Politics

By Rob Telford, Green councillor for Ashley ward, Bristol The great democratic hope for General Election 2015 For decades, the UK has essentially been a two-party system, with third parties (whether Liberal/SDP/Lib Dem, SNP/Plaid, Green, BNP or UKIP) not being able to gain enough votes to overhaul the two largest parties (Labour and Conservative) at any General Election. At the same time, fewer and fewer people are choosing to cast their votes for the two largest parties. In 1951, 96.8...

By Alex Vasili   Residents of Balcombe Move to Make Community Self-sufficient in Energy The supporters of fracking make an argument that is difficult to refute. They say shale gas is essential to the UK's energy needs, that it will give us security from troublesome oil barons and gas czars, and that nothing else will do until we have nuclear power stations, and lots of them. So try this as a counter-strategy. Make your community self-sufficient through the clean, green power...

By Haridos Apostolides, US Correspondent Even delayed decisions are giving hope to same-sex couples On Saturday morning hundreds of same-sex couples marched down the aisle to county offices across Michigan in order to exchange vows, only to have that right halted mere hours later by an appeals court. Friday welcomed the northern territory into the growing gang of states which allow same-sex marriages after a voter-approved ban was struck down by Federal District Court Judge, Bernard A. Friedman, for its unconstitutional...

By Pieter Cranenbroek – International Politics Blogger The European elections won’t be held for another two months but the four biggest political parties in Britain are already warming up to it. After Nick Clegg challenged Nigel Farage to an old-fashioned duel, Ed Miliband and David Cameron have been dragged into the Europe debate as well. Let’s hope two things will have become clear to the British voter by the end of May: the European elections do matter and Britain, for Europe’s...

By Haridos Apostolides, US Correspondent Once again President Obama is facing resistance in his flanks, handling more than just the Russians over the Ukraine situation. Congressional Republicans in Washington have demanded more action be taken, believing the current sanctions against the Russians are not enough. Senator John McCain denounced the reprimands, calling them “wholly inadequate” for trying to force only a handful of Russians into compliance. Further right, Tea Party darling Senator Ted Cruz criticized the White House’s current procedures...

By Lock Bailey Iraqi-Kurdistan President Barzani turned down a White House invitation last month.  Barzani has asked the American government for years to remove the Kurdish people from Washington’s terrorist list yet he has been denied each time.  Barzani’s refusal to visit sends a clear plea: The Kurds are not terrorists, but a peaceful people long oppressed and victims of genocide. In 1988, at the tail end of the eight year war between Iraq and Iran, Saddam Hussein and his Ba’ath pilots...

By Tim Stacey from The Equality Trust This week is Budget week and there’s been plenty of talk about the tax and spending changes that could be announced. These include increasing the personal tax allowance, which is talked about in terms of helping ‘low earners’, and raising the starting point for the 40p tax rate, which is believed to help those on ‘middle incomes’. The focus of these tax measures, and usage of these terms, suggests a slightly skewed view is present...

The abominable human rights questions being raised over gay marriage will fall on deaf ears until we start asking the right question. Equality has never been the issue. There’s some bizarre notion that members of the clergy come out in a rash when confronted with same-sex marriage, wielding their crucifix and throwing holy water at the door to protect the church against a new ‘fad’ that is sure to fade in the same way the punk rock movement’s brand of...

By Lock Bailey If opposites truly do attract, then there could be no better chemistry than that of US President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Unfortunately, opposites make the poorest couplings in foreign relations—and Bibi and Obama prove this true. Obama is quite left and Netanyahu is quite right, to understate these antipodal leaders. Netanyahu showed favor in Republican nominee Mitt Romney in the 2008 elections, for example (years earlier the two of them worked in The...