Author Archives: atyabrashid

A pretty core aspect of my personality is that I like to know things. I read constantly, on as many disparate topics as I can, and I try to ensure I commit enough of this material to memory so as to be an utterly insufferable know-it-all when called upon. This habit of mine has beenContinue reading “The Success Mill”

I. Bernie Sanders lost the 2020 Democratic Primary, in a much more damaging way than he lost in 2016, and there has been a lot of handwringing as to why this happened. This post will be my sorry excuse for an explanation, and also a look into lessons that can be learned from this. TheContinue reading “Why Bernie lost”

‘Are you a communist because you read Karl Marx, Tommy? No. You read Karl Marx because you know you are a communist’ I. I really dislike it when people moralise or intellectually belittle their political opponents. I don’t mean when it is done in the sense of a casual jest in the company of friends,Continue reading “Catabasis”

I recently read the following article by Nick Barlow, on the topic of Tim Farron’s recent statements about J.K. Rowling: https://medium.com/@nick.barlow/the-reactionary-liberalism-of-tim-farron-62f47df6b37a There are two points in this article I want to address. Firstly, the specific issue of differing views on free speech within the liberal tradition. The point being made in the first part ofContinue reading “‘The reactionary liberalism of Tim Farron’ – A Response”

25 years ago yesterday, on the 28th June 1995, a man who I had never met passed away as the sun began to dawn. Sajjad Hussein Rashid, my father’s younger and only brother, fought a long battle with cancer and had celebrated his 22nd birthday only twelve days earlier, knowing full well that the hour of passingContinue reading “A short requiem”

As almost everyone who has ever had a conversation with me will know, I’m very much a proud student of philosophy, and a proponent of philosophical method to the issues of wider society. I would like to think I am sincere in my passion for my chosen subject, but one of the things that hasContinue reading “How to Lose Friends and Alienate People”

Back in November 2019, in the run-up to the UK general election, the general political fervour which had taken over my life compelled me to watch an episode of the worst show on British television, Question Time. Usually, I would avoid it like the plague, on account of completely vacuous content, and invariable devolution intoContinue reading “Boris Johnson, Lionel Shriver, and selective appeals to consequence”