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.

Wikileaks: Cablegate's misogyny leaked in full

Joan Smith: Entranced by conspiracy theories, Assange supporters dusted down every trope about feminists, equality and rape.

Recently by Joan Smith

Joan Smith: Grovelling and indignation are English specialities

Sunday, 5 December 2010

A prince marrying a commoner, with time off for the serfs; two posh blokes and a squeaky-voiced footballer pleading for England to be allowed to host the 2018 World Cup; who says this country doesn't know how to present a bold modern face to the world? Me for one, and I'm still squirming with embarrassment when I think of the antiquated, snobbish and indeed delusional image the English (not the Scots or the Welsh, obviously) have projected in recent months.

Joan Smith: Every child deserves the classics too

Thursday, 2 December 2010

A nymph reaches toward you with an outstretched hand, fish swim among classical urns and a Roman pavement unfolds on the sea bed: this is the underwater city of Baiae, situated in a bay north-west of Naples and visible only from a glass capsule suspended below a tourist boat. It's an eerie experience, making out the remains of the sumptuous baths built by the stuttering Emperor Claudius for his third wife, Messalina, but no more so than imagining the attempted murder in these same waters of Nero's mother, Agrippina.

Joan Smith: This is back-to-basics at its monocultural, muscular worst

Sunday, 28 November 2010

Fossilised fish-hooks, as Jennings used to say! I think I've finally grasped the Government's cunning plot for state education! They're going to take us back to the Fifties when every pupil learned poetry by heart, played rugger – except for soppy girls – and was able to recite the kings and queens of England in date order. It's going to be jolly hockey sticks, Britain's island story and absolutely no swearing; the kids will be too tired, anyway, after charging across a muddy playing field all afternoon.

Joan Smith: China will come off worst in a Nobel prize fight

Sunday, 21 November 2010

What most people remember about the 2008 Beijing Olympic games is the spectacular opening ceremony. What I remember is the craven refusal of most world leaders to go along with the boycott of the ceremony proposed, and then abandoned, by the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy.

Joan Smith: Cameron's vanity could be his undoing

Thursday, 18 November 2010

I'm looking at a photograph of David Cameron eating toast. His dress code is smart casual, a dark blue jumper over an open-necked shirt, and the hand that isn't occupied with a slice of bread is operating an iPad. The Tory leader is multi-tasking! Serious but relaxed! Now here's a photograph of his wife, planting seedlings in a community garden in the East End of London. Sam Cam does dress-down! In Tower Hamlets! She isn't just a designer-bag lady!

Joan Smith: Our betrayed students should shout more loudly still

Sunday, 14 November 2010

Student demonstrations? Let's have more of them. A long time ago, I chased Margaret Thatcher across a university campus during a high-spirited protest, and I didn't have anything like as much to complain about as the students who marched through London last week. I wasn't facing a trebling of tuition fees, decades of debt and the creation of a two-tier higher education system; looking back, it was a halcyon moment when a girl from a low-income family could go to university, get a degree and leave unencumbered by debt.

Joan Smith: If Gordon can't stand the heat, he should at least keep it private

Thursday, 11 November 2010

What few of these celebs stop to consider is that while public outbursts offer temporary balm, the long-term consequences may be disastrous

Joan Smith: Murder is always wrong, and has nothing to do with faith

Sunday, 7 November 2010

When Roshonara Choudhry was jailed for life at the Old Bailey last week, she was said to be the first person to have attempted an al-Qa'ida-inspired assassination of a public figure in this country. Her target, the Labour MP Stephen Timms, survived being stabbed twice in the stomach by the student, but an Islamist website urged other British Muslims to murder politicians who supported the Iraq war. The US-run site, since taken down, published a list of targets, expressed the hope that Choudhry's crime would "inspire Muslims to raise the knife of jihad", and suggested that MPs be tracked down at their advice surgeries, offering a link to a supermarket website where knives can be bought.

Joan Smith: We don't need an extra hour of darkness

Sunday, 31 October 2010

Backing a Bill to save lives and energy, and lift spirits

Joan Smith: Things must be bad: feminists and the 'Daily Mail' agree

Sunday, 24 October 2010

What has the Government got against women? Obviously gender equality isn't high on its to-do list, but even the most sheltered minister must have a wife, mother or sister – though possibly not ones on minimum wage.

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