Douglas Murray (author): Difference between revisions

Douglas Kear Murray (born 16 July 1979) is a British writer and commentator.^[1] He 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. He is the author of Neoconservatism: Why We Need It (2005) and Bloody Sunday: Truths, Lies and the Saville Inquiry (2011).

Murray was educated at St Benedict's School,^[4] and won a sixth-form scholarship to Eton College^[5] before going on to study English at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he received a 2:2.^{[citation needed]}

While in his second year at Oxford he wrote, aged 19,^[6] a biography of Lord Alfred Douglas^[7] that was described by Christopher Hitchens as "masterly".^[8] After leaving Oxford Murray wrote a play, Nightfall, about the Swedish anti-Nazi hero Raoul Wallenberg.^[9] In 2005 he published a defence of neoconservatism – Neoconservatism: Why We Need It – and undertook a related promotional tour of the United States.^[10] In 2005 he published a defence of neoconservatism – Neoconservatism: Why We Need It – and undertook a related promotional tour of the United States.^[10] 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.^[11] 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.^[12]

Murray has appeared on a number of British current affairs programmes, including the BBC's Question Time,^[13] This Week,^[14] HardTalk,^[15] the Today programme,^[16] The Big Questions,^[17] and The Daily Politics,^[18] in which he presented a piece arguing that multiculturalism is not multiracialism. Murray has written for The Guardian^[19] and Standpoint,^[20] and in 2012 he was appointed a contributing editor of The Spectator.^[21]

Murray is a frequent critic of Islamic fundamentalism, and has identified what he sees as, "a creed of Islamic fascism – a malignant fundamentalism, woken from the dark ages to assault us here and now".^[22] He views cultural relativism as exacerbating the issue.^[22] Murray 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".^[23] His comments about Islamic extremism in Holland mean that he has to have a police guard when travelling there.^[13]

In March 2009, Murray wrote to Home Secretary Jacqui Smith warning that he was planning to instruct his lawyers to issue an international arrest warrant against Ibrahim Mousawi if he entered Britain;^[24] the Home Office eventually refused Mousawi a visa.^[25] In 2009, Murray was prevented from chairing a debate at the London School of Economics between Alan Sked and Hamza Tzortzis. The move drew strong criticism from some journalists.^[26][27][28]

In 2010, Murray argued against the motion in an Intelligence Squared debate titled "Is Islam A Religion Of Peace?"^[29]

Under the headline "Anyone know any Irishman jokes?" Murray wrote a column querying a council having "to pay thousands of pounds in compensation" to a union official who had been told an Irish joke by a Conservative councillor, writing "you can reflect on the ramifications for the taxpayer of a society that decides it needs officials to arbitrate on jokes".^[30] The result was that over 70 Irish jokes appeared on the blog.^[31] The Federation of Irish Societies (an organisation that represents Irish clubs and societies in Britain)^[32] lodged a formal complaint about the blog to the Press Complaints Commission.^{[33][dead link]}

• Murray, Douglas (2000). Bosie: A Biography of Lord Alfred Douglas. ISBN 0-340-76771-5.
• Murray, Douglas (2005). Neoconservatism: Why We Need It. ISBN 1-904863-05-1.
• Murray, Douglas (2011). Bloody Sunday: Truths, Lies and the Saville Inquiry. London: Dialogue. p. 320. ISBN 978-1-84954-149-7.

As co-author:

• Murray, Douglas (2007). "Towards a Grand Strategy for an Uncertain World: Renewing Transatlantic Partnership" (PDF).
• Murray, Douglas; Verwey, Johan Pieter (2008). "Victims of Intimidation: Freedom of Speech within Europe's Muslim Communities". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

Murray is on the international advisory board of NGO Monitor.^[34]

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