Martin In The Margins

I thought I’d write something about the evolution of my political opinions. Not because I’m immodest enough to think that my vie...

I imagine serious historians must tear their hair out at programmes like Roundhead or Cavalier: Which One Are You?  which was on BBC 4 la...

There’s a fascinating debate about the nature of belief going on between Norm and Peter , prompted by something Richard wrote, and with ...

Following a recommendation from The New Centrist (to whom warm congratulations are due, by the way, on the birth of a junior TNC), I've...

There was a very affecting piece in Friday's Guardian about a woman in her early 60s with dementia, and the experience of her husband a...

New genetic research has revealed that as many as 20 per cent of Spanish and Portuguese men have Sephardic Jewish ancestry, while 11 per ce...

On my list of books that I plan to read in the near future are Kenan Malik's Strange Fruit: Why Both Sides are Wrong in the Race Debate ...

As if to prove my point about the sexism of BBC tennis coverage, the tweedy-voiced male commentator has just (2.05 p.m.) described Anne Keo...

Scientists claim to have discovered that gay men and heterosexual women share similar kinds of brains, as do straight men and lesbians. App...

Reading Bob's post about forgetting to celebrate St. George's Day (I did too - only being reminded of it by the garish red and whit...

Our brief Easter holiday in the sun provided an opportunity for some intensive poolside reading. Having read some rave reviews on the intern...

Two brief insights into the nature of belief, and the unreliability of surveys that ask about people's faith. First, Stephen Pinker: Whe...

Having chastised Tristram Hunt here for his sneering at the 'new atheist orthodoxy' and his quivering excitement at the 'radica...

And along similar lines ... Just as children shouldn't be defined by religious labels, nor should neighbourhoods. In Small Heath, Birmin...

There are links between some cases of 'honour' killing in Britain and extreme Islamist groups, according to a BBC investigation . No...

Following on from my last post - and Jonathan Freedland's suggestion that Britain needs a republican revolution before we can be sort ou...

Government ministers trying to encourage a sense of 'Britishness' make me deeply uncomfortable ( with one or two exceptions ), for m...

You have to admire his pluck. After his controversial intervention in the veil debate last year, Leader of the Commons Jack Straw has moved ...