John Baker’s Blog

When the Swedish Academy met in 1902 to decide who was to take the second Nobel Prize in Literature, there were, basically, two names on the short-list. Some members, of course, were keen to award the prize to Leo Tolstoy, but a majority in the Academy could not bring themselves to accept the Russian’s radical [...]

Archbishop Desmond Tutu was barred from speaking at the University of St Thomas in Minnesota because of statements regarded as anti-Semitic. The Nobel Peace Prize winner has been an open critic of Israeli human rights practices.
St. Thomas administrators—concerned that Tutu’s appearance might offend local Jews—told organizers that a visit from the archbishop was out of [...]