In the last couple of weeks, there have been three stories about companies selling halal products and apparently distressing some of their non-Muslim consumers. Firstly, we have a McDonalds store in Melbourne that, shortly before Ramadan, decided to use halal meat for their products. There is a sign on the wall next to the counter... Read More

OK, imagine for one moment that you are a grandmother and you wish to register your anger over recent comments made by Sydney’s Sheikh Taj al-Hilaly. You want to send a powerful message that you are not a piece of uncovered meat. What do you do? That’s right. First, you wait a few weeks until... Read More

Turkey is often held up by some unimaginative politicians and commentators as a successful reconciliation of Islam and secularism that the rest of the Muslim world should imitate. Perhaps the treatment of Turkish libertarian academic Dr. Atilla Yalya — no “Islamist” by any means — for simply referring to Ataturk as “this man” will give... Read More

Although it is quite expensive by the time it reaches the shelves of my local Borders store, City Journal is nonetheless a very worthwhile investment as a magazine filled with incisive and useful social commentary. In the latest issue is a nice essay by Theodore Dalrymple on the subject of language; responding, in part, to... Read More