Irony... Or should that be "Irany" (Ouch!)

So, on the same day that UK academics vote to boycott Israeli academics, in the name of freedom & democracy, Iran forbids its own academics from having any contact with any Western academics.

The effect in both cases is the same, even if the result is achieved from opposite directions. In the name of peace, UK academics have adopted the same strategy that the Iranian government is pursuing... in the name of what? Well, not peace, that's for sure!

It's important to challenge both countries- Iran's fostering of fundamentalism, Holocaust denial and anti-semitism, and its nuclear ambitions, and Israel's violent dispossession of the Palestinians and its nuclear ambitions. But how can we challenge if we don't engage in meaningful debate and a fee exchang eof ideas? A boycott suggests that we start from a position of moral superiority - we won't speak to you until you stop being so naughty! That's a little far from the truth - the UK does not represent an shining moral force in the world. Ask the Diego Garcians.