The Tyranny of the 'Anonymous': Dilettante on The Student Journals

In my latest TSJ article I attack the so-called 'Anonymous' hackers after their attack on Stratfor, and make the case that these people represent the rise of a new and totally unaccountable form of censorious internet dictatorship.

Help me pick my Orwell Prize submissions

The start of a new year means that it is Orwell Prize nomination time. It's a nice opportunity to look back over the writing I did in the last year and try to pick out the ten I'm most proud of.

However, given that being long-listed is relatively unlikely I thought it might be useful if I used the opportunity to see how other people rate my pieces. So instead of narrowing down to ten pieces I've narrowed down to twenty.

Some of these I'm definitely submitting, some I'm probably not, but anybody interested in letting me know which they'd send is welcome to either leave a comment or email me at henrychhill[at]btinternet.com.

Update: Bold indicates articles finally selected. Thank you to all who offered their suggestions.

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1) Initiation or Incubation: Left Wing Leaders and Student Politics

2) The Soft Bigotry of Lowered Expectations

3) Oppose Lecturer Strikes

4) How do People Simply 'Decide' to Overthrow a Regime?

5) Republicans Killing Catholics? Four Lions Called It

6) Were the Liberal Democrats Ever Viable as a Concept?

7) Jonathan Freedland in Denial

8) Rumours of Lords Reform: Three Criticisms

9) Why on Earth are Greens Nationalist?

10) A Safety Net or a Padded Cell? Universal Healthcare and Freedom

11) We're Not a Family: Why the Right Doesn't do Marches

12) So... what is a Conservative?

13) Simon Hughes is Wrong

14) Yes to the UK

15) Asking the Wrong Question on Riot Control

16) Long Lived Messiahs Always Disappoint 

17) First Flickers of a Unionist Fightback

18) The 'One Per Cent' Do Not Have a Monopoly on Greed

19) Death and Freedom

20) White Poppy? White Flag


21) Long Live the Kings*


*Added afterwards.

Dilettante on Mancunian Matters: Are the Lib Dems finished in Manchester?

In a feature for Manchester-based news website Mancunian Matters, I examine whether or not the Liberal Democrats have a future in the city following their collapse at the last local elections.

Dilettante on Open Unionism: The Dream Lives On - The Conservatives in Northern Ireland

In a feature I prepared for my journalism qualification, I examine the history, performance and prospects of the Conservative Party in Northern Ireland from Home Rule to the present day.

Dilettante on Gossip Tory: Turnout Problems Aren't Going Away

My first piece as Chief Reporter for Gossip Tory is an article I originally wrote as a London Spin column in the aftermath of Ben Howlett's re-election. It looks at the failure of online voting to seriously impact turnout and examines why this might be.

The End of Retirement: Dilettante on The Student Journals

In my latest TSJ article, I moot that the concept of 'the pension age' is an outdated relic of post-war policy that needs fundamental reform, and that the younger generation should not feel entitled to a long retirement the nation can't afford to give them.

Dilettante in BullsEye:

I've got an article in the December issue of BullsEye, the magazine of the European People's Party youth organisation European Democrat Students. You can download it here. 

My article can be found on page 14 and is entitled 'No New Christendom', and makes the argument for the admission of Muslim states into the EU. I also had an article in the previous September issue arguing for a reform of European energy policy.