The timeless sophistication of the Beano

The pattern of Israeli/Palestinian conflicts is always forced by coverage into what people call a ‘narrative arc’. The attacks are usually started by Palestinians. They are briefly condemned across the world, but in terms which allow the Israeli response later to be characterised as ‘overreaction’. Thus a sighing Lyse Doucet, for the BBC, edging away from the utter barbarity of the Hamas attacks, said on Tuesday that ‘the rules [of war] are being broken [by Israel in Gaza] in ways they have never seen before’. Is there any other country which, when its civilians – many old or very young – had been massacred or kidnapped in their hundreds at home, would not respond as fiercely as it could? Not to see this is not ‘neutrality’, but moral blindness.

I receive quite frequent emails from an organisation called Stand Up To Racism. This is its latest headline: ‘Anti-racists warn that retreat over the use of hotel for refugee accommodation in Llanelli sets a precedent and will bolster racists and the far right.’