Turkey and chemical weapons: the accusations no one wants to investigate

On 27 October, Şebnem Korur Fincancı, the Head of the Turkish Medical Association, was remanded in custody, charged with terrorist propaganda. Her offense? After watching a harrowing video of dying Kurdish guerrillas, Fincancı had called for an independent investigation into allegations of Turkish use of chemical weapons. As Fincancı observed when the state responded to […] Source

Anti-fascist solidarity with Kurdistan

Anti-fascist solidarity with Kurdistan: Scotland v Turkey game  On November 16th, Scotland’s football team is due to play Turkey in a friendly game at Diyarbakır stadium in Turkey’s south-east, the north of Kurdistan, in the region’s biggest city. In Turkey, the Kurdish people are the country’s biggest ethnic minority at around 20% of the population. […] Source

It’s Brexit, stupid

In an interview with the BBC on Friday, the Chancellor-for-the-time-being, a qualification which needs to be added to the titles of every Conservative cabinet minister, was asked why it is that the UK is the only G7 state whose economy is contracting even though all the others are also facing the…

A Reverie for the Future

This article is available in audio format as the first episode of our new podcast 56 Degrees North. You can listen on Anchor or Spotify. I used to write a lot about nostalgia. You probably preferred the earlier stuff. But now, as we look across at the unspooling shambles in Sharm el-Sheikh, our sense of […] Source

Hospital appointment

Just a brief note to let you all know that there won’t be a new blog post today as I have a hospital appointment. It’s just routine, life after a massive stroke involves many more visits to doctors and health professionals than before. However I will be away for several hours…