Tom writes long reads, interviews, comment pieces and book reviews.
Longer reads
Is it time for a radical university challenge? (with Josie McLellan and Richard Pettigrew), The Independent, 2018.
John Berger, storyteller and friend of Palestine, dies at 90, Electronic Intifada, 2017.
The right to not read, Irish Times, 2015.
Romeo and Juliet in Palestine, Mondoweiss, 2013.
In praise of Alice Munro, Huffington Post, 2013.
‘A time capsule’: E.H. Gombrich and The Story of Art, The Reader, 2003
Interviews
A conversation with A.B. Yehoshua, The Reader, 2011.
An interview with Doris Lessing, The Reader, 2005.
Shorter reads
Tear down the fences, London Review of Books, 2020
Concrete conditions, London Review of Books, 2019
Don’t write off foundation years, Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) blog, 2019
Tackling disadvantage in education (with Josie McLellan and Richard Pettigrew), Tribune, 2019
Whose voice is heard in higher education?, Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) blog, 2019
Beyond school qualifications: how to make admissions truly inclusive (with Josie McLellan and Richard Pettigrew), WonkHE, 2018
How should we fund universities? (with Josie McLellan and Richard Pettigrew), Council for the Defence of British Universities, 2018
It’s time to put mature students at the heart of widening participation (with Lizzie Fleming), Policy Bristol, 2017.
Children of Men, London Review of Books, 2017.
Trump, Brexit and a crisis of participation in universities, Policy Bristol, 2017.
Why we need Jeremy Corbyn’s National Education Service, Independent, 2015.
Is a co-operative university a sustainable alternative?, The Guardian, 2014.
The strange death of liberal adult education, Huffington Post, 2014.
Why adult education needs Vince Cable, The Guardian, 2011.
Great literature will always be relevant, The Guardian, 2010.
Educational opportunities must remain open for those who need them most, Left Foot Forward, 2010.
Doris Lessing’s lessons in old age, The Guardian, 2010.
A chilling vision for higher education, The Guardian, 2009.
How is denying people a life-saving second chance in any way fair?, Times Higher, 2009.
Book reviews
Speaking of Palestine, review of two books on Palestine and academia, Los Angeles Review of Books, 2021
Children of the dream: inequity and scandal in American universities, review-essay of multiple books, Times Literary Supplement, 2021.
Not being silent, review of Ilana Hammerman, A Small Door Set in Concrete, Times Literary Supplement, 2020.
Platform alterations, review of Kenneth Stern, The Conflict over the Conflict, Times Literary Supplement, 2020.
Vicious cycle, review of Julian Sayarer, Fifty Miles Wide: Cycling through Israel and Palestine, Times Literary Supplement, 2020.
Aye, Robot, review of Neil Selwyn, Should robots replace teachers?, Times Literary Supplement, 2020.
Football, review of Nicholas Blincoe, More Noble Than War, Times Literary Supplement, 2020.
Palestine, review of Raja Shehadeh, Going Home, Times Literary Supplement, 2019.
iGen, review of Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff, The Coddling of the American Mind, Times Literary Supplement, 2019.
Lara Feigel, Free Woman: Life, Liberation and Doris Lessing, Hong Kong Review of Books, 2018.
“Cold violence” in Palestine, Electronic Intifada, 2017.
The West Bank’s new normal, Electronic Intifada, 2016.
The “forced geography” of Tel Aviv, Electronic Intifada, 2015.
On Owen Jones and being too angry, Open Democracy, 2014.
Deryn Rees-Jones, Burying the Wren, Huffington Post, 2012.
Claire Tomalin, Charles Dickens: A Life, Independent on Sunday, 2011.
Fulham F.C.
In the 1990s, Tom was co-editor of the Fulham Supporters’ Club magazine, Cottage Pie. He interviewed players and managers, including Micky Adams and Paul Peschisolido, and wrote about the club’s progress from the lower divisions to the era of Mohamed Al-Fayed and Kevin Keegan.
Tom Sperlinger 