Alex Brummer, at The Blogs

Apply for a Blog

Jun 25, 2018, 4:59 PM

Ray of hope in this new Saudi realpolitik

For several decades now, senior economic and national security experts and officials from the US, Europe and the Gulf have met in Athens to review and discuss global events. It was at one such meeting, small-scale Davos and Bilderberg if you like, I first heard...

Jun 12, 2018, 1:55 PM

The decency of ordinary Brits shines through

Bereavement is always difficult whatever the circumstances. In the past month, our family has suffered two losses: my mother-in-law, Jacqueline Magrill, in Cardiff and my father, Michael Brummer, in Brighton. Jewish death requires a smooth interface with the civilian authorities because of the requirement to bury...

May 29, 2018, 2:58 PM

My father’s passing marks the end of a golden era

The last journey of my father Michael Brummer took the cortege past the Hove Hebrew Congregation on Holland Road which had been such an important part of his life. The doors of the shul has been especially opened along with the gates to the aron...

May 15, 2018, 3:42 PM

UK holds key to success of sanctions on Iran

The immediate and biggest foreign policy issue to confront the newly elected president of the Board of Deputies, Marie van der Zyl, is what, if anything, to do about Iran. Amid the final hustings that secured her election, Iran was barely mentioned as deputies worried...

May 3, 2018, 5:01 PM

Orthodox Jews alienate Progressives at their peril

A great treasure of British Jewry is the Reform movement’s youth wing, RSY-Netzer. In spite of being a United Synagogue family, two of my three offspring trooped off to RSY summer camps every year. They learned leadership and self-preservation skills, spent time in Israel and gained a love...

Apr 10, 2018, 12:47 PM

Board needs to embrace our community’s talented middle

As part of the day job, I often find myself at what are billed as high-powered business breakfasts in aid of charity. Among recent guests have been Chancellor Philip Hammond, chairman of HSBC Mark Tucker and WPP chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell (currently in a...

Mar 29, 2018, 3:58 PM

Does the Labour Party’s wrath know no bounds?

There is much both inspiring and discordant in the Haggadah. Nothing is more jarring than the incantation before the praise of the Hallel when the door is opened for Elijah and we implore God to “pour out his wrath upon the nations that do not...

Mar 14, 2018, 5:27 PM

Why this royal visit will be different from others

When Prince William’s intended visit to Israel and Palestine was announced, one of my colleagues with a profound knowledge of the Middle East was apoplectic. Scion of a military family, he found it difficult to reconcile the idea of the second in line to the...

Feb 27, 2018, 3:42 PM

Freedom of expression is our last and only defence

The default position of politicians and prominent public figures under fire is to blame a free press. On the 80th anniversary of Kristallnacht the Index on Censorship, which monitors attacks on world media, reiterates that freedom of expression is a freedom that benefits all. Recently,...

Jan 31, 2018, 7:12 PM

Board’s next leader needs to focus on JLC merger

The decision of Jonathan Arkush to step down as President of the Board of Deputies after a single three-year term came as a surprise to most deputies. He flourished in the limelight and had been intensively focused on attaining what is still regarded as one...

Load more

About Me

Alex Brummer is the Daily Mail's City Editor