Boris Johnson, the man who led the Brexit campaign, has been appointed as the UK’s chief diplomat. It has sent shudders down many spines, but does Africa need to worry?
The states have historically fought to keep their income tax powers so it seems a joke to see a rejection of the Federal Government’s proposal to give these powers back.
Kenya’s Supreme Court judges file into the chamber during the opening of parliament.
Reuters/Noor Khamis
The electorate and those involved in public governance should focus more on how judges are appointed. This is because they need to make sure that individuals of the highest quality get the job.
The question of who will replace the Queen as Head of Commonwealth is not as simple as it sounds.
Leaders at the last Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in November 2013. Malta will host the next one in November 2015.
Reuters/Dinuka Liyanawatte
The Commonwealth is politically fraught, with widely divergent members. But, instead of unravelling as some critics wish, it has instead inspired copycats and appears set to grow and endure.
The flags are up but no-one’s home.
Michael Garnett
Philip Murphy, School of Advanced Study, University of London
On July 23 the Queen will open the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. In the process, she will no doubt also fire the starting pistol on the latest round of a favourite British pastime: worrying about…
David Cameron visits Commonwealth soldiers’ graves in Tourgeville Military Cemetery, France.
Stefan Rousseau/PA
Speaking as part of a commemorative celebration of the importance of the Commonwealth in WW1, David Cameron had this to say about the participation of colonial troops from all over the empire: They fought…
The Coalition government’s deal with the states over schools funding should not be broken so easily.
AAP Image/Tim Dornin
Education minister Christopher Pyne has announced the new government will dump the agreements with the states on the Gonski school funding reforms, negotiated by the former Labor government. Pyne has said…
Just wave the flags and don’t mention the torture.
EPA/Sri Lankan government
The list of crimes alleged to have been perpetrated by brothers Mahinda and Gotabhaya Rajapaksa – respectively the president and defence minister of Sri Lanka – are truly horrifying. During the last few…
Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Alexander Nikiforov
Philip Murphy, School of Advanced Study, University of London
It is difficult to do justice to the mood of despair that has been haunting the corridors of the Commonwealth Secretariat’s headquarters in Marlborough House in recent months. The decision to hold the…
Australia has refused to join Canada and India in boycotting CHOGM in Sri Lanka over human rights abuses.
EPA
Australian prime minister Tony Abbott announced earlier this week that he would not join his Canadian, Indian and Mauritian counterparts in boycotting the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM…
BFFs no more: Queen Elizabeth and former Gambian High Commissioner Tamsir Jallow in 2006.
Steve Parsons/PA
Sue Onslow, School of Advanced Study, University of London
All is not well with the Commonwealth of Nations. Gambia’s announcement last week that it has withdrawn from the association was followed hard by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper saying he would…
Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne