Said and Done

From the forthcoming issue of Critical Muslim 40: Biography, edited by Ziauddin Sardar, we preview this review by Hurst author Professor Faisal Devji of the recent biography of Edward Said.

Israel and the UAE

For over a decade now, Israel and several of the Gulf monarchies have been moving closer together, a shared animus towards Iran being the most obvious driver pushing the UAE, Bahrain and, albeit more slowly, Saudi Arabia to align their regional security interests ever more closely with those of Israel.

Celebrity Academics

In the neoliberal 1990s Hollywood became the model for elite American universities. Celebrity academics, paid much more than their colleagues in secretive deals, were part of a financing formula that included large capital projects like recreational facilities, satellite campuses and terms abroad.

Why we should listen to social scientists about Covid-19

In recent weeks, UK citizens have been regularly assured that government policy related to the Covid-19 pandemic is ‘guided by the science’. Given that many of the policies rolled out relate to ‘social distancing’, it is striking that one type of science—‘social science’—has remained largely absent from the airwaves.

The 1918 Influenza Pandemic

Excerpt from Chapter 10 of An African in Imperial London: The Indomitable Life of A.B.C. Merriman-Labor.

In the middle of August 1918, the H.M.S. Mantua was only two days into its familiar route from the Royal Navy Base in Devonport, England, to Sierra Leone when influenza broke out on board.

The Independent Latvia: 30 Years On

The history of the Latvian people begins some four and a half millennia ago with the arrival of the proto-Baltic Indo-Europeans to northern Europe. A ‘Singing Revolution’ and the achievement of independence took place on 18 November 1989, 30 years ago today.