Jawad Iqbal is a broadcaster and ex-television news executive. Jawad is a former Visiting Senior Fellow in the Institute of Global Affairs at the LSE
A month is a long time in American politics – or so it would seem judging by the growing split among US Democrats over the Israel-Hamas war. In the days immediately after Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October, killing 1,400 people and taking more than 240 hostages, Democrats across the board in America offered unequivocal
Now that Sir Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, has defied calls to ban a pro-Palestinian march through London on Armistice Day, attention inevitably turns to what might happen on the day itself. Will there be violence? Could groups intent on causing mayhem splinter from the main protest? Will counter-protesters clash with pro-Palestinian demonstrators? How
It is hard to know what to make of the sheer mindless stupidity of some people who claim to support the cause of Palestinians in the Israel-Gaza conflict. Boxes of live rodents have now been released at a number of McDonald’s restaurants, apparently as part of pro-Palestinian protests. One incident took place on Monday in
Fifa, world football’s governing body, is an organisation that is devoid of anything resembling a moral compass. In its place, the organisation chases money. That is why it comes as no great surprise that Saudi Arabia is set to host the 2034 World Cup, after Australia – the only other nation considering a bid –
The appearance at the Covid inquiry of Martin Reynolds has been a real eye-opener in some rather unexpected ways. Reynolds was one of the most senior civil servants in Downing Street in the lead-up to the 2020 pandemic, effectively acting as the prime minister’s eyes and ears. The former principal private secretary to Boris Johnson came
It was always a question of when, not if, the Labour party would start tearing itself apart over the Israel-Hamas war. The only surprise is the scale and speed with which the veneer of party unity has crumbled. It has revealed deep and vitriolic divisions between the Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer over his support
The Secretary General of the United Nations is conventionally thought of as the world’s most high-profile diplomat, charged with the responsibility of bringing calm and astute leadership to bear at times of war and international crisis. This is a core purpose and mission that appears to have escaped the attention of Antonio Guterres, the UN’s
An India-Pakistan cricket match is always about much more than just cricket. It is a sporting rivalry and grudge match like no other, a titanic clash in which it is almost impossible to separate sport from politics. That’s why hundreds of millions of fans will be glued to their television screens for this Saturday’s match at
Birmingham City’s new American owners are hungry for success and think Wayne Rooney, the former Manchester United and England striker, is the man to deliver it. That’s why they’ve sacked manager John Eustace and handed Rooney a three and a half year contract. Tom Wagner, Birmingham’s co-owner, claims Rooney will take the club on the
Harvard university is at the centre of an unprecedented backlash after some of its students released an inflammatory statement claiming Israel was ‘entirely responsible’ for the Hamas attacks last weekend. There was widespread criticism of the statement, with Harvard alumni and distinguished public officials from across the political spectrum expressing their outrage. This was in stark
What was Kevin Keegan, the former England and Newcastle manager, thinking when he decided to share his views on ‘lady footballers’ and female pundits talking about the England men’s team? Keegan made the remarks to an audience of about 250 people who had bought tickets to An Evening with Kevin Keegan OBE, an event held
National Theatre Wales (NTW), the country’s flagship English language company, has warned that it might be forced to close in six months’ time following a cut to its funding. The company has received financial support from the Arts Council of Wales (ACW) for the entirety of its existence but will no longer do so from
The Premier League needs to wake up and smell the coffee: there is nothing sacrosanct about football matches that kick off at 3 p.m. on Saturdays, especially in an age when televised games are so ubiquitous. It is time to ditch the arcane rule that imposes a TV blackout of Saturday afternoon games – for the sake
John Bercow, the former speaker of the House of Commons and one of the most divisive figures in modern politics, has signed up to to appear in the US version of the hit series The Traitors. Anyone struggling to understand how or why probably doesn’t know that video clips of Bercow arbitrating Brexit parliamentary debates and
Canada has accused India of being behind the assassination of a Sikh-Canadian citizen on its soil – an unprecedented charge to make against a democracy and fellow G7 nation. The Canadians claim to be investigating ‘credible allegations’ that Indian agents were behind the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh separatist leader. Nijjar, a Canadian citizen,
Today marks the anniversary of the brutal slaying of 22-year old Mahsa Amini at the hands of Iran’s so-called morality police – a death that fuelled mass protests on a scale not seen since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Yet 12 months on from what briefly looked like an unprecedented threat to four decades of theocratic rule
The public mockery of Harry Maguire, the hapless Manchester United and England defender, has moved from being a bit of a joke to something a little more troubling, sinister even. The abuse, ridicule and attention he gets is way over the top, and increasingly resembles a publicly-sanctioned collective humiliation of one player. The unfortunate Maguire
Angela Rayner, the Labour deputy leader, would have people believe she is made in the mould of Barbara Castle, the radical Labour minister, now seen as one of the most significant women politicians of the 20th century. When Rayner was challenged on the BBC’s Today programme that she was more often viewed as a deputy leader
Simon McDonald, the former Permanent Secretary of the Foreign Office, really needs to engage his brain before opening his mouth — especially when the television cameras are rolling. Lord McDonald of Salford has admitted revealing to his staff as well as ministers that he voted Remain in the 2016 EU referendum. His jaw-dropping confession —
Rishi Sunak, the first British leader of Indian descent, has to walk an unenviable political tightrope at this weekend’s G20 Summit in India. It is Sunak’s first visit to the country as prime minister, and Indians have given him the kind of welcome usually reserved for an all-conquering hero returning home. Sunak himself acknowledged that
