Helen Hickey

(Published in the Malay Mail Online on 25 February 2015) I’m embarrassed to say that it has taken us two years to visit Chinatown Paris. Last Saturday, when the first of the Chinese New Year parades was scheduled, seemed as good a reason as any to finally visit and see the city’s Chinese community at their best. It was a typical grey wintry day in Paris. We were late, lunch near the Louvre with old friends visiting for the weekend took a little longer than planned, but luck w

(Published by Malay Mail Online 4 February 2015) “Even the most ruthless satirists have their sacred cows.” What did the poet Saladin Ahmed mean by this in the context of Charlie Hebdo? A month has passed since 12 of Charlie Hebdo’s cartoonists and staff were murdered because of their satirical take on Prophet Muhammad, but the debates still run strong. What is satire? Its place in society? What are these sacred cows? Satire makes people laugh while challenging them to