Joan Smith
Known for her human rights activism and writing on subjects such as atheism and feminism, Joan Smith is a columnist, critic and novelist. An Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society and a regular contributor to BBC radio, she has written five detective novels, two of which have been filmed by the BBC. Her latest novel, What Will Survive, was published in June 2007.
Joan Smith: Why stop at students? Let's make children pay for school
It's an absolute scandal. Every day, hundreds of thousands of people are turning up at buildings provided by the state for free lessons in all sorts of subjects. They don't pay a penny, even though many of them are 12 or 13 years old and perfectly capable of taking out loans.
Recently by Joan Smith
Brilliant new women are Labour's USP
Sunday, 6 June 2010
Joan Smith salutes Harriet Harman for wrongfooting the PM
Joan Smith: The real cost of booze is rising fast
Thursday, 3 June 2010
The existence of a widely acknowledged social problem, accompanied by a scandalised rejection of measures designed to tackle it, is an example of cognitive dissonance
Joan Smith: Ignore the critics – 'Sex and the City' is still a hit
Sunday, 30 May 2010
Lapping up a formula that needles men and cheers women
Joan Smith: When is a child not a child?
Wednesday, 26 May 2010
Frenzy still surrounds Jamie Bulger's killers. But with two boys guilty of attempted rape, the consensus is they were too young to understand what they were doing
Joan Smith: Labour was simply wedded to the wrong man
Sunday, 16 May 2010
It's a weird business, going into opposition. I heard David Miliband talking about his mother on the radio last week, and he's never sounded more human – but then he doesn't have to worry any longer about how Gordon Brown might react. There's been a perceptible lifting of spirits since the great clunking fist (and the rest of him) left Downing Street. The Labour Party has emerged from the elections with a creditable share of the national vote, control of half a dozen big councils, a woman as acting leader – shame on the Lib-Con coalition for its unappealing maleness – and an opportunity to come up with fresh ideas.
Joan Smith: In the studio, in the House... where are all the women?
Sunday, 9 May 2010
Was it a virus? Something weirdly gender-specific that incapacitated women for the duration of the election campaign? Day after day I turned on the television to find men interviewing men, men arguing with men, and men sitting on panels with men.
Joan Smith: Hey, kids ... leave them teachers alone
Sunday, 2 May 2010
Is this an example of the "broken society" David Cameron goes on about? Last July, a group of pupils at a school in Nottinghamshire conducted an experiment of their own during science class; they filmed each other "winding up" their teacher, Peter Harvey, who had just returned to work after a five-month absence due to stress. It worked: goaded by several pupils, Mr Harvey snapped and attacked a 14-year-old with a 3kg dumb- bell. The boy was taken to hospital with a fractured skull and bleeding to the brain. He has since recovered.
Joan Smith: How voting turned into shopping
Friday, 30 April 2010
The two questions I’ve heard most often are: “What have you ever done for me?” and “What are you going to do for me?”,
Joan Smith: Orwell foresaw our treatment of Sharon Shoesmith
Sunday, 25 April 2010
In George Orwell's novel 1984, there is a daily ritual known as the "two minutes' hate". Workers gather in front of a screen to watch images of enemies of the state; Orwell describes the scene as "a hideous ecstasy of fear and vindictiveness" in which every participant becomes a "grimacing, screaming lunatic". The novel is a satire, of course, but sometimes it's hard not to regard it as a slightly exaggerated prediction of a world in which the role of Big Brother has been gleefully adopted by the media.
Joan Smith: Why are we quite so squeamish?
Thursday, 22 April 2010
There are endless arguments over our capacity for altruism, but it's an incontrovertible fact that 16.5 million individuals have placed their names on the organ donor register
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Columnist Comments
• Matthew Norman: What football says about a country
It is not the fear of losing that does them in. It's the fear of winning
• Andreas Whittam Smith: The dealing room had it coming
Some banking activities are more suitable for gamblers than for sober citizens
• Mary Dejevsky: So who baths New Labour's babies?
Britain may be a tardy convert to the leadership debate, but we're giving everyone a run for their money now
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Emailed
1 Matthew Norman: What football says about a country
2 Mary Robinson: We are walking a long road to peace and freedom
4 Andreas Whittam Smith: The dealing room had it coming
5 Mary Dejevsky: So who baths New Labour's babies?
6 Leading article: A sop to the outside world
7 Rupert Cornwell: The Korean War
8 Dr Burkhard Backes: These beautiful scrolls shed light on the mysteries of Egyptian culture
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