Kenan Malik
@kenanmalik.bsky.social
Writer & Observer columnist. Latest book: Not So Black and White (Hurst). “Unsettles the pieties of contemporary race-talk” - Paul Gilroy. “A work of immense scholarship” – Jon Bloomfield. Website: https://kenanmalik.com/
“Immigration status becomes significant when you’re a monster but not when you’re a hero.” My @theobserveruk.bsky.social column: observer.co.uk/news/columni...
Violent crime is at a low, yet people’s experiences tell a different story | The Observer
observer.co.uk
November 10, 2025 at 4:08 PM
“Immigration status becomes significant when you’re a monster but not when you’re a hero.” My @theobserveruk.bsky.social column: observer.co.uk/news/columni...
I had not realised the roots of “I Say a Little Prayer for You” in the Vietnam War: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
Soul Music - I Say a Little Prayer for You - BBC Sounds
Stories about the Burt Bacharach classic.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 9, 2025 at 12:32 PM
I had not realised the roots of “I Say a Little Prayer for You” in the Vietnam War: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
“The debate about crime… has become a lightning rod that, like the immigration debate, captures a wider set of anxieties about a wider set of failures of policymaking and statecraft.” My @theobserveruk.bsky.social column: observer.co.uk/news/columni...
Violent crime is at a low, yet people’s experiences tell a different story | The Observer
observer.co.uk
November 9, 2025 at 10:37 AM
“The debate about crime… has become a lightning rod that, like the immigration debate, captures a wider set of anxieties about a wider set of failures of policymaking and statecraft.” My @theobserveruk.bsky.social column: observer.co.uk/news/columni...
In the mad world in which opposing swastika graffiti makes you a Zionist.
November 6, 2025 at 10:07 PM
In the mad world in which opposing swastika graffiti makes you a Zionist.
“A system that has generated vast profits for private corporations while undermining the decision-making capacity of the state and leaving unheeded the aspirations of ordinary people.” My @theobserveruk.bsky.social column: observer.co.uk/news/columni...
Privatisation has made a Dad’s Army of the state
The market-oriented approach has left services hollowed out while generating huge profits for private companies
observer.co.uk
November 2, 2025 at 9:26 AM
“A system that has generated vast profits for private corporations while undermining the decision-making capacity of the state and leaving unheeded the aspirations of ordinary people.” My @theobserveruk.bsky.social column: observer.co.uk/news/columni...
“Such is the degradation of political and moral thinking wrought by the immigration debate that the brazen overturning of democratic norms is regarded as ‘sensible’ and critics dismissed as ‘hysterical’.” My @theobserveruk.bsky.social column: observer.co.uk/news/columni...
Expelling legal migrants is a move straight from the Idi ...
Katie Lam’s plan for expulsions opens the door to curtailing the rights of us all
observer.co.uk
October 26, 2025 at 9:14 AM
“Such is the degradation of political and moral thinking wrought by the immigration debate that the brazen overturning of democratic norms is regarded as ‘sensible’ and critics dismissed as ‘hysterical’.” My @theobserveruk.bsky.social column: observer.co.uk/news/columni...
And now I am off to Sheffield @otsfestival.bsky.social to talk race, class and history (and my book *Not So Black and White*) with Sunjeev Sahota offtheshelf.org.uk/events/not-s...
Kenan Malik Photo credit Tom Trevatt Photography
offtheshelf.org.uk
October 19, 2025 at 9:45 AM
And now I am off to Sheffield @otsfestival.bsky.social to talk race, class and history (and my book *Not So Black and White*) with Sunjeev Sahota offtheshelf.org.uk/events/not-s...
“The most intractable problem is that neither of the two main solutions to the conflict – the creation of two states for Jews and Palestinians or a single, secular democratic state for both – is currently viable.” My @theobserveruk.bsky.social column: observer.co.uk/news/opinion...
Without a two-state solution or single state with equal r...
Both sides in the conflict are entrenched in their unwillingness to cede ground to the other
observer.co.uk
October 19, 2025 at 9:45 AM
“The most intractable problem is that neither of the two main solutions to the conflict – the creation of two states for Jews and Palestinians or a single, secular democratic state for both – is currently viable.” My @theobserveruk.bsky.social column: observer.co.uk/news/opinion...
And next Sunday, I’m off to Sheffield @otsfestival.bsky.social in conversation with the wonderful Sunjeev Sahota, talking about race, class and history offtheshelf.org.uk/events/not-s...
Kenan Malik Photo credit Tom Trevatt Photography
offtheshelf.org.uk
October 12, 2025 at 9:14 AM
And next Sunday, I’m off to Sheffield @otsfestival.bsky.social in conversation with the wonderful Sunjeev Sahota, talking about race, class and history offtheshelf.org.uk/events/not-s...
“Hidden here is the assumption that ordinary people are unable to grasp anything challenging... It is a wretchedly patronising claim imposed upon working class people by middle-class gatekeepers who define what is ‘relevant’.” My @theobserveruk.bsky.social column: observer.co.uk/news/columni...
It’s not opera that’s elitist but the idea that art is to...
The myth that culture has not been for the masses is debunked in a new book
observer.co.uk
October 12, 2025 at 9:13 AM
“Hidden here is the assumption that ordinary people are unable to grasp anything challenging... It is a wretchedly patronising claim imposed upon working class people by middle-class gatekeepers who define what is ‘relevant’.” My @theobserveruk.bsky.social column: observer.co.uk/news/columni...
On the dangers of the critique of liberalism descending into illiberalism: My @theobserveruk.bsky.social column: observer.co.uk/news/columni...
Liberalism has betrayed the working class, but illiberali...
If we fail to uphold equality and democracy, where will our society be?
observer.co.uk
October 5, 2025 at 12:15 PM
On the dangers of the critique of liberalism descending into illiberalism: My @theobserveruk.bsky.social column: observer.co.uk/news/columni...
A terrible, truly sickening act
www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cx...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cx...
Two dead in Manchester synagogue attack, with suspect also believed killed - police
The suspect was shot by police, who say his condition cannot be confirmed due to
www.bbc.co.uk
October 2, 2025 at 12:19 PM
A terrible, truly sickening act
www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cx...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cx...
Funny how suddenly so many on the right now see hurty words as a problem, and how suddenly expansive their notion of incitement has become.
October 1, 2025 at 3:43 PM
Funny how suddenly so many on the right now see hurty words as a problem, and how suddenly expansive their notion of incitement has become.
"So right, yer buggers, then! We’ll occupy
your lousy leasehold Poetry."
RIP Tony Harrison
your lousy leasehold Poetry."
RIP Tony Harrison
September 28, 2025 at 12:10 PM
"So right, yer buggers, then! We’ll occupy
your lousy leasehold Poetry."
RIP Tony Harrison
your lousy leasehold Poetry."
RIP Tony Harrison
“The battle against antisemitism has become as much about policing speech as about protecting Jews.” My @theobserveruk.bsky.social column: observer.co.uk/news/opinion...
Reframing criticism of Israel as antisemitism fails Jews ...
The sense of what defines anti-Jewish bigotry has changed radically since the 70s
observer.co.uk
September 28, 2025 at 9:53 AM
“The battle against antisemitism has become as much about policing speech as about protecting Jews.” My @theobserveruk.bsky.social column: observer.co.uk/news/opinion...
“A demonstration of the toxic melding of the inchoateness of popular discontent, the inability of the left to speak to working-class grievances and the venomous malevolence of the far right that shapes so much of politics.” My @theobserveruk.bsky.social column: observer.co.uk/news/columni...
‘No one listens to us’: the working-class despair fuellin...
Under the racist chants at last week’s rally lies a deep sense of political betrayal
observer.co.uk
September 21, 2025 at 8:22 AM
“A demonstration of the toxic melding of the inchoateness of popular discontent, the inability of the left to speak to working-class grievances and the venomous malevolence of the far right that shapes so much of politics.” My @theobserveruk.bsky.social column: observer.co.uk/news/columni...
As straightforward a case as you can find of being cancelled not because of spewing hate or celebrating murder but because the most powerful political figures in the land did not like being criticised: news.sky.com/story/jimmy-...
Trump celebrates as Jimmy Kimmel taken off air over Charlie Kirk comments
Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance are among those to cite "left-wing extremism" as a factor in Charlie Kirk's killing - and Jimmy Kimmel used his show to call out perceived hypocrisy among MAGA...
news.sky.com
September 18, 2025 at 7:04 AM
As straightforward a case as you can find of being cancelled not because of spewing hate or celebrating murder but because the most powerful political figures in the land did not like being criticised: news.sky.com/story/jimmy-...
“Conservatives who have (rightly) insisted that free speech must include the right to be obnoxious and hurtful, now want retribution for hurtful words directed at their hero.” My @theobserveruk.bsky.social column: observer.co.uk/news/interna...
Charlie Kirk killing puts America to the test over the fr...
There’s a risk that political violence becomes a weapon in the culture wars
observer.co.uk
September 14, 2025 at 9:54 AM
“Conservatives who have (rightly) insisted that free speech must include the right to be obnoxious and hurtful, now want retribution for hurtful words directed at their hero.” My @theobserveruk.bsky.social column: observer.co.uk/news/interna...
Meanwhile, free speech across the Atlantic. Wonder what JD Vance has to say about this? www.benrothenberg.com/p/us-open-do...
U.S. Open Orders Broadcasters to Censor Reactions to Trump
An email obtained by Bounces includes instructions from the U.S. Open on supporting Trump's planned stagecraft during the National Anthem.
www.benrothenberg.com
September 7, 2025 at 10:47 AM
Meanwhile, free speech across the Atlantic. Wonder what JD Vance has to say about this? www.benrothenberg.com/p/us-open-do...
While Lucy Connolly was being feted at the Reform conference, hundreds were being arrested for their speech opposing the proscription of Palestine Action. Yet those turning Connolly into a free speech martyr seem to have little to say about those arrests. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
More than 425 arrested at rally against Palestine Action ban in London
Hundreds gathered in Parliament Square to oppose the group's ban under anti-terrorism legislation.
www.bbc.co.uk
September 7, 2025 at 9:34 AM
While Lucy Connolly was being feted at the Reform conference, hundreds were being arrested for their speech opposing the proscription of Palestine Action. Yet those turning Connolly into a free speech martyr seem to have little to say about those arrests. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
“‘The Overton window is moving and we are helping move it’… The fact that arguments that once belonged to the far right are now seen as mainstream, and the growing assertion of casual bigotry, is hardly something to celebrate.” My @theobserveruk.bsky.social column: observer.co.uk/news/columni...
British identity isn’t neatly tied in red, white and blue
The current debate over flying the national flag is not as important as the common values we want to ascribe to it
observer.co.uk
September 7, 2025 at 9:04 AM
“‘The Overton window is moving and we are helping move it’… The fact that arguments that once belonged to the far right are now seen as mainstream, and the growing assertion of casual bigotry, is hardly something to celebrate.” My @theobserveruk.bsky.social column: observer.co.uk/news/columni...
“The argument for mass deportations and for refusing to process asylum claims is that ‘we have to look after our own, not the rest of the world’. The trouble is, ‘our own’ will also suffer from the kind of policy Farage proposes.” My @theobserveruk.bsky.social column: observer.co.uk/news/columni...
If Farage starts deporting ‘illegals’ en masse, the ‘lega...
In a climate of fear, everyone is at risk of mistreatment – just look at the States
observer.co.uk
August 31, 2025 at 10:25 AM
“The argument for mass deportations and for refusing to process asylum claims is that ‘we have to look after our own, not the rest of the world’. The trouble is, ‘our own’ will also suffer from the kind of policy Farage proposes.” My @theobserveruk.bsky.social column: observer.co.uk/news/columni...
Thursday photo
Mist over the Cambrian hills (taken from the Machynlleth road near Dylife)
Mist over the Cambrian hills (taken from the Machynlleth road near Dylife)
August 28, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Thursday photo
Mist over the Cambrian hills (taken from the Machynlleth road near Dylife)
Mist over the Cambrian hills (taken from the Machynlleth road near Dylife)
“It is morally incumbent on those who defend free speech also to take a stand against bigotry and hatred wherever it reveals itself. Too many fail that test.” My @theobserveruk.bsky.social column: observer.co.uk/news/opinion...
Lucy Connolly is no hero, but her words shouldn’t be a crime
Lionising a woman who stirred up racial hatred is a moral failure of the right
observer.co.uk
August 26, 2025 at 8:55 PM
“It is morally incumbent on those who defend free speech also to take a stand against bigotry and hatred wherever it reveals itself. Too many fail that test.” My @theobserveruk.bsky.social column: observer.co.uk/news/opinion...
Who said this?
“I'm not going to get dragged down the route of mass deportations or anything like that… It's a political impossibility to deport hundreds of thousands of people. We simply can't do it."
Keir Starmer? Some loony left lawyer? Actually it was Nigel Farage… 1/
“I'm not going to get dragged down the route of mass deportations or anything like that… It's a political impossibility to deport hundreds of thousands of people. We simply can't do it."
Keir Starmer? Some loony left lawyer? Actually it was Nigel Farage… 1/
August 26, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Who said this?
“I'm not going to get dragged down the route of mass deportations or anything like that… It's a political impossibility to deport hundreds of thousands of people. We simply can't do it."
Keir Starmer? Some loony left lawyer? Actually it was Nigel Farage… 1/
“I'm not going to get dragged down the route of mass deportations or anything like that… It's a political impossibility to deport hundreds of thousands of people. We simply can't do it."
Keir Starmer? Some loony left lawyer? Actually it was Nigel Farage… 1/