Clarissa Leung catches up with the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong. “It’s not the end [of the fight for democracy] because most people are still in full support of full democracy in Hong Kong”
Jack Walker looks at the dangerous precedent Donald Trump is setting by refusing to concede the election result to Joe Biden … and what the reasons might be for his actions.
New Irish Consulate General planned to open in the North of England next year, to strengthen the UK-Irish relationship. The consulate, based in Manchester, is planned to open in early 2021.
Geoff Martin was the inaugural head of the European Commission in the North of Ireland and has advised the Commonwealth on strategic relationships worldwide. Here he looks at what Brexit will mean for the island of Ireland, and the potential collective future for Celtic nations post-Brexit.
Former MEP Michael Hindley looks at Biden’s burgeoning relationships with European leaders and the race to find the new ‘special relationship’ across the Atlantic. International relations abhor a vacuum and Brexit has created one for others to step into.
Democracy comes at a high price. Needless to say, US elections are more expensive than anywhere else in the world and their value is only climbing. Taking into account inflation and rising prices, the cost of an election has increased more than 250 times from Abraham Lincoln in 1860 to Donald Trump in 2016, where […]
Comments about Brexit from Lord Frost in 2016 seen as slightly embarrassing for the former diplomat now negotiating our exit
These days almost every politician in Britain likes to claim that they are green. They want us to believe blue is the new green. Which is progress. Now all we have to do is to get their actions to line up with their words. It hasn’t been a good year for the environment. Covid is, […]
Marc Limon looks more closely at Biden’s foreign policy speeches and considers what this means for the UK and the rest of the world.
Following recent criticisms of Home Office refugee policies, particularly in respect of the small boat crossings of the Channel and the death of a Kurdish-Iranian family, a number of people have written to their MPs expressing concern. Some replies have already been received. The answers are broadly similar and conform to Home Office ‘lines to […]
The good news is FOUR TRUMP-FREE YEARS. The American people have rejected Trump and all he stands for by a majority of four million in a record turnout. That is a huge defeat for the far right.
“By 2050 – if no action is taken – there will be more than 143 million internal climate migrants.” The World Bank’s Groundswell project has provided even more reasons to reduce your carbon footprint – as if there weren’t enough already. The impact of climate change on humans is an increasingly better known area of […]
We like to think the best of men, especially when they’re gone. Indeed, there are some people, and I confess I am one, so empathetic that had avuncular Adolf been cruelly impaled, lynched, poisoned or otherwise bumped off – or (perhaps even worse?) democratically removed – before fulfilling his life’s destiny of annihilating millions, and […]
This was not the election we thought it would be. An election night that was supposed to be a walkover for the Democrats, not just for the White House but also for the Senate and individual elections at state level, has instead become tortuous and drawn out. Even if – as seems likely – Biden […]
One of the last legacies of the period of military dictatorship in Chile is about to disappear. Last week, in a landslide referendum victory, 78 percent of Chileans voted to rewrite the Pinochet-era constitution. This comes a year after the outbreak of mass protests, sparked off by demonstrations in Santiago against rising public transport fares. […]
It should not have come to this. The European Union had hoped a future trade deal with the UK would have been signed and sorted by mid-October, when EU leaders were meeting at a European Council in Brussels. But that deadline, like so many others in the Brexit process, came and went; meaning EU negotiator […]
As America enters the week of the most important presidential election in living memory, it is poignant to consider the changing face of that great nation and, how this may play out in the election itself. America is not as white as it used to be and this could affect the outcome. In general, non-white […]
With the US presidential election tomorrow, and millions of votes already cast through early voting and absentee ballots, in an election cycle fraught with fears about voter suppression and the weakening of American democracy, a speech given by Democratic candidate Joe Biden that centres democracy at home and abroad has taken on greater meaning. On […]
Next year may be a difficult one for Mr Butler-Adams at Brompton, and plenty of other manufacturers in bicycles and other industries. Those who for years have complained that the EU is a “protectionist racket” may soon find out why.
The news that a cross-party group of MPs has launched a legal action against the British government’s refusal to investigate Russian interference in UK democratic processes should come as no surprise. Nor should the fact that the group includes no Tory MPs, since they and the party have benefited from an awful lot of Russian money. […]
Dr Anna Jerzewska is the founder and director of Trade & Borders, a consultancy business advising on the complex issues of international trade. On Thursday she held an all-day webinar with customs authorities from Belgium, Holland, France and Ireland. Among the issues discussed were the traffic management problems raised by Brexit and for which […]
With just a week to go until Election Day, things don’t look good for President Trump. His approval rating has still never topped 50 percent (the first president since polling began to have a continually negative approval rating) and he looks set for an historic loss against his Democratic rival Joe Biden. But this narrative […]
If election history has taught us anything, it is probably to not blindly believe the polls. Currently, Joe Biden, the democrat candidate, is leading in national and state polls, and is set to do well in swing states like North Carolina, Iowa and Michigan. But polls will not win Biden the presidency, and there are […]
Ever since The Who sung ‘hope I die before I get old’, baby boomers born between approximately 1946 and 1964 (the exact time frame depends who you ask) have been trying to push the clock back on ageing. As a late boomer, and therefore one of those who grew up with the L’Oreal “because I’m […]
Johnson’s deadlines come and go like ships that pass in the night. There have been so many that the rules of supply and demand have reduced them to the political equivalent of junk bonds – worthless. The passing of the latest one last week was another sure sign that Johnson is not willing for the […]
One of the things about democracy is that you have to accept the result when you lose. We all know that Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election in the United States and Boris Johnson’s Conservatives won the 2019 general election in the UK. Except, of course, for one tiny little point. In both of […]
From Boris Johnson’s statement on Friday we can see the developing narrative that the government intends to adopt in the coming days, as Brexit reaches its unhappy denouement. The prime minister said that from the outset we wanted “nothing more complicated than a Canada-style relationship” – shorthand for CETA, the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement signed […]
I’m feeling optimistic about the United States of America. Which is not something I have been able to write for some time. It also might seem a touch naïve when night after night we see people on our screens expressing their extreme loyalty to Donald Trump. I even saw a TV clip last week where […]
The International Bar Association (IBA) is a worldwide body, founded in 1947. It is the global voice of the legal profession. Bar Associations of lawyers from across the world are members. The IBA investigates national issues of distortion and miscarriage of justice. Respect for the law is a world concern. It was logical therefore that […]
If we in the West seem currently beset by terrible problems, spare a thought for those inhabiting post-Soviet space where currently social tensions, political conflicts and outright war exist in at least seven of the 15 former Soviet republics. In Belarus, the stand-off between Lukashenko’s increasingly thuggish administration and the opposition continues, with hundreds of […]