Culture & History
I write regularly about cultural issues in the British press, including drawing on my work as a historian to provide context for contemporary debate.
I can be irrepressible when talking history: I recently enjoyed explaining the relative sexual virtues of Elizabeth I on Channel 5’s ‘Last Days of Mary Queen of Scots’, and leading a historians’ live-tweet of historical context for the BBC’s Wolf Hall. You’ll also find some of my book reviews, lighter pieces and broader arts writing on this page.
From Euripides to “The Archers”: how Syrian refugees stage their stories
written for The Times, (Times 2 Feature Spread), 12 January 2015 I had a chance to discuss the themes of Trojan Women and its resonance for Syria further here, for Index on Censorship. In the Zaatari refugee camp, 15-year-old Reem, a refugee from Syria, thought she’d be safe. Instead she faces a forced...
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The Death of Klinghoffer is simplistic and dangerous. So is banning it
written for The Spectator, 27 October 2014 My father’s house was razed In 1948 When the Israelis passed over our street I’ve never forgotten the opening lines to John Adam’s 1991 opera, The Death of Klinghoffer. Crisp, elegiac, this ‘Chorus of Exiled Palestinians’ rises up to...
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To understand Isil, Europe must remember its own religious history
written for The Telegraph, 17 September 2014 How do we win the battle of hearts and minds against Isil, Boris Johnson asked on these pages yesterday? Well, comes one obvious answer, by pointing out that they do nasty things to anyone they perceive as their enemy. This is the tack taken by the US State...
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Britain has forgotten its debt to Iraq’s Christians
written for The Telegraph, 25 July 2014 “Nineveh city was a city of sin. The jazzin’ and a-jivin’ made a terrible din.” So starts Michael Hurd’s Jonah-Man Jazz, the Sixties incarnation of a long artistic tradition of celebrating the biblical Nineveh as a city of loose living. Sure, God...
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Censoring Mein Kampf – or anything – simply makes its ugly ideas more attractive
written for The Telegraph, 4 July 2014 Is this the Summer of Censorship? In the US, it emerged that the NBC network requested a film trailer remove the word “abortion” in order to be advertised on its website. From New York to Tel Aviv, there are calls to scrap the Metropolitan Opera’s production of...
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David Aaronovitch doesn’t have to be female to spot that The Vagenda is frippery
written for The Telegraph, 28 April 2014 “Still, in our society, women are subjected to abuse as bitches and ‘hos’, ridiculed for their appearance and somehow incapable of being bishops. Feminism has gone too far? It’s gone nowhere near far enough. Feminism has gone mad? It ought to be as mad...
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