Douglas Murray (author)

Douglas Murray (author)
Douglas Murray
Born Douglas Kear Murray
16 July 1979 (1979-07-16) (age 32)
Scotland
Occupation Associate Director of the Henry Jackson Society, Former Director of the Centre for Social Cohesion, Author, Journalist
Nationality British
Alma mater Eton
Magdelen College, Oxford
Notable work(s) Neoconservatism: Why We Need it, Bosie: A Biography of Lord Alfred Douglas, Victims of Intimidation: Freedom of Speech within Europe's Muslim Communities

Douglas Murray is a British writer and commentator[1] who was the director of the Centre for Social Cohesion from 2007 until 2011[2] and is currently an associate director of the Henry Jackson Society.[3] Murray appears regularly in the British broadcast media, commentating on issues from a conservative standpoint, and he is often critical of Islamic fundamentalism. He writes for a number of publications including Standpoint and The Spectator. In 2009, he was awarded the Charles Douglas-Home memorial prize for journalism. Murray has authored a number of books, including in 2005 Neoconservatism: Why We Need it.

Contents

Education

Murray was educated at St Benedict's School,[4] Eton College, and Magdalen College at the University of Oxford, where he studied English.

Publications

At Oxford, aged 20, he published a biography of Lord Alfred Douglas,[5] which has been described by Christopher Hitchens as "masterly".[6] Formerly hailed as Britain's youngest published biographer, this record was taken away by the publication of Charles Read's biography of the 2nd Earl de Grey at the age of 16 in 2007.[7]

Murray later wrote a play, Nightfall, based on Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg's attempts to dissuade Adolf Eichmann from implementing the Final Solution.[1]

In 2005 he published a defence of neoconservatism, Neoconservatism: Why We Need It and undertook a related promotional tour of the United States. During the course of this tour he gave an interview to the New York Sun in which he outlined his "instinctive" support for Israel and was dubbed a "self-described neoconservative and Zionist"[citation needed].

In 2007 he assisted in the writing of Towards a Grand Strategy for an Uncertain World: Renewing Transatlantic Partnership by Gen. Dr. Klaus Naumann, Gen. John Shalikashvili, Field Marshal The Lord Inge, Adm. Jacques Lanxade, and Gen. Henk van den Breemen.[8] Upon publication, The Guardian reported that among its recommendations was that, as a last resort, NATO should be prepared to launch a pre-emptive nuclear attack in order to prevent the use of weapons of mass destruction.[9]

Media appearances and journalism

He has appeared on the BBC's Question Time,[10] Newsnight,[11] HardTalk,[12] Today Programme,[13] The Big Questions,[14] BBC Wales,[15] and has written for The Guardian,[16] The Sunday Times,[17] "NPR's "Intelligence Squared",[18] and Standpoint.[19]

Views on Islam

Murray frequently appears in the broadcast media criticising aspects of Islamic fundamentalism, and he has written that it was through studying Islam and the Qur'an that led to the loss of his own faith.[20] In 2010 Murray wrote "It is grotesque to argue that Europe has failed its Muslims. It has been made repeatedly obvious that it is Islam that has failed Europe".[21] Murray is fundamentally opposed to the presence of Islam in Europe, saying: "Conditions for Muslims in Europe must be made harder across the board: Europe must look like a less attractive proposition." [22]

Murray has described what he sees as, "a creed of Islamic fascism – a malignant fundamentalism, woken from the dark ages to assault us here and now". He believes that "we live…in a thought culture – but it is one in which the thought has gone bad". He sees the main problem as being cultural relativism[23] which he has described as, "the primary disease – the AIDS of the West – the disease which has made the opportunist infection of Islam so deadly".[24]

Murray supported Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri's Fatwa on Terrorism and wrote that it has "the possibility of being respected by a far wider range of people than any of those individual non-scholarly Muslim voices who have also condemned terrorism without caveat."[25]

His comments about Islamic extremism in Holland mean that he has to have a police guard when travelling there.[10]

He has labelled "Islamophobia" a "nonsense term", as "there are a considerable number of reasons to be fearful of some – though certainly not all – aspects and versions of Islam".[26]

Criticism of Islamic Extremism

Murray said that the followers of senior al-Qaida leader[27] Anwar al-Awlaki: "will routinely describe Awlaki as a vital and highly respected scholar, [while he] is actually an al-Qaida-affiliate nut case."[28]

Douglas Murray wrote an article criticising Malcolm Grant, chancellor at University College London, and radicalisation on university campuses after it emerged that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab – who attempted to explode a bomb on a flight to Detroit – was formerly president of the UCL Islamic Society. Malcolm Grant denied there was a problem with extremism on campus,[29] yet the CSC issued a press briefing highlighting the extremists that had spoken at UCL after being invited by its ISOC.[30]

In March 2009, Douglas Murray and the Centre for Social Cohesion applauded the decision to bar Ibrahim el-Moussawi, spokesman for Hizbollah, from entering Britain.[31] El-Moussawi had been due to lecture government officials and police on political Islam at a course arranged by the School of Oriental and African Studies;[32] Murray was highly critical of the prospect that while el-Moussawi was set to be welcomed into Britain, elected Dutch MP Geert Wilders had been barred from entering the country just weeks before.[33] He subsequently wrote to Home Secretary Jacqui Smith warning that he was planning to instruct his lawyers to issue an international arrest warrant against el-Moussawi if he entered Britain.[32] The Home Office eventually refused el-Moussawi a visa.

Moral Superiority

Murray is famous for stating - on an episode of Question Time - that the behaviour of western societies is "better" than Al Qaeda, stating that we "just don't need to show it".

"Banned" from the LSE

Murray claimed that he was "banned"[34][35][36] by the London School of Economics in January 2009. Murray was set to chair a debate titled "Islam and Liberalism: Which is the Way Forward?" between Dr Alan Sked and Hamza Andreas Tzortzis. However the LSE decided that, as it was experiencing student protests and significant unrest on campus in the context of Israeli incursion into Gaza, Murray's presence "might provoke further unrest". He was subsequently asked by the university to stay away from campus in the interests of "public safety", Murray claims. The LSE publicly denied that he had been banned, and stated that he had previously spoken at a number of LSE events, and said that they had at the last minute reinvited him to chair the meeting, which Murray later confirmed, though he was too upset to do so. Damian Thompson in the Daily Telegraph called LSE "gutless" and threatened to return the PhD he had earned at the university.[36] Journalist Melanie Phillips called the decision "another victory for the forces of darkness".[34]

Public service

Murray is a member of the International Advisory Board of NGO Monitor.[37]

Works

  • Murray, Douglas. Bosie: A Biography of Lord Alfred Douglas. ISBN 0-340-76771-5. 
  • Murray, Douglas (2005). Neoconservatism: Why We Need It. ISBN 1-904-86305-1. 

As co-author:

References

  1. ^ a b "4 Douglas Murray – Scotsman.com Living". Living.scotsman.com. http://living.scotsman.com/mosteligiblemen2003/4-Douglas-Murray.2477188.jp. Retrieved 12 November 2010. 
  2. ^ "Official Douglas Murray Site". Douglasmurray.co.uk. http://www.douglasmurray.co.uk/cv.htm. Retrieved 12 November 2010. 
  3. ^ "Centre for Social Cohesion". Socialcohesion.co.uk. http://www.socialcohesion.co.uk/people. Retrieved 12 November 2010. 
  4. ^ "St. Benedicts Activities Bulletin" (PDF). http://www.stbenedicts.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/2008-9_activities_bulletin_6web.pdf. Retrieved 12 November 2010. 
  5. ^ Smith, Dinitia (18 July 2000). "Article". New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F02E2DD133BF93BA25754C0A9669C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all. Retrieved 12 November 2010. 
  6. ^ Christopher Hitchens (30 August 2006). "Christopher Hitchens: Young Brit defends American people, politics and policies". The Washington Examiner. http://washingtonexaminer.com/node/446766. Retrieved 2 April 2011. 
  7. ^ Charles Read, "Earl de Grey" (2007)
  8. ^ "Towards a Grand Strategy for an Uncertain World: Renewing Transatlantic Partnership" (PDF). http://www.csis.org/media/csis/events/080110_grand_strategy.pdf. Retrieved 12 November 2010. 
  9. ^ Traynor, Ian (22 January 2008). "Pre-emptive nuclear strike a key option, Nato told". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jan/22/nato.nuclear. Retrieved 1 May 2010. 
  10. ^ a b "This week's panel". BBC News. 5 July 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/question_time/6273762.stm. Retrieved 1 May 2010. 
  11. ^ "Broadcast Yourself". YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXao6HbDdcs. Retrieved 12 November 2010. 
  12. ^ "Douglas Murray". BBC News. 3 March 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/hardtalk/7274865.stm. Retrieved 1 May 2010. 
  13. ^ "Radio 4 – Today Programme Listen Again". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today/listenagain/listenagain_20060902.shtml. Retrieved 12 November 2010. 
  14. ^ "Broadcast Yourself". YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJ8JxXGMbWw. Retrieved 12 November 2010. 
  15. ^ http://www.socialcohesion.co.uk/files/1235652149_3.mp3
  16. ^ Murray, Douglas (31 October 2006). "Mission distorted". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2006/oct/31/comment.iraq. Retrieved 1 May 2010. 
  17. ^ Murray, Douglas (23 November 2008). "Think tank Betrayal of Muslim reformers". The Times (London). http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article5213325.ece. Retrieved 1 May 2010. 
  18. ^ "Is Islam a Religion of Peace?". NPR. 13 October 2010. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130516428. Retrieved 25 Jan 2010. 
  19. ^ Douglas Murray. "Power to the Spokespeople". Standpointmag.co.uk. http://www.standpointmag.co.uk/node/809/full. Retrieved 12 November 2010. 
  20. ^ "Studying Islam has made me an atheist". The Spectator. 29 December 2008. http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-magazine/features/3194231/studying-islam-has-made-me-an-atheist.thtml. Retrieved 12 November 2010. 
  21. ^ "Europe is not failing its Muslims. But Islam has failed Europe". The Daily Telegraph (London). 10 March 2010. http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/douglasmurray/100029271/europe-is-not-failing-its-muslims-but-islam-has-failed-europe/. Retrieved 1 May 2010. 
  22. ^ {{cite news| url=http://web.archive.org/web/20080510104632/http://www.socialaffairsunit.org.uk/blog/archives/000809.php | work=The Social Affairs Unit | location=Netherlands | title=What are we to do about Islam | date=3 March 2006 | accessdate=15 Aug 2011}
  23. ^ Murray, Douglas (26 October 2005). "Web Review: Neoconservatism: why we need it – a talk to the Manhattan Institute by Douglas Murray". The Social Affairs Unit. http://www.socialaffairsunit.org.uk/blog/archives/000636.php. Retrieved 12 November 2010. 
  24. ^ What are we to do about Islam? A speech to the Pim Fortuyn Memorial Conference on Europe and Islam by Douglas Murray, 3 March 2006
  25. ^ "Why this fatwa for peace matters so much to us all by Douglas Murray". Thisislondon.co.uk. 26 Feb 2010. http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23810140-is-this-a-triumph-for-the-islamic-peacemakers.do. Retrieved 12 November 2010. 
  26. ^ Douglas Murray. "Standpoint". Standpointmag.co.uk. http://www.standpointmag.co.uk/node/251/full. Retrieved 12 November 2010. 
  27. ^ "Yemen al-Qaeda head Anwar al-Awlaki 'targeted by drone'". BBC News. 7 May 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13319862. 
  28. ^ Temple-Raston, Dina (19 February 2010). "Officials: Cleric Had Role In Christmas Bomb Attempt". All Things Considered (National Public Radio). http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123894237. Retrieved 13 March 2010. 
  29. ^ "Freedom of thought is all we foment". Times Higher Education. http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=409807. Retrieved 12 November 2010. 
  30. ^ http://www.socialcohesion.co.uk/files/1262710659_1.pdf
  31. ^ Hizbullah spokesman denied entry to UK
  32. ^ a b Barrett, David (7 March 2009). "Campaigners will seek arrest of Islamic radical Campaigners from the Centre for Social Cohesion have pledged to seek an arrest warrant for Dr Ibrahim Moussawi, an Islamic extremist, who is due to visit Britain this March.". The Daily Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/lawandorder/4953470/Campaigners-will-seek-arrest-of-Islamic-radical.html. Retrieved 1 May 2010. [dead link]
  33. ^ Charter, David (12 February 2009). "AntiIslamist politician Geert Wilders refused entry to Britain". The Times (London). http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article5718039.ece. Retrieved 1 May 2010. 
  34. ^ a b Melanie Phillips (23RD JANUARY 2009). "The LSE caves in to terror". The Spectator. http://www.spectator.co.uk/melaniephillips/3283526/the-lse-caves-in-to-terror.thtml. Retrieved April 25, 2010. 
  35. ^ "Civil liberties group calls for resignation of Prof Janet Hartley". The Daily Telegraph (London). 23 January 2009. http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/alex_singleton/blog/2009/01/23/civil_liberties_group_calls_for_resignation_of_prof_janet_hartley. Retrieved 1 May 2010. 
  36. ^ a b Damian Thompson (January 23, 2009). "Gutless LSE bans Islam critic Douglas Murray for 'security reasons'". The Daily Telegraph (London). http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/damian_thompson/blog/2009/01/23/gutless_lse_bans_islam_critic_douglas_murray_for_security_reasons?com_num=20&com_pg=. Retrieved February 23, 2009. 
  37. ^ International Advisory Board of NGO Monitor

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