Politics

By Michael Duffy In the aftermath of the unveiling of Islamic State (IS) spokesman and executioner dubbed ‘Jihadi John’ as Kuwaiti-born Londoner Mohammed Emwazi, it became apparent that he had been on the radar of the intelligence services for some time, and that harassment by these services could have fuelled his descent into extremism. The man in question whom made these allegations is Asim Qureshi, a research director at CAGE an independent advocacy organisation which focuses on the war on...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Ed was dashing, daring and decisive, I expected him to pull his face mask off and reveal his brother. But no, this was all Ed, he reminded me of (if you are not a Robert Zemeckis fan, see you in the next paragraph/article) George McFly in Back to the Future, who somehow manages to turn from weakling to hero, knocking out his bullying nemesis Biff Tannen. Today, Miliband used every question to get the PM...

By Jonathan Hatchman Since its launch back in 2010 the photo-sharing social network Instagram has increasingly become a hub for users to share streams of food related posts, for better or for worse, sparking plenty of debate both in favour and against the culinary takeover. It’s clear to see that the app has become a utopia for “foodies” and hipsters from across the globe to show off their eating habits for the whole World to see, with a stream that hosts millions...

By Siobhan Weare, Expert on domestic violence from Lancaster University’s Law School Measures to protect victims of domestic abuse have featured prominently in the news recently, and any steps taken to address the issue and offer increased legal protection for victims are welcome. But, there still needs to be improvements in both the police and the criminal justice system’s responses to domestic abuse and increased investment in the support services which are so valuable to victims. A recent report by...

By Oliver Ward Since Kim Jong-un came to power in the final days of 2011 he hasn´t left North Korea, however there are strong indications he may be preparing to leave the peninsula at the start of May. Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov has suggested there are "positive signs" that he will attend a ceremony in Russia commemorating the end of WWII  on May 8th. This is the latest in a string of moves dubbed "Putin´s Pivot" which has seen...

By David Binder Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you won’t have failed to notice the sudden rise of the radical left in Southern Europe and the social, political and economic shockwaves this has sent across the continent. As voters across the Mediterranean have reacted against severe austerity measures, parties previously seen on the fringe of national parties have seen an unprecedented surge in support. In Greece, this has been manifested through Syriza, which has grabbed headlines for its incredible...

 By Dan Ebanks The ‘transformative’ Social Value Act came into force in January 2013. Two years on and the evidence suggests not a huge amount has changed. Of approximately 480 English councils surveyed by the Social Value Portal, only 15 per cent said they were developing a council-wide approach to Social Value Act. Why hasn’t the Act been taken up more widely, especially as its potential benefits would be of great succour to resource starved community based organisations and small...

BY David Thomson With less that 100 days until the General Election all the opinion polls are saying that there will be a “hung parliament” with either the Conservatives and Labour being the largest party. As a result, both major parties will need to start to prepare for a coalition with some, if not all, the smaller parties at Westminster. Former Cabinet Minister and EU Commissioner, Lord Mandelson, said recently that the lesson to be learned from the 2010 election is...

By David Harvey In case you hadn't heard, a General Election is coming. Before you switch off, thinking this may be some party political point, it isn't, but it does offer a genuine alternative to the status quo. Your real alternative is to vote “none of the above”. The only problem is that The Electoral Commission who “work to support a healthy democracy, where elections and referendums are based on our principles of trust, participation, and no undue influence” seem...