http://blogs.independent.co.uk| Blogs from the Independent newspaper - news, views and features from the world's most free-thinking newspaper| Fri, 24 May 2013 08:31:35 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2| en hourly 1 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/09/east-african-muslim-women-on-female-genital-mutilation-we-were-not-meant-to-enjoy-sex-we-were-supposed-to-be-machines-to-have-babies/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/09/east-african-muslim-women-on-female-genital-mutilation-we-were-not-meant-to-enjoy-sex-we-were-supposed-to-be-machines-to-have-babies/#comments Tue, 09 Apr 2013 11:46:25 +0000 Musa Okwonga http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=33954 On the last day of my Easter holidays, Dr. Phoebe Abe (or, as I know her, my mother) sat down in her living room with me and several women from Somalia, Egypt and Sudan. My mother, a GP, had for some time been looking at the issue of female genital mutilation (FGM) with Dr Comfort Momoh MBE.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/09/east-african-muslim-women-on-female-genital-mutilation-we-were-not-meant-to-enjoy-sex-we-were-supposed-to-be-machines-to-have-babies/feed/ 236 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/02/04/poetrys-premature-obituary/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/02/04/poetrys-premature-obituary/#comments Mon, 04 Feb 2013 14:07:23 +0000 Musa Okwonga http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=32236 This weekend, I was surprised to learn from an opinion piece in The Independent that "poetry is dying". I was even more surprised to discover, in the following line, that "[actually], it's pretty dead already for all intents and purposes."]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/02/04/poetrys-premature-obituary/feed/ 10 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/08/20/the-football-crash-are-footballers-the-bankers-of-modern-sport/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/08/20/the-football-crash-are-footballers-the-bankers-of-modern-sport/#comments Mon, 20 Aug 2012 09:51:35 +0000 Musa Okwonga http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=27558 For some time now, the headlines about footballers’ wages have seemed oddly familiar; and, with the publication of a new report, the analogy has finally become clear. ]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/08/20/the-football-crash-are-footballers-the-bankers-of-modern-sport/feed/ 19 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/08/14/whats-wrong-with-eton-it-doesnt-teach-snobbery/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/08/14/whats-wrong-with-eton-it-doesnt-teach-snobbery/#comments Tue, 14 Aug 2012 10:40:36 +0000 Musa Okwonga http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=27375 On one hand, I hate the idea that I am part of a group of school alumni whom it is fair game to mock as posh, pampered and out of touch. On the other hand, I hate the idea of inequality of opportunity, of which Eton is her metaphor. ]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/08/14/whats-wrong-with-eton-it-doesnt-teach-snobbery/feed/ 65 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/07/25/muhammad-ali-goes-beyond-sport/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/07/25/muhammad-ali-goes-beyond-sport/#comments Wed, 25 Jul 2012 09:34:10 +0000 Musa Okwonga http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=26774 Watching Muhammad Ali shuffle onto the stage, aided by two loving helpers, it was hard to think anything else. This man gave everything.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/07/25/muhammad-ali-goes-beyond-sport/feed/ 1 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/07/22/tuition-fees-and-an-oxford-professors-last-lesson/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/07/22/tuition-fees-and-an-oxford-professors-last-lesson/#comments Sun, 22 Jul 2012 14:06:01 +0000 Musa Okwonga http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=26654 It’s difficult with words to do justice – pun reluctantly intended – to the positive impact that Professor Freedland has had on the lives of countless people, the overwhelming majority of whom he will never meet.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/07/22/tuition-fees-and-an-oxford-professors-last-lesson/feed/ 7 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/06/18/iran-israel-gandalf-and-the-bomb/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/06/18/iran-israel-gandalf-and-the-bomb/#comments Mon, 18 Jun 2012 14:08:42 +0000 Musa Okwonga http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=25401 Sometimes fantasy makes more sense than fiction. When looking at the latest developments in the diplomatic standoff between Iran and several Western nations, the words of Gandalf in that epic Lord of The Rings trailer spring to mind. “The board is set”, murmured the White Wizard. “The pieces are moving”.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/06/18/iran-israel-gandalf-and-the-bomb/feed/ 16 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/06/15/leveson-and-why-the-public-do-care/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/06/15/leveson-and-why-the-public-do-care/#comments Fri, 15 Jun 2012 03:05:34 +0000 Musa Okwonga http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=25293 There it was again. The assumption that I have seen from so many politicians and media commentators that almost no-one outside the political world cares about what is happening at the Leveson inquiry. I think that this assumption is wrong. Worse than that, it is staggeringly, appallingly, dangerously wrong.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/06/15/leveson-and-why-the-public-do-care/feed/ 129 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/06/06/baroness-warsis-troubles-are-not-black-and-white/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/06/06/baroness-warsis-troubles-are-not-black-and-white/#comments Wed, 06 Jun 2012 10:41:43 +0000 Musa Okwonga http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=24969 Prime Minister David Cameron has ordered an investigation into Baroness Warsi’s conduct under the Ministerial Code. He has not ordered the same investigation into the conduct of Jeremy Hunt. It is arguable that both Warsi and Hunt are at fault. The accusation of double standards has arisen, as have implications of racism and sexism against the critics of Baroness Warsi.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/06/06/baroness-warsis-troubles-are-not-black-and-white/feed/ 111 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/14/manchester-city-and-the-agony-of-victory/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/14/manchester-city-and-the-agony-of-victory/#comments Mon, 14 May 2012 13:26:13 +0000 Musa Okwonga http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=24166 Manchester City did to Manchester United what Manchester United have been doing to the world for years. ]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/14/manchester-city-and-the-agony-of-victory/feed/ 1 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/04/30/roy-hodgson-and-humble-pie/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/04/30/roy-hodgson-and-humble-pie/#comments Mon, 30 Apr 2012 09:45:53 +0000 Musa Okwonga http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=23665 I think that Roy Hodgson’s appointment infuriates so many of us because it shows us what we really are: we are outsiders, peering up at football’s elite.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/04/30/roy-hodgson-and-humble-pie/feed/ 13 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/04/28/guardiola-at-barcelona-a-true-artists-legacy/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/04/28/guardiola-at-barcelona-a-true-artists-legacy/#comments Sat, 28 Apr 2012 09:00:12 +0000 Musa Okwonga http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=23647 For the next few hundred words I am going to gush, and I make absolutely no apologies for that. If you remotely dislike FC Barcelona, or what Pep Guardiola did for them while he was there, please flee now, or kindly register your disgust at the foot of this page.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/04/28/guardiola-at-barcelona-a-true-artists-legacy/feed/ 31