Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Keith Kahn-Harris @keithkahnharris.bsky.social · 35m

I have no better idea than anyone else what this peace deal will bring. One modest hope for those of us outside I/P though, is that it will give some space for the temperature of 'the discourse' to drop a few notches. We've been in crisis mode for 2 years and that often shuts off reflection.

6

Reposted by Keith Kahn-Harris

The Quietus @thequietus.com · 1d

Their fourth album may have been born under punches, and may still raise questions over its authorship for the band’s exceptional rhythm section – but it hangs together perfectly, and it never seems to age.

Many Happy Returns to #TalkingHeads' Remain In Light, which turns 45 today

buff.ly/msIf9ER

Talking Heads - Remain in Light album cover. Four band members with their faces blocked out in red.

1 7 58

Keith Kahn-Harris @keithkahnharris.bsky.social · 3d

I had the great pleasure of attending the opening night of Black Sabbath: The Ballet a few weeks ago. Here's something I published about it. Really worth seeing and it's touring the UK soon. (article free with registration)

www.thenewworld.co.uk/keith-kahn-h...

Black Sabbath with attitude

Carlos Acosta’s ballet celebrates a band that is woven into Birmingham’s cultural soul

www.thenewworld.co.uk

2 6

Keith Kahn-Harris @keithkahnharris.bsky.social · 6d

One bitter irony: There has been a lot of loose talk in recent years that British Jewish schools and synagogues are forced to have armed guards. That's actually incredibly rare, although visible security certainly is the norm. But from now on? I guess we'll see....

1 6

Keith Kahn-Harris @keithkahnharris.bsky.social · 6d

Thanks Omar. Keeping calm and carrying on.

2

Keith Kahn-Harris @keithkahnharris.bsky.social · 6d

Cheers Ben. What strikes me is how much at shul today we kept calm and carried on. Which isn't to say that this isn't incredibly upsetting

2

Keith Kahn-Harris @keithkahnharris.bsky.social · 6d

Well, it took longer than many of us expected, but in the end it happened. Let's try and not turn the horror in Manchester into an opportunity to advance any and every agenda.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

If British Jews are attacked, respect our dignity – and keep your agendas to yourself | Keith Kahn-Harris

I dread the cacophony from right and left on how we should react to antisemitism. What’s important is supporting our survival as a community in the UK

www.theguardian.com

8 24 84

Keith Kahn-Harris @keithkahnharris.bsky.social · 28d

Scared for what remains of American democracy right now. And the wave that's coming will reach these shores too.

1 19

Keith Kahn-Harris @keithkahnharris.bsky.social · Sep 9

Last Sunday I spoke at a conference in Birmingham and managed a brief side trip to this place of pilgrimage. Consider this a teaser for something exciting I can't talk about publicly yet....

11

Keith Kahn-Harris @keithkahnharris.bsky.social · Sep 7

On a train, listening to music and thought I'd check out the new David Byrne album: I really think that the happiness he found in his middle and later years hasn't been a good thing for his art.

2 2 10

Keith Kahn-Harris @keithkahnharris.bsky.social · Sep 2

He's going to defend Cradle of Filth's employment contracts.

spookygorski @cpgorski.bsky.social · Sep 2

He's making an announcement tomorrow afternoon.

What's the announcement? Wrong answers only

2:00 PM
THE PRESIDENT makes an announcement
White House Press Pool
Oval Office

1 17

Keith Kahn-Harris @keithkahnharris.bsky.social · Sep 1

This was an interesting podcast to be interviewed for: My attempt to explain where Diaspora Jewish communities are currently dealing or not dealing with the Gaza war

www.patreon.com/posts/voices...

Voices From Gaza 2 - 'Our sheer importance is not good for us. We need to recover a sense of mundane, every day Jewishness' | Ewan MacKenna

Get more from Ewan MacKenna on Patreon

www.patreon.com

1 4

Keith Kahn-Harris @keithkahnharris.bsky.social · Sep 1

I'm really honoured that Jeremy Wallach wrote a retrospective piece on my book Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge. He remarks on my general 'pessimism' about how far metal might go in engaging with diversity. I am much more optimistic these days!
doi.org/10.1386/mms_...

Eggheadbanger classic: A reflection on Keith Kahn-Harris’s Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge | Intellect

A reflection on Keith Kahn-Harris’s Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge (2007).

doi.org

1

Keith Kahn-Harris @keithkahnharris.bsky.social · Aug 19

IHRA is all about the adoption. Once adopted, those who argue for it rarely show much interest in implementation. Those who argued against it find (but don't admit) that you can carry on just like before.

1 4

Keith Kahn-Harris @keithkahnharris.bsky.social · Aug 19

Ironically, Labour's Corbyn years negate both pro- and anti-IHRA narratives: Its adoption made absolutely no difference to the antisemitism controversy.

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Sultana: Corbyn 'capitulated' on antisemitism definition

The vice president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews said Zarah Sultana's words were "a grave insult".

www.bbc.com

1 1 5

Keith Kahn-Harris @keithkahnharris.bsky.social · Aug 17

It isn't just Trump. The most dangerous people I have met in my life are - regardless of their politics - those who are convinced that the thing they do worse than anybody is in fact the thing I do better than anybody.

1 7

Keith Kahn-Harris @keithkahnharris.bsky.social · Aug 14

I was today years old when I discovered that Peter O'Hanrahanrahan-inspired metal existed:

youtu.be/2M0y93DnD3w?...

Ich Nichten Lichten [ Very Metal Instrumental ]

YouTube video by Gordon Heaney Guitarologist Flatulist Onanist

youtu.be

1 5

Keith Kahn-Harris @keithkahnharris.bsky.social · Aug 11

Today I remembered that the film 'Hannibal Brooks' was a thing.

1 2

Keith Kahn-Harris @keithkahnharris.bsky.social · Aug 1

I've always known about this interview and am grateful to Spencer for adding to the story

Spencer Sunshine @transform6789.bsky.social · Aug 1

my August Patreon is from the archives: a 1993 interview with David Vincent of the death metal band Morbid Angel where he openly espouses White Supremacist views. I show the copy of it, with a gleeful note, that his pal Michael Moynihan sent to neo-Nazi James Mason. www.patreon.com/posts/illibe...

"Illiberal comments in magazine interviews" -David Vincent of Morbid Angel in 1993 | Spencer Sunshine

www.patreon.com

2 3

Reposted by Keith Kahn-Harris

Ann Morgan @annmorgan.bsky.social · Jul 28

Book of the month: M.G. Sanchez ayearofreadingtheworld.com/2025/07/28/b...

Book of the month: M.G. Sanchez

This writer came onto my radar thanks to Keith Kahn-Harris, author of The Babel Message: A Love Letter to Language, with whom I did a musical incomprehension experiment a few years back. He shared …

ayearofreadingtheworld.com

1 1

Keith Kahn-Harris @keithkahnharris.bsky.social · Jul 27

'2, 4, 6, 8. Time to transubstantiate' - Tom Lehrer z'l

8

Keith Kahn-Harris @keithkahnharris.bsky.social · Jul 24

(Yes I know this is the Telegraph) Rachel Creeger performed Bulgarian orthodox Christian standup at my book launch last March. She absolutely didn't deserve this.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/07...

Jewish comedy gigs at Fringe cancelled ‘over safety concerns’

Acts allegedly cancelled as venue bar staff express fears of ‘feeling unsafe’

www.telegraph.co.uk

2 3

Keith Kahn-Harris @keithkahnharris.bsky.social · Jul 24

I didn't ask them who they were as I didn't think being confrontational would be helpful - better to be bland. I'm pretty sure what they were trying to do and as the populist right attempt to ratchet up the hysteria we should all be aware of how their 'citizen journalists' work. End/

4

Keith Kahn-Harris @keithkahnharris.bsky.social · Jul 24

I gave the calmest answer I could think of: That there is probably trouble in the town centre on a Friday night after the stag and hen parties leave the clubs, but I hadn't noticed anything myself.

They said thanks and quickly moved on. I doubt they will use my footage but can't be sure. 3/

1 2

Keith Kahn-Harris @keithkahnharris.bsky.social · Jul 24

I was wearing a Meshuggah t shirt and they asked me what my favourite song was. I mentioned 'Swarm' and one of the guys said he liked the Ob-Zen album.

Then one of them explained they were from Rochdale and were talking to people about what they thought of the violence in Bournemouth...2/

1 2