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How Saudi Arabia Bought Football

Saudi Arabia have recently been handed the honour of hosting the 2034 FIFA World Cup , a slap in the face to human rights progressives. In the past the honour was handed to nations with past footballing success and the existing infrastructure to hold an event at a large enough scale. Today it's handed to whichever nations are able to cough up the most money to FIFA, with no regard for footballing culture or passion. Uruguay, Italy, France and Brazil were the first four host nations. The tournament would then enter new markets in Asia through Japan and South Korea in 2002 and then Africa through South Africa in 2010. These tournaments were huge for the hosts in growing the game of football in their respective nations and continents. The existing fanbases relished the opportunity to showcase their national culture and identity on a stage which they had never had previously. The World Cup is also an incredibly attractive proposition when taking into account the financial benefits. Wit...
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Chimurenga: The Revolutionary Struggle

There was a period of time where the now-defunct nation of Rhodesia became somewhat of a social media trend. Its supporters used images of its supposed serenity to illustrate the contrast between the white-ruled Rhodesia and its modern descendant, Zimbabwe. A Zimbabwe which has made its name synonymous with poverty, and economic mismanagement. In reality, very few people understand that behind the social media edits lay a dysfunctional nation with deep inequality and a militarised black underclass.

Liberation Theology - Was Jesus a Marxist?

For whatever reason, the OCR A Level Religion specification doesn't focus on actual religion. I'm talking about biblical etymology or genuine religious history. Instead the course is full of ethical chapters, more suited to a Philosophy qualification, or even better, it's own individual Ethics A-Level. I'm going to talk about one of the chapters most relevant to a Religion A-Level, Liberation Theology and Marxism.

The evils of fundamentalism - A need for Global Secularisation

 Over the last years of my life there has been a happy slow stray away from the wild world of West African Baptist Christianity. Sadly for hundreds of millions of people across the world they will never get to experience this. British secularisation has allowed for the grand liberalisation of our society, aiding free choice for whoever wishes to receive it. However, there are areas where religion suffocates legislatures, terrorising all those who refuse to disobey its commands. The development of our rights is directly in conflict with religious belief. Religion tells us to put ourselves beneath the will of God, irrespective of whatever our wants and needs on this planet are.

A World Without Borders - Losing at BP Debating

The 2025 Cambridge Schools Round 3 motion was memorable. This house prefers a world with no restrictions on immigration. Prep Time  Me and my partner were doing pretty well with 4 points from a possible 6. That changed pretty quickly as we crashed and burned, losing out to some team from Hong Kong, and some other guys from Scotland and another English private school school.  I think in the real debate we messed up the motion so badly we were pushing arguments which relied upon nations not existing, obviously missing the point.

Liberal Socialism - The path for the political left

The inspiration for this article comes from the Grand Final of 2016 World Universities Debating Championships under the motion, This House Believes that the World's poor are justified in pursuing a Marxist revolution. The case for the Opening Government was brought by Bo Seo of Harvard University. The following arguments all stemmed from the introduction, primarily being that the current capitalist system has ensured people are trapped in a cycle of poverty and are unable to generate substantial change through the current status quo.

Transformative Justice: A New Approach to Policing

The British backdrop A lot of the work I put into understanding Afro/Black activist ideas and messaging has gone into the way in which our states should operate . For example, in recent times my interest has been in protest rights and the way the British government has restricted them in the name of national security. Police abolition is something which I'm beginning to get into, especially after recent events in London. On Saturday 4th of October, I stood in Central London and watched swathes of police units arrest peacefully protesting civilians after the proscription of Palestine Action (a group which engaged in civil disobedience against the state) as a terrorist organisation. Reports emerged afterwards that approximately 500 people were arrested with no violent acts committed against the police.

The Aesthetic view of Søren Kierkegaard: Rejecting The Religious

The name for this blog was taken from the teachings of Søren Kierkegaard and his so-called three stages of life: the Aesthetic, the Ethical, and the Religious. He was a hard-line Christian and believed that after we've done all the fun and happy stuff in life, we’d find a void so big that only God can fill it. Now, to be completely transparent—as a religious skeptic—even I found this kind of convincing. However, I feel like this reflects more of a day-to-day human thought pattern rather than one's entire life trajectory.

Kingdom by Joy Crookes: Political Philosophy in Austerity Britain

  "Rolling out to vote, I took my Benson" Earlier this week, I played  Joy Crooke's 2019 album Skin.   In the process I stumbled across what is now one of my favourite songs, Kingdom. I replayed it a couple more times and I can safely say that it gave me good material for an old-fashioned overthinking session.

Money is killing the developing world: The case for radical sustainability

Fire, blood , and anguish. Many decades ago, Priestley conceptualised a variation of the anti-trinity, which, as of right now, accurately mirrors the debilitating realities of the status-quo. Whether it is the common occurrence of forest fires, scorching heat in the summer , or inescapable famine in the global south , nature is rightfully taking its revenge on humanity.

Economic and Political Inequality in Modern Britain

This post is going to be slightly different than normal. Here I'll be responding to a pre-set essay prompt from the University of Cambridge's Butler Prize Competition. I do these rarely but to be completely honest it's an amazing way to gain a greater understanding of things you're interested in Does economic inequality inevitably lead to problems of political inequality?

East meets West: Ancient Wisdom shaping Modern Power.

East meets West: Ancient Wisdom shaping Modern Power.   For centuries, the East and West have become more than just ends of a compass but now represent vast philosophical traditions dictating Politics, Economics and Public Policy across the world.  

The Practicalities of the Pan-African Mission

This is somewhat of a prequel to one of the early posts on the blog titled the Historical Case for a United African State , however this covers a slightly different area of the same topic. At the bottom of the article are all the books and articles I used with the omission of online resources, some of which are hyperlinked through the article. This is to give you a snapshot of the reading I did to inspire the essay, all of which I'd highly recommend if you want a deeper perspective on the work of Pan-African thinkers and leaders.

The Historical Case for a United African State

In my personal statement I said I'd done this article without actually starting it. So, for the purpose of intellectual integrity I'll be making one of many articles in defence of a case for a United African State.

Aesthetic Hedonism - The Guide to Live More Life

If I had to condense my ethical beliefs into a few sentences, I would point to the song Body by Briston Maroney where the chorus goes, "Someday my body will be just a body and a big white light before me lets me know these days will end. But I've got today and the only plan I've made, is to love like I might never get to love someone again."