Turkey has a stable government that has been popularly elected three times over the past 10 years. The economy is growing and the country is as close to reaching a peaceful solution to its long-running…
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Displaying 11351 - 11375 of 11410 articles
The revelations that the US National Security Agency (NSA) has been deploying a software tool (PRISM) that enables federal agencies to engage in the online equivalent of phone tapping have generated a…
The announcement by the United States that it intends to enter into direct negotiations with the Afghan Taliban represents a significant opportunity to manage the Western “exit” from the country by the…
Moors murderer, Ian Brady, is fighting to end his life. This week he has appeared in public for the first time since his trial in the 1960s. He has been force-fed for the past 13 years and is begging to…
How long ago did we acquire the right to privacy? When was it formalised? In this country it would be only in the year 2000, the year in which the Human Rights Act came into force; it incorporated the…
It started as a protest against a 20 cent hike in bus fares - but has quickly escalated into the biggest civil unrest Brazil has seen since the call for direct elections in 1983-84, which brought down…
When it comes to the thorny issue of Islamisation in Turkey, most external commentators focus on whether Turkey is becoming more Islamic in its governance, and what this would mean for Western interests…
While few would now argue against the importance of a diverse judiciary, do women judges, or judges from minority backgrounds, change the actual substance of judicial decision-making? In other words, do…
With the UK and France free of their EU obligations to refrain from providing lethal assistance to the rebels and the US now deciding that the time has come strategically and politically to do so, all…
President Obama’s confirmation that the United States would begin arming Syrian rebels has prompted an urgent debate about both the legality and the effectiveness of the decision. The announcement, ahead…
President Obama had always insisted that any use of chemical weapons by the regime of Bashar al-Assad would be a “red line” which should not be crossed. The rhetoric emanating from the White House implied…
When I took the UK citizenship test in 2009, I got the number of MPs in the House of Commons wrong, not because I didn’t know the answer, but because the Home Office didn’t. Preparing for the test was…
While protesters were asleep, police stormed Istanbul’s Gezi Park using tear gas and water cannons. They set fire to the encampments. And yet pictures of bloodied protesters, or those blinded by plastic…
As Iranians go to the polls to elect a new president, new research suggests they have misgivings about the role of religious figures in the government of the country. But, as the US-based Pew Research…
As television series Doctor Who reaches its 50-year anniversary it has attracted criticism for being outdated. Is Doctor Who “thunderously racist”? Should the new Doctor be a woman? Do we have unreasonable…
The presidential election in Iran represents the latest instalment in almost 35 years of debate and confrontation over the meaning and power of an executive president in a state controlled by proponents…
The clash between Boris Johnson and George Osborne over cuts to Transport for London’s budget, which would scupper the mayor’s 2020 vision for a cycling city, represents far more than an argument over…
For those of us who grew up in the Greece of the neo-fascist colonels, nothing can stir up painful memories like a modern act of totalitarianism. When the television screen froze last night, an hour before…
The diplomatic bonhomie of last week’s World Economic Forum in East Asia, held in Burma’s new capital, Naypyitaw, could not hide the reality that there is a new international scramble for Burma. The country’s…
The public often suspects that the financial crisis is the real cause of hospital closures, even when other reasons are given. The NHS has found it virtually impossible to proceed with closing, or even…
Foundation essay: This essay on the Labour Party and its relationship with the working class and the trade union movement in Britain is part of a series of articles marking the launch of The Conversation…
Mistakes were made, warning signs ignored and a general ignorance of and, in some cases, indifference to, child sexual exploitation meant that the grooming of young girls for sex had become “widespread…
Foundation essay: This essay on Britain’s relationship with Europe by Ivor Gaber, professor of political journalism at City University, London and the University of Bedfordshire, is part of a series of…
Five years after the government enacted a controversial law criminalising the possession of extreme pornography, it is clear that the legislation is deeply flawed, not least because it fails to cover pornographic…
Nothing official has been said, but there have been enough leaks, previews and hints about Michael Gove’s vision for an overhaul of the GCSE exam system that all sides have a pretty good idea of what he…