Politics

By Elsa Buchanan, International Politics Correspondent  A Tories U-turn vote on fast-track fracking is being dubbed a ‘huge victory’, but campaigners say now is not the time to celebrate. The government made a major U-turn on plans to fast-track UK fracking after accepting Labour proposals to tighten environmental regulations on Monday (26 January). Campaigners welcomed the changes, describing the vote as “mark a huge loss for the fracking industry”. “This is a win for the people-powered anti-fracking campaign,” said Martin...

By Ben Gelblum Remembering the work of pioneering refugee human rights advocate Helen Bamber She helped the orphans of the Holocaust rebuild their lives. Then later, the tortured, broken survivors of Pinochet, the Argentinian junta, African and Middle Eastern conflicts, and a modern British approach to refugees that "disbelieves, destitute and detains" them. Emma Thompson led tributes to her close friend and advocate for victims of torture, the late Helen Bamber at a packed St-Martin-In-The-Fields in Westminster yesterday. Thompson, fellow...

Written by Max Bluer Since at least 2011 it has been clear that the break-up of the modern state of Iraq into its constituent ethnic territories is a distinct possibility, one only strengthened by IS and their dramatic gains across the region. Although many in the Western world have been fretting about the break down of the artificially imposed borders of the contemporary Middle East, the historical reality is that Iraq has always been a fractious and divided country. Its...

London Mayor Boris Johnson has removed fencing on Parliamentary Square that had been erected to block Occupy Democracy's access after a successful appeal by Liberty and Occupy Democracy. The Mayor has backed down after a judicial review was launched against Johnson and the Greater London Authority arguing the fence is an illegal interference with their right to protest based on the 2012 UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly which states that 'the exercise of fundamental...

By Elsa Buchanan, International Politics Correspondent   Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, the president of Argentina, has said that she does not believe that prosecutor Alberto Nisman committed suicide, as new findings raise questions over his death. Nisman, who accused the Argentinian President and members of her government of colluding with prime suspects Iran to cover-up the investigation into the bombing of a Jewish centre in Buenos Aires that killed 85 in 1994, was found dead on Sunday in what appeared...

By Elsa Buchanan, International Politics Correspondent  The Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, will announce whether her complaint against Fox News about Muslim "no-go areas” will be filed in a French or American court as soon as next Monday (26 January). The Mayor is moving forward with her lawsuit, despite Fox News calling it "ridiculous". “Anne Hidalgo was clear about her decision to sue Fox News, and we will have finalised the terms of the lawsuit before the end of this...

By Bill Lytton What is Cameron's plan now there is a seven-way leaders' debate? “It is pretty disreputable that David Cameron went in to the 2010 election saying these debates were the most important thing that we could possibly have, people shouldn’t make feeble excuses to get out of them and he is doing precisely that. He is running scared from these debates.” That’s Ed Miliband’s analysis of the situation, given on the Andrew Marr Show some weeks back. And,...

 By Cllr Jon Collins, Leader of Nottingham City Council and Vice Chair of Core Cities UK with responsibility for growth Barely a week goes by, it seems, without a new report making the case for devolution of powers and funding to city regions to drive economic growth and re-balance the economy. The Scottish Independence referendum ignited the debate about devolution and pushed it into the mainstream. Big cities are the powerhouses of the economy. The ten biggest UK cities outside...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor I’m quite paranoid and believe the whole world is a conspiracy (against who, I’m not certain), but I am sure there was a very elaborate planned “joke,” during today’s PMQs. The sting began with Robert Jenrick, Con, who said of Miliband’s economic policy, “to be blunt” “James Blunt!” his partner in crime sitting beside him, chipped in, “he would send the UK back to bedlam,” he finished. Then Robert Redford (played by the PM) stepped...