It seems Scottish voters are warming to the whole independence idea, then – bucking the trend that the experts have been telling us for months they’re almost bound to follow. The poll that this week put…
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It never gets any easier for justice minister Chris Grayling. Every month he seems to face fresh criticism over some new catastrophe in the justice system over which he presides. September is proving no…
If you are a Russian journalist on a trip abroad, the first question you’re asked once your companion finds out about your profession is: “How come you’re still alive?” Then comes something about how all…
A common refrain of the Better Together campaign in the Scottish independence referendum is that it is unlike any other poll. If the nation’s choice at a General Election was in error, the government can…
Some time over the past few weeks, the nameplate outside the Holborn offices of the Press Complaints Commission was removed, leaving an empty space. And now its successor, the Independent Press Standards…
If we wanted a reminder of the class system that still overshadows the British Isles, the announcement by Prince William and his wife Kate of a second baby today fitted the bill perfectly. Call me churlish…
As a fragile ceasefire just about holds in Ukraine, with shelling reported in the pivotal port city of Mariupol, the EU has announced a new round of sanctions against Russia. Targeted at state-owned firms…
With just 10 days until a vote in Scotland on independence from the UK, London dramatically exploded into action. This week we can expect to see a package of measures being offered by the chancellor, George…
Two violent incidents, a murder and a home invasion, took place just a few miles apart in North London last week. In both cases, armed police were sent to the scene but to very different ends. At the first…
Over recent weeks there has been a constant background noise that Islamic State and its ideology are some sort of throwback to a distant past. It is often framed in language used last week by the deputy…
With Islamic State’s advance in Iraq and Syria gripping the world’s attention, al-Qaeda has been left on the sidelines. That all changed on September 4, as al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri released a 55-minute…
If you wanted an explanation for the momentum that has carried the Yes campaign to the brink of victory in the Scottish referendum, you have to look at what’s happening on the ground. The extent to which…
Ever since the first New Labour administration of 1997, successive British governments have declared their commitment to so-called “ethical” arms sales. But recent decisions about which countries should…
NATO’s secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen is fond of saying that the alliance must now transform from a “deployed NATO to a prepared NATO”. But given the current crisis to its eastern flank, many…
The Poles and Russians have had a difficult relationship going back centuries. In recent times, the key problem has been competing geopolitical ambitions over the former Soviet republics. Poland wants…
An alarming report from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary has revealed that some police forces have simply given up investigating some types of crime, instead calling on the general public to…
It has been reported that the Ukrainian government and pro-Russian insurgents have signed a ceasefire agreement at the meeting of the Contact Group on Ukraine in Minsk. This had hardly looked assured in…
Terrorism, oppression, fundamentalism and victimhood are only a few of the buzzwords that inevitably accompany discussions about Islamic headgear. From burqa-bans to atrocities against women in some Islamic…
After the NATO-led interventions in Kosovo and Libya, many commentators argued that the Responsibility to Protect, the fashionable name for humanitarian military intervention, had finally become an established…
Corruption is an urgent global problem, one that costs the developing world dearly and badly slows its development down. But until recently, figuring out just how big the problem is, and what to do about…
World leaders are congregating in Wales this week for the 2014 NATO summit, where some of the most pressing political issues of the day will be on the agenda. Despite the high stakes, a survey of the general…
As NATO meets in Wales, the public’s attention is bound to be on how the organisation will handle the conflict in Ukraine. But the meeting is also an important window of opportunity to develop a long term…
Late one Saturday evening in March, NATO’s Headquarters experienced a large-scale cyber-attack at the hands of a group calling itself Anonymous Bierkut from Ukraine. Non-classified networks were targeted…
US president Barack Obama has yet to work out exactly what America’s strategy is in confronting Islamic State (IS), and has been foolish enough to say so in public. Cue the foreseeable torrent of point-scoring…
The people of Scotland are suddenly facing the realistic prospect that monumental change may be in the offing. As most recently confirmed by a shock YouGov poll, support for Yes appears to be rising fast…