This is Dr Paul Stott's Typepad Profile.
Join Typepad and start following Dr Paul Stott's activity
Dr Paul Stott
East Midlands
Academic researching terrorism, in particular British Jihadism.
Interests: Terrorism, Islamism, Jihadism, Conspiracy Theory, Brexit, the political fringe, Boxing, Manchester United, Kettering Town, Cricket, Lancashire CCC
Recent Activity
What no Culture Wars? "Which Way? Thirteen dialogues on choices facing Britain"
Posted May 17, 2025 at I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back
Comment
0
The Tragedy of Striving
"A tragedy cannot be written about creatures of the jungle, only about those who try to get out of it - or those who succumb to it knowing that it is possible to transform it". The writer Alan Sillitoe, in his introduction to Robert Tressell's "The Ragged Trousered Philantropists." (Panther: St Albans, 1983), p. 9 - 10. The beauty of this quote is that it applies so aptly to our greatest comedies, most notably Steptoe & Son. Continue reading
Posted May 11, 2025 at I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back
Comment
0
There's no such thing as Starmerism - and that's the problem
As Labour gets a hammering in the polls, what is the problem with Sir Keir Starmer? The most simple answer is that it is obvious what Starmer is against, but unclear what he is actually for. Having won the Labour leadership as the continuity candidate, he quickly decided he was opposed to Corbynism. As the Conservatives vote collapsed, he won the 2024 general election by being opposed to Rishi Sunak, but standing on a largely empty mainfesto. Nearly a year on, and not much has changed, and now it is Labour tanking votes. As Michael Gove wrote in The Spectator... Continue reading
Posted May 2, 2025 at I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back
Comment
0
It's nonsense, but its nonsense of its time
Browsing the website of the charity Global Justice Now, I happened to land on the list of its council, and the pen portraits of those who govern this campaign group. Global Justice Now is one of the groups campaigning against a trade deal between the United States and the United Kingdom. If you want to begin to understand these bizarre times, look at what our well-meaning campaigners do, not what they say. The trajectory of Global Justice Now's Mohammed Elnaiem speaks volumes. We are told: Mohammed is the founding director of the Decolonial Centre, a political education project of the... Continue reading
Posted Apr 30, 2025 at I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back
Comment
0
Happy St George's Day
For Englishmen and women, and lovers of England everywhere: Continue reading
Posted Apr 23, 2025 at I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back
Comment
0
The Rotherham Grooming Scandal and the Creators of the Islamophobia Definition
This is a report I worked on back in February, with the writer and journalist Andrew Gilligan. The text can be viewed online here, or read as a pdf below. Download The-Rotherham-Grooming-Scandal-and-The-Creators-of-the-Islamophobia-Definition 2025 Continue reading
Posted Apr 7, 2025 at I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back
Comment
0
Extremely Confused? The Government's Counter-Extremism Strategy
Back in January I co-authored a report with Andrew Gilligan, entitled "Extremely Confused: The Government’s new counter-extremism review revealed." This revealed that the Counter-Extremism sprint, under the direction of Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, was heading very much in the wrong direction, moving away from a focus on Islamist terrorism to a much wider set of issues. You can read our report online here, and download a pdf below. Download Extremely-Confused-The-Governments-new-counter-extremism-review-revealed 2025 Continue reading
Posted Apr 6, 2025 at I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back
Comment
0
The Salisbury Review - Worth A Look
Posted Apr 5, 2025 at I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back
Comment
0
Mankind No Longer Travels to the Moon
Posted Mar 29, 2025 at I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back
Comment
0
Scruton on faith
Over the holiday season I enjoyed Roger Scuton's book "Gentle Regrets: Thoughts from a Life". Less a memoir than a series of essays on particular chunks of his life or matters of importance, Scruton grasps faith perfectly here: "Faith is not simply an addition to our repetoire of ordinary opinions. It is a transforming state of mind, a stance towards the world, rooted in our social nature and altering all our perceptions, emotions and beliefs." Gentle Regrets: Thoughts from a Life (London: Continuum, 2005), p. 220 Continue reading
Posted Jan 15, 2025 at I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back
Comment
0
Margaret Thatcher and Islam
Posted Dec 27, 2024 at I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back
Comment
0
The Balkanisation of the UK's Police Forces
I had neglected to post here a short article I wrote for the Daily Telegraph last month, on what might be called the Balkanisation of the police. We sometimes forget how rapid these changes have been - it is not that long ago the authorities in forces like West Yorkshire would struggle to recruit ethnic minority officers - now they see officers prosecuted for supporting Islamist terrorist groups such as Hamas! You can read my thoughts on the Telegraph website here, or as a pdf below. Download The police must reckon with their extremism problem Telegraph 14 11 2024 Continue reading
Posted Dec 27, 2024 at I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back
Comment
0
The Importance of Confidence
The biggest single difference between working class people and middle or upper class people? At an individual level - confidence. I look at some of the interns I have met in Westminster, and they have more confidence in their late teens or early twenties, than I had in my late thirties. "I truly believe that confidence is learned. No one is born confident. I think confidence is dependent on how your brain functions and what you have experienced in your life. I have not read or studied anything to back this up. This is just what I think from my... Continue reading
Posted Nov 26, 2024 at I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back
Comment
1
The end of the world is nigh? Environmentalists, Fascism and Eco-Collapse
If the earth is going to die screaming, as UB40 prophesised, what political forms will emerge before it dies? For many in the environmental movement, fascism is not just a future threat, but is encapsulated in today's campaigns to save fossil fuels. Worse, those fuels themselves have always been brown - that is fascist, and never green. I think much of that world view is nonsense, and have set out a three page argument in the current Notes From the Borderland magazine, making that very point. There is also room along the way for comment on political figures as diverse... Continue reading
Posted Oct 25, 2024 at I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back
Comment
0
The Joy of Old Books - What's Tucked Inside The Greatest Treason: The Bizarre Story of Hollis, Liddell and Mountbatten?
Posted Oct 23, 2024 at I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back
Comment
0
The Decline and Fall of Brother Tariq
For a time, Tariq Ramadan was the epitome of what western elites felt they needed - the Muslim theologian they could do business with. You can read The decline and fall of Tariq Ramadan here, or view it as a pdf below. Download The decline and fall of Tariq Ramadan The Spectator.pdf 12 09 2024 Continue reading
Posted Oct 22, 2024 at I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back
Comment
0
On Hanging About In Men's Toilets
Posted Sep 7, 2024 at I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back
Comment
0
On the dangers of Iran (again)
I had a short article - just 600 words in the Telegraph over the weekend, concerning Iranian influence in the UK. This really ought to be addressed in Yvette Cooper's 'extremism review' currently being conducted somewhere inside the Home Office. You can read the article online here, and download a pdf below. Download Iran promotes UK extremism – it must be stopped 31 08 2024 Continue reading
Posted Sep 5, 2024 at I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back
Comment
0
More in Common?
I have just finished Douglas Murray's "The War on the West: How to prevail in the age of unreason" and was struck by these lines, towards the end of the book: "In the absence of anything else, the only public ethic in the West that people are encouraged to unite around is opposition toward itself." (p.265-66). It raises a very pertinent question - if Britain is divided, on what can it unite? Continue reading
Posted Aug 18, 2024 at I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back
Comment
0
The Islamic Republic of ...............Torsa?
There's not much to laugh about at the moment, but there was some light relief last week at the suggestion Shia cleric Sheikh Yasser al-Habib wished to buy the Scottish Island of Morsa, currently home to two holiday lettings and not a lot else. I was quoted in the Daily Telegraph article on 30 July, which called the whole idea absurd: "Paul Stott, head of security and extremism at Policy Exchange, added to the chorus of concern sparked by the reports." “It’s bizarre, but not totally bizarre, in that religious communities have bought up land in rural parts of Britain... Continue reading
Posted Aug 5, 2024 at I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back
Comment
0
Keir Starmer and the Camden Cadre?
How to understand Sir Keir Starmer and the Labour party he has created? In this article in The Spectator I argue that the London borough of Camden, part of which Sir Keir represents as an MP, is a lens through which Labour's beliefs and policies are best viewed. Its not the Islington of Tony Blair that is running the country, but the Camden of Sir Keir Satrmer! You can read the article online here, or a as a pdf below: Download Keir Starmer and the truth about the Camden cadre spectator 07 06 2024 Continue reading
Posted Jul 28, 2024 at I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back
Comment
0
Defining 'Islamophobia'?
For some reason I neglected to post on here the article on the Labour party and Islamophobia debate, which I had published back on 21 May. You can read it on the Reaction website here, and as a pdf below. Download Labour must define Islamophobia very carefully Reaction 21 05 2024 Continue reading
Posted Jun 2, 2024 at I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back
Comment
0
Turning the tables on extremism?
Yesterday I had a short piece published in The Critic on the new report by Lord Walney on political extremism. The Critic added the sub-heading 'vital but flawed' as a description of Walney - you can read his report here, and my view is on their site. I think it is great we are having these debates, and some of Walney - for example on schools and blasphemy - is encouraging. But a large part of the problem in Batley simply came down to the school, local Labour party, and the teachers union, not having the strength of their supposed... Continue reading
Posted May 22, 2024 at I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back
Comment
0
Notes from the Borderland: Back and sizzling at the table
Posted May 12, 2024 at I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back
Comment
1
Its not who you vote for, but what you vote for
Is democracy in good health following the May elections? One thing that struck me was the defeat of the likeable Jamie Driscoll, formerly Labour's North of Tyne mayor and latterly an independent after being purged by Sir Keir. Driscoll stood and lost to Labour in the first election for the much bigger position of North East Mayor. This covers Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and County Durham. What's interesting about this exercise in devolved power is that it looks remarkably similar to one rejected previously by the electorate. Katie Balls wrote in the 20 April issue of The Spectator: "Metro mayors... Continue reading
Posted May 11, 2024 at I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back
Comment
0
More...
Subscribe to Dr Paul Stott’s Recent Activity