Politics

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Mexican drug cartels, terrorist organisations and now dodgy party donors. It’s a wonder HSBC had time to sell PPI insurance to us mere mortals, but they did…bless them. Hours before today’s PMQs there were revelations about political benefactors (mainly Tories), peers and a high profile MP who held accounts in Switzerland with HSBC. It appears the world’s local bank – for the super-rich – is an office in Zurich. This was Ed’s chance to finally...

By June Eric Udorie This week, the Labour Party graced us with their newest campaign to attract female voters – a hot pink minibus with the words “Woman to Woman” written across it. Harriet Harman, the deputy leader of the Labour Party who is fronting the campaign said, “We don’t want women to give up on politics. If you look at the figures, the disaffection that there is with politics is even more pronounced among women”. I’m all for women...

By Tom Jones The South China Sea dispute over the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands has again escalated, with IHS Jane’s reporting that China is building a large scale military heliport 300 KM from the islands. Within this range, Chinese helicopter forces would be able to aid forces active in any potential conflict over the islands. The distance won’t allow the helicopters to offer any air cover for the islands, but it will allow helicopter to run supplies and troops from a reliable...

By Simon Bartram Tony Blair was arguably one of the boldest and most talented politicians of the late 20th and early 21st century. Domestically he is widely credited with delivering vast swathes of progressive legislation across the country, introducing the minimum wage, allowing civil partnerships, and strengthening employee rights. Britain's social values radically changed during his time in office - the values of the older generation were swept away and a new morality gained greater acceptance. Whether legislation was the...

Chatham House’s latest report indicates that the British public believe that Britain’s relationship with the EU is now more valuable than its relationship with the United States, and that marginally more people would vote to remain in the EU than leave it in the event of a referendum on Britain’s membership. Last week the international affairs think tank Chatham House released the fourth edition of its ‘Internationalism or Isolationism?’ opinion survey in collaboration with the pollster YouGov. The survey canvasses...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor While watching PMQs last week, I was so frustrated with Miliband’s refusal to answer whether he had said he was “weaponising the NHS,” I stuck two pencils in my nose and prepared to head-butt the desk, but at the last minute I thought, “They are not worth it” Well today Miliband used all his questions to ask the PM about his tax cuts to hedge funds. The PM failed to answer the question once. I...

By David Thomson I am going to take you back to around ten days before voting day for the Referendum on Scottish Independence. A poll by YouGov/Sunday Times taken between the 2nd and 5th September that showed for the first time that the Yes camp have a lead of two per cent. This panicked the so called “Westminster elite” that David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg missed PMQs to campaign in Scotland for Better Together. At the same time, former...

By Professor Christopher H. Bovis, Professor of International and European Business Law, University of Hull Inevitably, the question of UK membership of the European Union will be centred on two issues: The need for reform of EU institutions and the way the EU is governed The ability of the UK to influence EU decisions Reform is badly needed The European Union is malfunctioning. It has lost the zest of the “common market”,becoming instead a self-fulfilling prophesy of political union with disproportionally...

By Elsa Buchanan, International Politics Correspondent  In a bid to fight the recrudescence of radicalisation on its territory, the French government is launching its own “anti-propaganda” online platform under the hashtag #StopDjihadism. “Search for paradise and find hell: the jihadist propaganda wants to convince by describing a misleading " ideal world “. Recruiters deceive people by promising them a future, an ideal or a cause to defend, where they the only thing they will encounter is manipulation, barbarism and death,”...