IRR News Comment
Recent articles
Gill Butler 1942-2012
By Jon Burnett
Remembering a unique campaigner for asylum and human rights.
26 January 2012 (326 words)
Abu Qatada decision causes alarm - to rights activists
By Frances Webber
As the prime minister derides the European Court of Human Rights as a 'small claims court', it isn't just the anti-human rights brigade who are worried by the its recent judgment.
26 January 2012 (815 words)
The international language of football
By Jenny Bourne
Reading of the allegations of racism in football, it struck me as the more sad, that, over the years, football has been for me the great leveller, the international language which speaks across countries, class and gender.
18 January 2012 (549 words)
Total disaster
By Jon Burnett
Bernard Hogan-Howe's recent talk on 'total policing' at the LSE didn't go down too well.
18 January 2012 (698 words)
Twit or tweet
By Jenny Bourne
The furore about Diane Abbott's tweet reveals a wilful inability to distinguish between state racism and personal prejudice.
11 January 2012 (378 words)
Germany's Stephen Lawrence
By Eddie Bruce-Jones
How can lessons from the Lawrence case be applied to that of Oury Jalloh, who was burned to death in a German police cell seven years ago?
11 January 2012 (1801 words)
'Veto nationalism': Populism, nationalism and the Tories
By John Grayson
An examination of the Euroscepticism, nationalism and patriotism being established by politicians and the media in the UK.
11 January 2012 (2386 words)
Professor John Rex 1925-2011
By A. Sivanandan
A tribute from A. Sivanandan, director Institute of Race Relations.
5 January 2012 (147 words)
Second immigration detention ruled 'inhuman or degrading'
By Frances Webber
For the second time in three months, a High Court judge has condemned the immigration detention of a mentally ill offender as inhuman or degrading.
22 December 2011 (1522 words)
From portrayal to reality: examining the record of the EDL
By Ryan Erfani-Ghettani
How can we marry the English Defence League's professed liberalism with the reality on the ground?
8 December 2011 (4527 words)
Racism: on the pitch but off the agenda
By Jon Burnett
What should we make of recent allegations of racism in football?
24 November 2011 (1337 words)
Polling with pride
By Jenny Bourne
A researcher takes issue with the idea that one can assess the strength of rightwing extremism by polling attitudes of its members.
17 November 2011 (674 words)
Are the main parties just taking on BNP policies?
By John Grayson
The British National Party (BNP) may be in decline, but to what extent are the main parties just taking up its concerns and its discourse?
3 November 2011 (2728 words)
Whatever happened to Norway's incitement laws?
By Sindre Bangstad
Freedom of speech and laws prohibiting incitement to racial, religious and other forms of hatred are not incompatible if we move away from absolutist definitions.
20 October 2011 (2599 words)
Stoking racism fears
By Frances Webber
Unpicking one tabloid story shows how the campaign against the Human Rights Act works by stoking fear, racism and jingoism.
29 September 2011 (520 words)
Human rights: the assault continues
By Frances Webber
The government is poised to cut down the reach of human rights law, paving the way for easier deportation of foreign national prisoners.
8 September 2011 (1257 words)
The spotlight is back on black deaths at the hands of police
By Harmit Athwal
IRR News examines the recent killing of Mark Duggan by armed Met police officers in the context of similar deaths.
31 August 2011 (4467 words)
Resisting the Bratton brand: lessons from the US
By Rachel Herzing
Rachel Herzing of Critical Resistance in California warns that zero tolerance policing will have long-term social consequences if adopted in the UK.
24 August 2011 (1764 words)
Reshaping the criminal justice system after the riots
By Jon Burnett
Criminologist Jon Burnett is concerned about the long-term impact on policing and criminal justice of the government's response to the riots and its use of 'underclass' theories.
24 August 2011 (1692 words)
The violence of the violated
By A. Sivanandan
The director of the Institute of Race Relations comments on the recent riots.
16 August 2011 (314 words)