Douglas Murray

Douglas Murray (full name Douglas Kear Murray) (born 16 July 1979) was educated at Magdalen College , Oxford.[[1]]( He is currently the associate director of the Henry Jackson Society , which merged with his former employer, the Centre for Social Cohesion a think tank set up in 2007 by Civitas 'following widespread and longstanding concern about the diminishing sense of community in Britain'.[[2]]( . Murray has also contributed to the Social Affairs Unit . That same year he was ranked 79th in the Telegraph ’s 'The Right's 100 Most Influential' list, according to which he was 'gaining a ubiquitous media presence and is an eloquent advocate of all things American and a strong supporter of taking military action against Iraq'. [[3]]( His first book, Bosie: A Biography of Lord Alfred Douglas , was published in 2000 by Hodder and Stoughton (UK) and Miramax Books (USA). Acclaimed on both sides of the Atlantic, the book became a bestseller, and was reissued in paperback in 2001 and 2002. While still at Oxford, Murray began reviewing for the Spectator . He has since written for many other publications, including the Observer and the New York Sun.[[6]]( Murray's early writing for the Spectator was mainly focused on his literary interests. Murray claims to have been profoundly influenced by the 9/11 attacks: Murray was for some years a regular contributor to the openDemocracy") website. In a September 2002 piece, he criticised CND") and the Stop the War Coalition") for organising an anti-war march together with the Muslim Association of Britain") . [[9]]( In February 2003, he delivered a diatribe against the many first-time demonstrators who had joined the anti-war marches. Well, they get a free vote to decide who runs their country, unlike the people of Iraq, but they surely can’t expect the nation’s foreign policy to be run by occasional polls from the nation’s tabloids. They are mainly ignorant (by choice or chance) of the machinations of international weapons inspections, oil and the rest of it, but if they want to pretend to be experts, fine. Throughout 2003 Murray attended the Saville Inquiry") into the Bloody Sunday shootings, to observe the evidence of the military witnesses. His interest in Northern Ireland, and the Bloody Sunday Inquiry in particular, is the basis for a new book due to be published after Lord Saville issues his final report.[[11]]( For two weeks in 2003, the Saville Inquiry into the Bloody Sunday shootings in Northern Ireland in 1972 questioned men who were serving in the intelligence services at the time. For national security reasons as well as for their own safety, all were anonymous, all spoke from behind screens, and one could not turn up because of new Article 2 considerations. What documents could be produced were very heavily redacted for Article 2 and national security reasons. What questioning was possible was limited to questioning that did not impinge on Article 2 and national security issues. That was with people who had been in the field thirty-two years ago. An inquiry in 2004, inquiring into intelligence from 2002 and 2003, would not move forward very far.[[12]]( it is not the smugness of those who get their fix of “issues” that is the problem. The odious thing about this exercise is that it plugs a gap in the market for those who are cash-rich and time-poor. “Tribunal theatre” is simply filling a gap in the market for no-strings-attached, neatly packaged, moral tourism.[[13]]( Murray joined the Social Affairs Unit as a regular contributor in 2004.[[14]]( . In 2005, the Unit published his book, Neoconservatism: Why We Need It, which argued for the introduction of neoconservative ideas into British politics.[[15]]( The practice of equivalence in our national politics leads governments not to listen to, but to fear minority opinion, concerned lest anyone get the impression that the government knows what's right for the majority who have elected it. Not only does it make politics a glor