Yasmin Alibhai-Brown

England

Columnist at Freelance

This is what I think. Just me

Articles

I never thought I'd say this, but I actually feel sorry for Sarah Vine

3 weeks ago | inews.co.uk | Yasmin Alibhai-Brown

I’m sure many of you can’t wait to read How Not to be a Political Wife, by Sarah Vine, ex-spouse of the Rt Hon Michael Gove, now editor of The Spectator. It is out on 19 June. So to help you through this nerve-racking time, I’m sharing some thoughts on the excerpts that have been published in the Daily Mail, where she’s been a star columnist for a long time. These extracts are frightfully candid, infuriating and exasperating, sad and bitter, funny, self-aggrandising, unknowing.
Starmer won’t fix child poverty because it doesn’t help him win an election

1 month ago | inews.co.uk | Yasmin Alibhai-Brown

Why do we cast our votes? Why do we choose one party over others? Because we want something better for ourselves and our country. The Tories were booted out in the last election because voters, including many lifelong Conservatives, were disillusioned. Instead of improving their lives or uplifting the nation, the Government had become hubristic, careless and mendacious. All it wanted was to hang on to power.
We think our society is free - it isn’t

1 month ago | inews.co.uk | Yasmin Alibhai-Brown

Israel is mounting an offensive to take over parts of Gaza. Millions of Britons of all ethnicities and faiths feel angry and dismayed. This feels similar to the build-up to the illegitimate Iraq War. All that we conscientious citizens can do is march, or speak out in public spaces, and cry in private. Peter Tatchell, lifelong human rights activist, has joined pro-Palestinian demos week after week.
Pity Farage and Starmer, the real 'strangers' on this inclusive island

1 month ago | inews.co.uk | Yasmin Alibhai-Brown

I gave birth to my daughter when I was 43, a miracle of sorts. After two miscarriages, we had lost hope. I was too old, the doctor said. Then she came, one sunny April, on an Easter Sunday. There were moments of medical panic, but there she was, in my arms, and both her dad and me flooded with relief and indescribable joy. I can still feel her in my arms, hear her gurgles and cries. Albums with her pictures are in a cupboard. We look at them often.
Reform wants to re-educate the young - it would be a whitewash

1 month ago | inews.co.uk | Yasmin Alibhai-Brown

The bones of the British Empire are being dug up again, not to expand or deepen our knowledge of those times, but to serve the interests of rising and flagging main political parties. Empire is a trigger issue; it opens up a space for politicians to rush in and gratify unthinking patriots and bid for their votes. It happens over and over again. And will forever more.
Blind allegiance to Nigel Farage will backfire on his supporters

1 month ago | inews.co.uk | Yasmin Alibhai-Brown

Another day, and the nation is still obsessing over Nigel Farage. The media is the wind beneath his wings; the two main parties are toppling, flapping helplessly while Reform projects itself as a redeemer and a government in waiting. The Lib Dems won many resounding victories and the Greens doubled their number of councillors, but the election story is all and only about Farage and Reform UK. For years now, the upstart party has built up popularity without being properly scrutinised.
Virginia Giuffre’s plight has a parallel here in the UK

1 month ago | inews.co.uk | Yasmin Alibhai-Brown

Virginia Giuffre, 17, slim, pretty; Prince Andrew, 41, his arm round her bare midriff; a grinning Ghislaine Maxwell behind them. An unforgettable image. Guiffre has killed herself, aged 41. Giuffre accused Andrew of sexually assaulting her when she was 17, allegations he has always denied. In 2022, she got a settlement from Andrew, believed to be worth millions of pounds, and an admission that she was “an established victim of abuse”, perpetrated by Jeffrey Epstein, Maxwell and their male contacts.
Gary Lineker is bravely speaking truth to power on Israel

2 months ago | inews.co.uk | Yasmin Alibhai-Brown

Bravo to Gary Lineker for speaking truth to power. Too many media figures wouldn’t or couldn’t be as plain and honest about Israel‘s endless war on Palestinians and the BBC’s coverage of that war. In an interview with Amol Rajan, an upholder of BBC “impartiality”, Lineker’s words cut to the chase: “The mass murder of thousands of children [in Gaza] is probably something that we should have a little opinion on”. He then reminded Rajan that BBC coverage of Russia and Ukraine was not “impartial”.
Our biggest LGBT charity is in crisis. Are we just going to let it collapse?

2 months ago | archive.is | Patrick Strudwick |Ian Birrell |Yasmin Alibhai-Brown |Emma Barnett

Blood is in the water. Every expedient politician (and pundit) can see it, smell it, and sense an opportunity. After the Supreme Court ruling, which effectively removed trans women from the definition of woman in the Equality Act, the new British sport is: who can make the most rabble-rousing, dog-whistling jabat trans women? The answer was surprising. Bridget Phillipson, who identifies as the Women and Equalities minister, evidently believes that some people are more equal than others.
I often despair at England - but here I got a second chance

2 months ago | inews.co.uk | Yasmin Alibhai-Brown

I often criticise this nation and sometimes despair of it. That causes unreasonable fury among those who want Britons of colour to be grateful and silent. Not going to do that. But here, today, I pay heartfelt tribute to London and to England where I have lived for half a century. For the American-British poet T.S. Eliot, April was the “cruellest month”. For me, an African-Asian Brit, April has often brought sweetness and light. Things happened that that changed my life, brought me joy and wisdom.