Politics

By Nishad Sanzagiri Imagine this scenario: You receive a letter in the mail. You read it and you then leave it on your desk.  Just then, you hear a knock on your door and see a team of FBI agents outside. They walk in and grab the letter, take a copy of it and walk out. Without your permission, they have just taken something that belongs to you; something personal – thereby violating your privacy. In this scenario, your best...

By Joe Mellor, In house Reporter  George Orwell is a timeless author who has become more relevant as political systems which sowed their seeds at the start of the 20th century grow into the unrelenting beasts that had been prophesied. The feature below highlights how relevant Orwell's messages are today. It is a piece of work engineered to reflect the reproductive nature of politics and power struggles and to emphasise how the political underbelly has barely changed in the past...

By Valentina Magri Do you remember the British sitcom of the Eighties “Never the Twain”? Well, it seems Oliver Smallbridge and Simon Peel may have found their heirs: Europe and the UK. The British PM David Cameron has promised to change Europe with internal negotiation in a more flexible, competitive and open way. After that he will give Brits the chance to decide on a referendum whether to remain or to exit from Europe by the end of 2017. In...

By Haridos Apostolides, US Correspondent The only thing sadder than the shooting of two mall employees in Columbia, Maryland, is that it has become an unsurprising fixture in both American and worldwide news. On Saturday, in a suburb between Washington, DC and Baltimore, Darion Marcus Aguilar opened fire inside a Columbia Mall skate shop, ending the lives of Tyler Johnson and Brianna Benlolo, 25 and 21 respectively, before turning the gun on himself. And while still shocking, the fact that Aguilar was...

By Haridos Apostolides, US Correspondent 2014 has barely begun, but the American media machine has already put its unremitting reporting on the impending Presidential Election into gear… taking place in November 2016. As RealClearPolitics.com surveys suggests, the popular consensus has former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democrats fighting it out with the likely front-runner from New Jersey, hardball governor Chris Christie on the Republican ballot. Christie is known nationally for two major reasons; his larger-than-life persona and his...

In a tribute to his most famous screen character, Jim Royle, he said: “Guilty, my arse.”

By Haridos Apostolides, US Correspondent The negotiations that no one, especially American leaders, ever truly believed would happen are, indeed, happening. On January 20th, Iran will enter into negotiations to reduce their nuclear practices with the United States, Great Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia. The new, “more liberal” Iranian president, Hassan Rohani, has brought the unpredictable Middle Eastern state to the UN table, mostly due to the extreme sanctions placed upon the nation. In recent years oil exports have halved,...

By Pieter Cranenbroek – International Politics Blogger On New Year’s Eve, French President François Hollande announced a series of liberal reforms that meant a move away from socialist thinking. Although the socialist president’s alleged liaison with an actress may have overshadowed his astonishing flirt with liberalism, he would do well to quickly re-join his ideological family. It is Hollande’s profound conviction that France needs to strengthen its economy to keep its influence, but switching to a liberal economic policy will help...

By Joe Mellor, In house Reporter  “I am not a saint, unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying.” - Nelson Mandela. When the world revisited the great man’s quotes after his death, this one seemed to resonate with a lot of people. Mandela’s words seems pertinent in light of French President Francois Hollande’s alleged sexual antics. However, the French seem to have a different approach when it comes to politicians sinning, especially of the...