No surprise, I suppose, but the leadership of Britain’s academic union - known as the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the University and College Union (UCU) - are pushing, for the fourth year running, an academic boycott of Israelis. Just Israelis.

There is nowhere better than the Engage website for information and analysis when it comes to this issue. David Hirsh has written a number of incisive posts which examine what lies behind the renewed campaign. I particularly applaud his point that Linda Newman, the new President of the UCU, should resign immediately. Newman stood on anti-boycott platform; she is now co-sponsoring the new boycott initiative, alongside Tom Hickey of the viciously anti-Zionist (some would say antisemitic) Socialist Workers Party. Finally, I urge readers who have not already done so to consult Eve Garrard’s brilliant and wide-ranging essay “Excluding Israelis” on the Z Word site.