Joan Smith

Known for her human rights activism and writing on subjects such as atheism and feminism, Joan Smith is a columnist, critic and novelist. An Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society and a regular contributor to BBC radio, she has written five detective novels, two of which have been filmed by the BBC. Her latest novel, What Will Survive, was published in June 2007.

Joan Smith: We can't blame a Nazi link for our own abuse case

Earlier this year, an Austrian woman told astonished officials that her father had imprisoned her in a cellar for 24 years, repeatedly raped her and made her pregnant with eight children. As many older Austrians were enthusiastic Nazis, commentators were quick to assume that Josef Fritzl's behaviour shone fresh light on wounds in the national psyche.

Recently by Joan Smith

Joan Smith: Damaged women are safer now, thanks to Jacqui Smith

Sunday, 23 November 2008

But how is it going to be enforced? I've lost count of how many times I've heard that objection since Jacqui Smith announced proposals to criminalise men who buy sex from women who've been coerced into prostitution. Personally, I don't see the problem: under the new law, ignorance won't be a defence and the police have to establish only that a woman is under the control of pimps or traffickers. Then the client can be charged with a new offence of paying for sex with someone who is "controlled for another person's gain". If the man has "knowingly" had sex with a trafficked woman, he could be charged with rape – and about time too. (For pedants, let me point out that the new law will apply equally to men and women. In practice, the vast majority of people who buy sex are male.)

Joan Smith: My gift to the good people of France – our Olympics

Sunday, 16 November 2008

I've had a brilliant idea for a new Olympic sport. Like most Olympic events, it's an elite activity, open only to a select group of contestants who have trained hard for years. Each of them – I'm thinking Tony Blair, Tessa Jowell, Lord Coe, Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson for starters – has to stand on the edge of a pit and see how much public money they can throw into it. The gold medal will go to whoever manages to dispose of the largest quantity of taxpayers' dosh, probably in the region of £6bn, in the allotted time.

Joan Smith: Obama enlightened? Yes. Liberal? No

Sunday, 9 November 2008

Hang on a minute: the result of the American election is good news, but let's not get carried away. The Democratic Party is liberal but it's still not enlightened, and the election campaign has been a reminder of a huge gulf between the United States and Europe on a key issue. Barack Obama's Democrats may no longer be afraid of the L-word, but now it's the A-word which has to be avoided at all costs, even to the point of suing an opponent who suggests you might not believe in God. In a closely-fought Senate contest in North Carolina, the Democratic candidate reacted with fury and a libel suit when her Republican opponent wrongly implied she was an atheist. Instead of shrugging off Elizabeth Dole's accusation, Kay Hagan responded as though she'd been branded a paedophile. They both need to read Article VI of the US Constitution, which lays down that "no religious test" should ever be required as a qualification to hold public office.

Joan Smith: Only the most desperate man would use a woman as a weapon

Sunday, 2 November 2008

Taunting Andrew Sachs with sexual images of his granddaughter was the cowardly act of men who believe they are in touch with youth. In reality, it is they who are behind the times

Joan Smith: Oligarchs are unfit company for friends of democracy

Sunday, 26 October 2008

It's a high-risk business being an oligarch. In recent years, the word has lost its connotation of political power and become associated with astonishing levels of wealth, epitomised by the owner of Chelsea football club, Roman Abramovich.

Joan Smith: So, the WAGs buy bags. What do you buy, Rio?

Sunday, 19 October 2008

It's not just bankers. I know it's acceptable these days to hate them, along with derivative traders and hedge-fund managers. But we shouldn't forget all the other people who bought into a hedonistic, spendthrift lifestyle over the past decade; we could start with untalented, overpaid TV presenters, and Premiership footballers whose salaries exceed the health budgets of some African countries. In Freetown last month I met the health minister of Sierra Leone, who has an annual budget of £5m for a population of six million people. Compare that with the £6.2m earned by Manchester United's star players, Rio Ferdinand and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Joan Smith: A terrorist sponger? No, a beneficiary of British fair play

Sunday, 12 October 2008

In 1980, a few days after the SAS stormed the Iranian embassy in Knightsbridge, I stepped inside the damaged building. There were cracks in the walls and ceilings, and crystal tear drops from a chandelier lay among debris on the floor. I stood in the hall where a hostage had been murdered during the six-day siege and tried to picture the moments after the SAS burst in, leaving alive only one of the hostage-takers: an Iranian called Fowzi Nejad. Last week, Nejad learned that he is finally about to be freed from prison. He has also been assured that he will not then be deported back to Iran.

Joan Smith: Be afraid – Palin's weaknesses are her strength

Sunday, 5 October 2008

It was like watching a sleek Afghan hound compete for best-in-show with a shamelessly winsome mongrel. From the moment Sarah Palin surged on to the stage and grasped his hand, asking if she could call him by his first name, Joe Biden seemed mesmerised by the showy antics of his rival for the vice-presidency. Ms Palin smiled, winked, invoked the deity – when this woman mentions God, it sounds as if she's talking about one of her neighbours – and name-checked a school class back home in Alaska. She described herself for the umpteenth time as a "hockey mum" and used cringe-making folksy phrases like "betcha" and "doggone it". Poor Senator Biden forced a smile, looking as if he could scarcely believe what he was hearing, and doggedly attacked the Republicans' presidential candidate, John McCain, instead of turning his fire directly on Ms Palin.

Joan Smith: Don't let the Royals eat any more of our cake

Sunday, 28 September 2008

One thing the Government has been clear about, in these fraught economic times, is the unacceptability of demands for above-average pay increases. Public service workers have been told firmly that the country can't afford big rises and they will just have to tighten their belts.

Joan Smith: Labour's women have gone where the men dared not

Sunday, 21 September 2008

This was the week of The Women, and I don't mean the remake of the classic Hollywood movie about wealthy socialites in New York. In an unprecedented revolt against a serving prime minister, one woman MP after another broke ranks and questioned Gordon Brown's leadership, bringing into the open an anguished debate which has been going on privately for months.

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