The boy had the best possible view of the cricket from high on a tree. It was January 20 in 1958, the third day of the first ever Test match between Pakistan and the West Indies, held in Barbados. Hanif Mohammad had just come in to bat, with Pakistan in a hopeless position, when the […]
The flavour of Brexit is present in everyday London life. This is the concluding part. Today, the latest nutrition research recommends moderation, which is common sense. Saturated fats should play a significant but not major role in diet. All the foods which were considered suspect for so many years, from eggs to butter, from steaks […]
Caught up in the Brexit wave. This is the first part of a two-part long form Leaving New York – with a lingering look at the first lovely sunny day of the US spring. I landed in England to be immediately caught up in the Brexit wave. On the two hour ride into Cambridge, my […]
New York remains a city of multi-cultural delights. This is the concluding part of yesterday’s long form Given Andrew Sullivan’s emphasis on anomie as a factor in this year’s election campaign, the implication, which he himself failed to draw, is that the person best placed to deal with Trump would be none other than Bernie […]
Notes on a trip to New York. This is the first part of a two-part long form I had no sooner arrived in the city that New York magazine blasted me between the eyes with a major piece by Andrew Sullivan titled “Our democracy has never been so ripe for tyranny”. For me, and for […]
Islam and the search for truth are not mutually exclusive. This is the final part of a three-part long form piece At the sub-atomic level too there are exact dependencies. Neutrons and protons are the constituents of every atomic nucleus, and electrons and neutrinos are fundamental particles. As Davies describes it in Goldilocks: “The fact […]
Islam and the search for truth are not mutually exclusive. This is part two of a three-part long form piece The current thinking is that a significant role in evolution is played by what are known as “epigenetic” influences — epigenetic means “beyond genes” which by definition means that the “exclusively gene-based” neo-Darwinian synthesis is invalid. […]
Islam and the search for truth are not mutually exclusive. This is the first part of a three-part long form piece I would like to preface my piece with a strong and unreserved condemnation of the barbaric killings of atheistic-minded bloggers and authors in recent times, in Bangladesh. Specifically, this kind of violent response to […]
So, another edition of the Dhaka Art Summit comes to a close, and we are once again overwhelmed by the visual treasures that were on display over the three days. I can’t begin to explain, on behalf of everybody, how grateful we are for the efforts of Diana Campbell’s team, led by Nadia and Rajeeb […]
When the gracious young lady who is helping to organize the Hay Festival assigned this book to me to review, she said breezily, “It’ll be perfect for you because you’re so into cricket!” Having come to the end of this marvellous, sprawling, picaresque novel I can see how in one sense this observation was right […]