Fears for the so-called lost generation look more valid by the day. Britain’s chancellor might have the confidence to target full employment, but the problem of getting young people into work is a genuine…
Hearing voices. Francois Hollande watches a Mirage 2000-5 taxi out of its hangar.
Philippe Wojazer/EPA
Why does the economic policy pursued or proposed by the Left in Europe often seem so pathetic? The clearest example of this lies just across the channel. France is subject to the same fiscal straitjacket…
Imagine you’d organised a much-anticipated party but because of something you’d said or done nobody turned up? To dismiss the party in the first place would smack of sour grapes but this pretty much captures…
Too close for comfort? Narva Bridge on Estonia’s Russian border
Hannu
The Russian invasion and rapid absorption of the Crimean peninsula might seem like the spark ready to ignite a new Cold War. In fact, given the feeble Western response so far, the more likely outcome is…
William Hague at a Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Brussels.
Olivier Hoslet/EPA
Events in Ukraine mark not only the start of a momentous shift in the region, but serve to chart the disturbing erosion of Britain’s global clout. If only the UK government would take its lead from the…
Who lives at Number Ten Downing Street? The answer is of course… George Osborne. While his official residence may be next door at Number Eleven, it is he and not David Cameron who lives in the flat above…
Germany and the UK have ambitious clean energy policies. Both have set themselves national emission reduction targets beyond the European Union’s goal of 20% below emissions levels of 1990. Germany has…
Wrong about migrants, wrong about benefits, wrong about choice of headgear.
Torsten Reimer (http://www.flickr.com/photos/torstenreimer)
People are wildly wrong when we ask them about many aspects of life in Britain, as shown in a new survey by Ipsos MORI for the Royal Statistical Society and King’s College London. We think one in four…
Recent news that David Cameron has been placed on the naughty step by China after his meeting with the Dalai Lama caused much concern in UK business circles. Reports suggested the Chinese sovereign wealth…
Under leader Nigel Farage, the UK Independence Party (UKIP) were the success story of the recent UK local council elections: but who exactly are they?
EPA/Facundo Arrizabalaga
In the recent United Kingdom local council elections, the UK Independence Party (UKIP) won 147 seats, an increase of 139 seats, garnering more than one million votes (around 23%) across 35 local governments…
The Falkland Island may be cold, windswept and remote, but they retain major geo–political importance and this weekend’s referendum on sovereignty will define the relationship between the UK and Argentina for years to come.
Felipe Trueba/EPA
History is about to be made on the Falkland Islands, which holds its first official sovereignty referendum this weekend. Some 1,600 Islanders will be asked whether they wish to retain their current political…
More of the same: the UK government’s banking reform bill is merely another capitulation to the banking lobby.
AAP
Some four and-a-half years after the banking crisis that has resulted in massive public debt and a deep austerity program, the UK government has finally unveiled its Financial Services (Banking Reform…
These bones have prompted a discussion about how the English view the monarchy.
AAP/University of Leicester
The story is almost unbelievable: a king buried for five centuries under what is now a car park, identified through mtDNA analysis with the last surviving matrilineal descendants of his sister. But it…
Should William and Kate’s baby get more options, or be stuck as the future monarch?
AAP/Tal Cohen
It’s been a big winter here in Cambridge for fans of the Royal Family. First we had the Duke and Duchess themselves, Will and Kate, making their debut visit to the city, bringing some welcome cheer to…
Policies of austerity are a fundamental burden on low-income earning women in the UK.
Image from www.shutterstock.com
Since 2010, many European governments have adopted austerity policies in an attempt to reduce the budget deficits and increases in government borrowing that were caused by the 2007/8 financial crisis…
Families of the victims of the Hillsborough disaster have never given up their campaign for justice.
EPA/Lee Sanders
The release of Hillsborough Independent Panel’s report into the death of 96 football fans at the 1989 FA Cup Semi Final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest is not just a landmark in British history…
Who’s your sports minister? Australian Kate Ellis and Britain’s Sport Minister Gerry Sutcliffe at the Paralympics.
AAP/Australian Paralympic Committee/Roger Bool
It happens at every Olympics (or Paralympics) and Ashes series - the Hamlet-like behaviour that comes with having two passports. It’s not enough to sit on the fence at times of hysterical national fervour…
Opposition leader Tony Abbott is looking to the politics of the United Kingdom for policy inspiration.
AAP Image/Alan Porritt
Earlier this month, opposition leader Tony Abbott presented the second instalment of the Liberal and National parties’ “Plan for Stronger Communities”, having already outlined elements of the plan at the…
A strong health system can balance public and private care – just look at Australia.
AAP
After a long, painful political and legislative process, the United Kingdom’s Conservative/Liberal Democrat Coalition government has finally been given the green light to proceed with its National Health…