Politics

  By Marcus Hunt There are potentially many reasons why an individual might be pro- or anti-immigration. Beliefs about immigration’s concrete effect on the economy, crime, or public services like health and education can be important. However, most people who take a strong view on immigration – and here I include myself – are not well educated about its actual empirical effects. Even if they tried to educate themselves, they would find a whirl of contradictory socio-economic evidence emanating from...

By Guy Dorrell @GuyDorrellEsq This week’s reshuffle gained a huge amount of media and airtime, as it was surely meant to, and coincidentally prevented much coverage of the on-going investigation of paedophilia among the establishment and also prevented proper scrutiny of the DRIP intelligence intercepts legislation. It was cast as a triumph for women in the Cabinet, though in reality there was an increase of a sole post going to a woman over that which we had back in 2010....

  By J T Coombes @GMagnaCarta There was a time, not many decades ago, when warfare was defined by the combatants wearing uniforms to identify who they were and also to separate them from the civilian population and other non-combatants. Within this arena there were also codes of practice on how the actual war was conducted, including an ‘etiquette’ for dealing with the wounded and captured prisoners. We have moved a long way from these ‘Marquis of Queensbury rules’ as...

By Pallav Patankar  Many LGBT people in India grow up without understanding their sexuality and feeling dirty about it because they’re surrounded by homophobia.  Most delay addressing their sexuality which causes problems later.  Once you’re in your mid-twenties you have to get married.  In Indian society your social status is determined by your marital status.  You have to be married with children in order to be accepted. If you’re coming out to your parents, sometimes those issues aren’t very well...

By J T Coombes www.globalmagnacarta.com @GMagnaCarta Looking at the television screens I, like millions of others, struggled to understand the latest horror to come out of this troubled land and the resultant five hour ceasefire. But almost immediately afterwards I thought, “Why five hours?” What is the mind-set of the people responsible that they come up with such a figure? What was the instruction that came from the command post? "Oh Fuck!!! Some more kids got killed. Better have a...

  By Guy Dorrell @GuyDorrellEsq The Cabinet reshuffle instigated by David Cameron on 15 July has generated more media coverage than almost any other. As with any reshuffle, comparatively little of this coverage is positive – the exception to this being the deafening chorus of approval of Michael Gove’s removal from Education, applauded by teachers and parents alike. The excess of coverage can, in part, be ascribed to how we now consume our media; social media counts for a huge...

By Marcus Hunt Whether it is welcomed or not, Western Europe is in the midst of a great upheaval driven by immigration, one that poses questions about ethnic and national identities and how the state and civil society should relate to these identities. It may at times seem as though this upheaval is the first of its kind: that there is nothing to be gleaned from history with which we might infer our future course. Although it is true that...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor The Church of England has voted to allow women to become bishops for the first time in its history. The Dean of Salisbury, the Very Reverend June Osborne, said it was a "historic day". She said: "I don't think you can overstate the fact that the Church of England allowing women to take up the role of bishop is going to change the Church. "I think it's going to change our society as well because...

By Joe Mellor Deputy Editor Widespread doubts about the appointment of Butler-Sloss have forced her to step down from the inquiry, into allegations of historical child abuse. Seen as an establishment figure, the suspicious was she is too close to senior politicians, police and civil servants, who could be implicated in her findings. Her own brother was Sir Michael Havers was Attorney General in the 1980s. There were also concerns about her age (she will be 81 next month) and...