Book Review: The Oldest Irish Tradition, Kenneth Jackson

I can’t count the times I’ve prayed for a lecture to end early. We have all heard the dull, monotonous tone of a lecturer, droning through facts we could have simply looked up on Wikipedia or ChatGPT. Instead, we are imprisoned, listening for a whole hour or more, when all we want to do is …

The Wall

Image Credit: Gary Fields  What a brilliant wall. I mean look at the structural simplicity of those blocks, strung together like soldiers in formation. It’s just remarkable how each concrete pillar towers over the landscape. Mike, a final year architecture student, breathed a sigh of relief. He’d finally found something he could understand. All the …

‘Conflict analysis’ – Who cares? I do and so should you

Published 20th August 2016 by Daniel Kirkpatrick When I meet people for the first time they nearly always ask that infamous question – ‘So what is it that you do?’- yet with almost complete consistency, as soon as I mention the words ‘international conflict analysis’ they immediately switch off or else quickly change the topic. I don’t …

Negotiating yourself to victory: Becoming the negotiation wizard of strategy board gaming

Published 8th May 2015 by Daniel Kirkpatrick Recently I found myself once again caught up in another game of Settlers of Catan, arguing with the other players, battling to be the first to those elusive 10 points. Despite another sweet victory, I found myself reflecting on what makes up a good strategy, what is the most important …

Overcoming terrorism by facing our fear

Published 18th April 2017 by Daniel Kirkpatrick Recent acts of terror across Europe ensure that terrorism remains firmly fixed in the public consciousness whether in England, Sweden, Germany, or France. And yet, while everyone knows what terrorism is when they see it (or at least think they do); few can agree on a definition. The clich’d phrase – ‘one man’s terrorist is …

Why criminalising non-violent extremism won’t prevent terrorism

Published 13th June 2017 by Daniel Kirkpatrick In the wake of the terrorist attack on London Bridge, Theresa May said that recent attacks “are bound together by the single, evil ideology of Islamist extremism that preaches hatred, sows division, and promotes sectarianism.” In 2015, the prime minister had written that where “non-violent extremism goes unchallenged, the values that bind our society together …

Game of Thrones: will there ever be peace on Westeros?

Originally published 28th July 2017 by Daniel Kirkpatrick, Robert Nagel, and Luke Abbs Warning: This article contains spoilers up to and including season 7. “As a clever man once told me: ‘We make peace with our enemies, not our friends.’” So said Game of Thrones’ Tyrion Lannister. We all enjoy the drama and intrigue of the power struggles in Westeros …

Not all types of extremism are terrorism – conflating the two is dangerous

Originally Published 11 th Sept 2019 by Daniel Kirkpatrick, and Recep Onursal When the Conservative MP Nigel Evans was interrupted during a television interview in early September by an anti-Brexit protester, he criticised the “extremism” of Remainers. Back in February, the avowed Brexiteer Jacob Rees–Mogg warned that delaying Brexit would risk a surge in right–wing extremism. Others have also …