James Brandon

James Brandon is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Social Cohesion a think tank set up by Civitas "following widespread and longstanding concern about the diminishing sense of community in Britain".

Biography from the Centre for Social Cohesion

James Brandon is a journalist who has reported on Islamic issues from Europe, Africa and the Middle East for a wide range of print and broadcast media. In 2003-4 he helped found the Baghdad Bulletin, the first English-language newspaper to be set up in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

Since then he has reported on the growth of Islamist groups in more than a dozen countries, writing analysis for Janes' and the Jamestown Foundation among others. In 2006 he became the first western journalist to interview the leaders of Pjak (the Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan), the largest Kurdish rebel group in Iran.

Brandon has also appeared as a commentator on Islamic issues on CNN, BBC and Sky News. Most recently he worked as an editor for al-Jazeera television in Qatar. He has an MA in Middle Eastern Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London..