Politics

By Deiniol Jones Russian Prime Minister Medvedev warned recently of the advent of a new Cold War. His boss, Vladimir Putin, contradicted him. It’s a confusing situation, and the confusion is only compounded when HRH Charles Prince of Wales pops up to make a revealing comment, comparing Vladimir Putin to Hitler. Does history repeat itself in precisely the same way? Is Putin a Hitler, a Stalin or just...well, just a Vladimir Putin? Is it possible to abandon historical analogies and...

By Guy Dorrell @GuyDorrellEsq Straight out of university, my first career move was to become an Army office. The year-long course at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst – where William and Harry attended – was designed to breed the future leaders of the British Army. My first close friend in my platoon was from an army family. He wanted to, and almost certainly would, follow his father’s footsteps and go into the same regiment, doing the same role. His father was...

By Tomas McGoldrick Northern Ireland has often been accused of being behind the times, but in one area we seem to be ahead of the curve. The recent European elections have seen a surge in support for anti-immigrant, xenophobic parties. In Britain UKIP dominated the headlines by topping the poll, yet in Northern Ireland they managed only 3.9 per cent of first preference votes. One of the reasons why they may have failed to make much inroad in Northern Ireland...

By Guy Dorrell @GuyDorrellEsq With one outburst, Tracey Emin unwittingly created a new art movement. “Your paintings are stuck, you are stuck! Stuck! Stuck! Stuck!” criticised her at-the-time boyfriend, Billy Childish’s view on how art should be. Emin’s art had become about the conceptual; My Bed and Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963-1995 being her two most notorious pieces. Childish however, had less interest in conceptualism than in traditional figurative painting, essentially to make art imitate life. When life...

By Marcus Hunt Iraq is a state composed of at least three separate nations: Sunni Arabs, Shia Arabs and Kurds. Unlike in Eastern Europe in the aftermath of World War I, the Sykes-Picot agreement drew borders that ignored national and religious affiliations. It was a grave mistake to do so, its consequence has been a society riven by sectarianism and held together only by the grip of dictatorship. It is at last unravelling, and that is to be welcomed. The...

By Gregory Taylor On 8th June 2013 the British government made a pledge at the ‘Conference on Nutrition for Growth’ held in London committing £375 million towards feeding some of the poorest people in the world. This was a huge amount of money for the British Government to promise, but since then only around five per cent of this money has been accounted for in its spending. Although better than nothing, more could be done on this important issue. Of...

Best Newsnight Moments from the past 25 years.  Jeremy Paxman has stepped down as presenter of Newsnight after 25 glorious years of expertly intimidating politicians as the people's voice. Leeds-born Paxman has been criticised over the years for being overly aggressive, intimidating and condescending, but in confronting the secretive world of politics he has been equally lauded for being tough and incisive. Over the past quarter of a century we have been entertained and shocked in equal measure as he ruthlessly tore apart...

By Artur Salles Lisboa de Oliveira The World is likely to get surprised by the attitude of Brazilians toward the World Cup, especially when the games will be held in Brazilian soil. Given the fact that we have five world championships on our belt, soccer is perceived as a stronger driver of feelings such as pride and happiness. However, it is time to think over the importance of soccer in Brazil and no better time to do it than now. Brazilians...

By Andy Irwin Labour needs to stop being terrified of its roots and be the loud voice of social justice – or risk irrelevance I recently had a rant at the Labour party on its Facebook page. It was lunchtime at work and I had just witnessed their latest party political broadcast entitled ‘The Uncredible Shrinking Man’ – quite possibly the most depressing three-minutes-and-forty-six seconds that I will never reclaim. A brief précis: Nick Clegg is the uncredible shrinking man –...