Do you remember when you turned 13, I said if you were a Jewish boy, you would have a ceremony called a “barmitzvah” and from then on you were reckoned to be a man (I think it’s a bit tough at that age personally). Nevertheless, it would be a good idea if you started to […]Read Post ›
On May 2nd 2017, my dad died from complications related to metastasized prostate cancer. He had been ill on and off for almost a decade, suffering from more than one type of cancer during that time, as well as the frequently devastating effects of the chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment that he received. The emotional and […]Read Post ›
I originally wrote this article in the Turkish newspaper Today’s Zaman in 2011. After it was shut down by the Turkish Government in 2016, its entire online archive was wiped and I thought that my article was lost. It came to my mind today following the the despicable Western reporting of the latest massacre in Gaza. I […]Read Post ›
After I posted this thread on Twitter regarding my own reading post-university and the limitations of much of academia, a number of people asked me to post a reading list or suggestions of some kind. I have subsequently compiled the following list of books that – for differing reasons – I have found especially useful […]Read Post ›
On 9 May 1940, H.M.S. Kelly, a K-Class Destroyer of the Royal Navy under command of Lord Mountbatten, was hit by German torpedoes during the Battle of Norway. It suffered extensive damage and twenty members of the ship’s crew were killed; one of those who died on board was my Maternal Great-Uncle, Herbert Pickering. Herbert was […]Read Post ›
Louis Allday (@louis_allday) 12/08/2016 Iraq has been under virtually continuous attack by the West for a period spanning almost three decades. After the First Gulf War in 1990 – in which an estimated 100,000-200,000 Iraqis were killed[i] – until the invasion of 2003, the country was subjected to a brutal program of sanctions enforced by the […]Read Post ›
I wrote the following piece in April 2012 on an earlier, now defunct blog of mine. I recently came across it again accidentally and in light of events that have taken place since, it seemed appropriate to re-share it. Imagine that you are on a boat. You and the many others around you have been forced to […]Read Post ›
Louis Allday (@louis_allday) 16/01/2016 In a country where public discourse concerning the actions and legacy of the British Empire is principally shaped by the likes of Dan Snow, Jeremy Paxman and Niall Ferguson, any cultural event that seeks to critically assess Britain’s imperial history is not only welcome, but in fact crucially needed. So, after I […]Read Post ›
The memories that I have of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, especially the atmosphere in its courtyard, are ones that I shall always cherish. The tragic events of the past four years have only served to make them more poignant. The mosque is located a twenty minute walk away from the neighbourhood of Souk Sarouja, […]Read Post ›
Collectively, the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) form one of the largest and most lucrative markets in the world for the global arms industry. American companies in particular have benefitted from the GCC’s extremely high levels of military spending. Kuwait, with an annual military expenditure of over $5bn, is no exception to […]Read Post ›
The 36th Chamber 