Padraig Reidy
Haaretz.com
Contact Padraig
Discover and connect with journalists and influencers around the world, save time on email research, monitor the news, and more.
| Recent: |
|
| Past: |
|
Past articles by Padraig:
Liberals, don't celebrate Facebook's ban on anti-Semites and hard right extremists
Facebook's ban on right-wing conspiracists like Alex Jones has led to an outpouring of grief from the permanently outraged and self-pitying 'conservative' social media - and Donald Trump. But liberals should listen up → Read More
How Steve Bannon teased New York's liberal elite – and came out on top
The messy way the New Yorker’s David Remnick invited Bannon to an 'informal, free-ranging discussion' - then backed out - raises censorship issues that the hard-right ideologue can happily exploit. More dismally, it damages progressive politics, too → Read More
This book encouraged anti-Semites to help the Nazis kill France's Jews. It should be republished
The foundational texts of violent racism, from Mein Kampf to the Turner Diaries, can justly be accused of having blood on their pages. But if our current political climate teaches us anything, it's that censoring intolerable views is no substitute to challenging them → Read More
Anger Gone Viral
British Labour MP Jo Cox was a committed advocate of the European Union, and a believer in Britain’s ability to do good in the world. She campaigned for the rights of Syrians — both those in her country and those still trying to find a refuge. She believed peaceful, wealthy, democratic countries had a duty to help those suffering from war, poverty and tyranny. Continue reading → Read More
Yes It Can Happen: Populist Conservatives Led UK out of European Union
The American political establishment should take note of what has happened. What was inconceivable for Britain just a few months ago has suddenly become reality. Continue reading → Read More
Brexit Anyone? Why the US Should Care About Thursday's Vote in the UK
Like its former colony, Britain is in the midst of a divisive and at times ugly debate over national identity and the nation's role in the world, with accusations of bad faith the order of the day. And, as in the US, the fissures are not so much along traditional party lines as they are between internationally-oriented elites and those who feel misled, undermined or usurped by them and their… → Read More
How London's Sadiq Khan Triumphed Over Race-Baiting
A race between two seemingly boring London mayoral candidates turned into a referendum on the city's tolerance. → Read More
The 'gay cake' ruling against a Christian bakery could lead to even more discrimination
Forcing Ashers bakery to sell a pro-gay marriage cake may seem a success for gay rights, but it's opened a very strange can of worms → Read More
Chapel Hill murders: Is Stephen Hicks a terrorist?
Is slaughter made more or less awful if we more strictly categorise the perpetrator? → Read More
Will anyone stand up and say: Je suis Dieudonne?
The French comedian on trial for glorifying the Charlie Hebdo attacks is not a likeable man. But legal sanctions have so far failed to fight anti-Semitism in France → Read More
We must stop blaming ourselves for Islamist terror
It is tempting to think the Islamic fanaticism is purely a reaction to the West, but jihadists kill because that is what they do → Read More
Veena Malik and the modern witch-hunt of Pakistani blasphemy laws
Pakistan’s blasphemy laws are a menace to everyone in the country; even speaking out against them now constitutes blasphemy itself → Read More
Veema Malik and the modern witch-hunt of Pakistani blasphemy laws
Pakistan’s blasphemy laws are a menace to everyone in the country; even speaking out against them now constitutes blasphemy itself → Read More
St Julian of Assange sits atop his pillar in the desert, preaching to no one
What does one do, trapped, by one’s own volition, in the same tiny space for two years? Suspended in time and space, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange would in past times have been a hermit, an ascetic, even a saint. He brings to mind the Stylites, early Christians perched atop pillars in the Syrian desert. Simeon, [...] → Read More
Bert and Ernie, gay marriage, and feeding sectarian tensions with cake
I have always been a little suspicious of the idea that Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street are a gay couple. I mean, I wouldn’t be surprised or concerned if they were – I’d be very happy for them. But the status seems to have been foisted upon them. It’s not surprising. Liberals love Sesame [...] → Read More
The 'right to be forgotten', or hiding uncomfortable facts?
What constitutes one’s reputation? And how much control should you have over how the world views you? One has some right to privacy, certainly, and people should not be allowed to lie about you to your detriment (no one has ever claimed to be defamed by wrongful assertions that they were handsome, generous and a [...] → Read More
World Cup 2014: I may pass the Tebbit Test, but in football it's still Anyone But England
I spent last Monday at Lord’s, watching Sri Lanka hang on for a draw against England on the last day of the Test. It was a gloriously English afternoon of first-class cricket, threatening-but-never-materialising rain, warm beer and overpriced, Jamie Oliver-branded food. Bliss was it in that day to be alive, But to be at the [...] → Read More
China's Sina Weibo is in danger of becoming boring - just how the authorities want it
Comment: The success of China's censorship of microblogging sites could become a model for other nations → Read More
The Rubberbandits are heirs to the Irish tradition of great, unsettling satire
Every Irish person who has ever tried to write satire has laboured under the weight of the existence of Flann O’Brien. Especially O’Brien. We lie awake at night, thinking up funny little epigrams. We reach for our bedside “Funny Ideas” notebook. Just as we are about to write down our hilarious observation that President Higgins [...] → Read More
Catholic counselling for gay students? Banned! – Telegraph Blogs
Galway city is a pretty cool place, with a vibrant cultural life dominated by its university. It’s a haven for a particular kind of folksy, Irish-speaking liberalism, personified by our current president, Michael D Higgins, who studied and lectured at University College Galway (now National University of Ireland – Galway). The kind of place one [...] → Read More