Martin Bright
Encyclopedia
Martin Bright is a British journalist. He worked for the BBC World Service
and The Guardian
before becoming The Observer
's education correspondent and then home affairs editor. From 2005 to 2009, he was the New Statesman
's political editor.
Bright was the presenter of Channel 4
's 30 Minutes film, Who Speaks For Muslims? He is the author of When Progressives Treat with Reactionaries, on British state funding of political Islam, published by the right-of-centre British thinktank Policy Exchange
.http://www.policyexchange.org.uk/images/publications/pdfs/When_Prog.pdf In 2001, he wrote a controversial article in the New Statesman about the work of Islamic scholars John Wansbrough
, Michael Cook
, Patricia Crone
, Andrew Rippin
and Gerald Hawting entitled The Great Koran Con Trick. http://www.newstatesman.com/200112170032. He has since publicly disowned the headline on the article, which he has described as irresponsible. Some of the scholars involved were unhappy with the article.
Bright is married to Vanessa Thorpe, the arts correspondent of The Observer, with whom he has two children.
Bright left the New Statesman in January 2009. He now writes an online blog entitled "The Bright Stuff – Dispatches from Enemy Territory" for The Spectator. Bright was on the journalism long list for the Orwell Prize
in 2009.
In January 2009, Bright formed New Deal of the Mind
, a coalition of artists, entrepreneurs, academics and opinion formers working to boost employment in Britain's creative sector during the recession. The organisation was launched formally at Number 11 Downing Street on 24 March 2009. The launch seminar was attended by over sixty of Britain's leading creative industry figures, as well as several ministers and politicians from across the political spectrum. Lord Puttnam called the event "a remarkable moment in history".
The New Deal of the Mind coalition has since founded a charitable company that is now based at the Southbank Centre in London. New Deal of the Mind continues to work closely with government, all political parties and leading cultural institutions to find ways of boosting employment in the creative sector.
Bright joined the Jewish Chronicle as political editor in September 2009.
BBC World Service
The BBC World Service is the world's largest international broadcaster, broadcasting in 27 languages to many parts of the world via analogue and digital shortwave, internet streaming and podcasting, satellite, FM and MW relays...
and The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
before becoming The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
's education correspondent and then home affairs editor. From 2005 to 2009, he was the New Statesman
New Statesman
New Statesman is a British centre-left political and cultural magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....
's political editor.
Bright was the presenter of Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
's 30 Minutes film, Who Speaks For Muslims? He is the author of When Progressives Treat with Reactionaries, on British state funding of political Islam, published by the right-of-centre British thinktank Policy Exchange
Policy Exchange
Policy Exchange is a British conservative think tank based in London. The Daily Telegraph has described it as "the largest, but also the most influential think tank on the right"...
.http://www.policyexchange.org.uk/images/publications/pdfs/When_Prog.pdf In 2001, he wrote a controversial article in the New Statesman about the work of Islamic scholars John Wansbrough
John Wansbrough
John Edward Wansbrough was an American historian who taught at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies . Wansbrough's emphasis was on the critique of traditional accounts of the origins of Islam...
, Michael Cook
Michael Cook (historian)
Michael Allan Cook is an English-Scottish historian and scholar of Islamic history. He has co-authored a book with Patricia Crone, notably Hagarism: The Making of the Islamic World....
, Patricia Crone
Patricia Crone
Patricia Crone, Ph.D., is a scholar, author, Orientalist, and historian of early Islamic history working at the Institute for Advanced Study. She established herself as a major challenger to the established narrative of the early history of Islam.- Career :Patricia Crone completed her...
, Andrew Rippin
Andrew Rippin
Andrew Lawrence Rippin is a Canadian scholar of Islam.Rippin is Professor of History and Dean of the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada...
and Gerald Hawting entitled The Great Koran Con Trick. http://www.newstatesman.com/200112170032. He has since publicly disowned the headline on the article, which he has described as irresponsible. Some of the scholars involved were unhappy with the article.
Bright is married to Vanessa Thorpe, the arts correspondent of The Observer, with whom he has two children.
Bright left the New Statesman in January 2009. He now writes an online blog entitled "The Bright Stuff – Dispatches from Enemy Territory" for The Spectator. Bright was on the journalism long list for the Orwell Prize
Orwell Prize
The Orwell Prize used to be regarded as the pre-eminent British prize for political writing.Three prizes are awarded each year: one for a book, one for journalism and another for blogging...
in 2009.
In January 2009, Bright formed New Deal of the Mind
New Deal of the Mind
New Deal of the Mind has the support of leading figures in the arts, entrepreneurs, politicians from across the political spectrum and policy makers...
, a coalition of artists, entrepreneurs, academics and opinion formers working to boost employment in Britain's creative sector during the recession. The organisation was launched formally at Number 11 Downing Street on 24 March 2009. The launch seminar was attended by over sixty of Britain's leading creative industry figures, as well as several ministers and politicians from across the political spectrum. Lord Puttnam called the event "a remarkable moment in history".
The New Deal of the Mind coalition has since founded a charitable company that is now based at the Southbank Centre in London. New Deal of the Mind continues to work closely with government, all political parties and leading cultural institutions to find ways of boosting employment in the creative sector.
Bright joined the Jewish Chronicle as political editor in September 2009.
External links
- The New Statesman Special Report – The great Koran con trick, by Martin Bright, 10 December 2001