reading
The truth about true crime: A crime reporter’s qualms about Serial
I’ve reported on violent crime for 25 years including the OJ Simpson case. I consider it a privilege to cover trials. Strip away the glamour of celebrity and a very large proportion, such as the OJ Simpson case, are about … Continue reading
Posted in Crime and Justice, journalism, Media, Radio
Tagged abbottabad, John Sweeney, journalism, Laura Lippman, npr, Osama Bin Laden, Serial
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Outrage is cheap: Challenging politicians about Rotherham, race & misogyny
I suppose it’s good to still get agitated about stories I cover. But the amount of political capital that politicans have tried to make out of the Rotherham child sexual grooming scandal left me all the more appalled when … Continue reading
Posted in Children, Crime and Justice, journalism, Media, Politics
Tagged ann cryer, BBC Inside Out, crime, feminism, grooming, jasvinder sanghera, journalism, karma nirvana, media, politics, rotherham
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Richard Dawkins & the humanist’s dilemma: When faced with Islamic State does “moderate” religious discrimination really matter?
This piece first appeared in The Big Issue magazine – journalism worth paying for. Available from street vendors UK wide or subscription. Blackwell’s bookshop in Oxford has 3 and a half miles of books. It’s a wonderful place. The deputy … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Crime and Justice, History, Media, Religion, Uncategorized
Tagged atheism, Babu Gogineni, Blackwell's bookshop, British Humanist Association, Catholic, Christianity, culture, EM Forster, Francesca Stavrakopoulou, Hinduism, humanism, India, ISIS, Islam, Islamic State, Leo Igwe, media, Nigeria, oxford, publishing, Richard Dawkins, Salman Rushdie, Satanic Verses, Sheldonian Theatre, superstition, Switzerland, terrorism, Valentin Abgottspon, World Humanist Congress
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The Iran hostage crisis, the Stasi and why the past cannot be left behind
I ate my first Passover Seder meal recently, as a guest of Rabbi Jonathan Romain at his synagogue. I had had the ingredients and their symbolic meaning on the seder table memorized since that sheet Miss Thick gave me to … Continue reading
Posted in Crime and Justice, Germany, History, Religion, Uncategorized
Tagged 70s, Holocaust, Iran, Iran hostage crisis, kindertransport, Obama, Passover, Stasi, Thomas Tsasz, US Embassy Tehran
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