Politics

By Cagri Cobanoglu – the foreign news editor of Akşam – a national Turkish daily After more than a decade in power, the AK Party of Turkey is facing its biggest crisis yet. After a massive corruption scandal involving sons of three cabinet ministers broke out on 17 December, the government has had to deal with several accusations from different political circles. It was equally telling that prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan could not stop investigation against his ministers’ sons...

By Drew Nicol 2013 has been a historic year for women’s sport. TV presenter Clare Balding, prophesised back in January that: “When the history of sport is written in 100 years’ time they will look back at 2012 and the Olympics and Paralympics and see the impact in 2013.” – How right she was. The legacy of the Olympics has galvanised millions of people who previously had little or no knowledge of women’s sports beyond the mainstream to become active...

By Pieter Cranenbroek – International Politics Blogger It has been an eventful year for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community (LGBT). Germany recently became the first European country to add an extra gender box on forms, which gives recognition and expression to intersex and transgender people, whereas same-sex marriage laws have entered into force in four countries this year. However, in the week that the UK announced the official date for same-sex marriage to be allowed in England and Wales,...

By Joe Mellor, In house Reporter  When the smoke turned white from the chimney perched above the Sistine chapel I and many others thought “here we go again”. Another Pope who hates homosexuals, cosies up to the wealthy and ignores sexual abuse claims within catholic clergy. How wrong we were. The man who replaced amateur goalkeeper and former Nazi youth member Benedict XVI was Argentina’s Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the first non-European pope for 1,300 years (the last being Pope Gregory...

By Jack Peat, Editor of The London Economic The British army employs more than 400,000 people to protect our small island, almost two people for every square kilometre in the country. Compared to say, jobseekers’ allowance (£4.91 billion) or housing benefits (£16.9 billion), the cost of fielding our soldiers abroad in conflicts we started is huge. It costs $60.8 billion to maintain the UK’s armed forces; only Russia, China and the US spend more per year. A damming study entitled...

By Drew Nicol Britain’s education system is failing thousands of young people every year by neglecting to emphasise the importance of learning a foreign language, according to the British Council. The British Council’s ‘Languages for the Future’ report conclusively states that “it is a widely held – if not undisputed – view that the UK is lacking in the necessary language skills for the future”. The report claims that the increasing numbers of British graduates will struggle to compete in...

By Adam Walker, Economics Correspondent  Follow @adamwalker8715 Last Thursday’s 2013 Autumn Statement heralded a “responsible recovery”. With signs of a brighter economic future in 2013 the chancellor was quick to note that there are still difficult decisions to be made and the UK economy was by no means in the clear. The question left in the minds of the British public was: What can we expect in 2014 and beyond? Working Late Again One of the most controversial points from...

By Joe Mellor, In house Reporter  Nelson Mandela on Trafalgar Square's Fourth Plinth By now everyone in the world should know Mandela died, except maybe Joey Essex regardless of whether he is in the jungle or not. My family were and still are avid political activists and I remember vividly not being allowed to buy South African “Outspan” oranges from the local supermarket. Even at a young age I knew we were trying to do something right. I still haven’t...

By Joe Mellor, In house Reporter  Ol’ Blue eyes himself, Frank Sinatra sung the girl from Ipanema about the allure of the fifth-biggest country in the world and its ample assets. Let’s be honest, he was referring to a scantily clad women rather than its bumper soybean crop. Setting aside Frank’s ignorance of Brazil’s growing economy (which recently jumped above the UK to become the sixth-largest in the world) there are serious concerns of social unrest during next year’s World Cup. Politicians...