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…
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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As television series Doctor Who reaches its 50-year anniversary it has attracted criticism for being outdated.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…
The promise by Syrian rebel leader Selim Idriss this week that “we are allowed to fight Hezbollah fighters inside [Lebanese] territory” was a chilling intimation of what may lie ahead for the region. What…
Today is a good day for Paulo Muoka Nzili, Wambuga wa Nyingi and Jane Muthoni Mara. After their decade-long struggle for justice, and 50 years after Kenyan independence, Britain’s foreign secretary, William…
Europe’s independence movements are on the march, so the story goes. From Glasgow to Barcelona the past two years have been dominated by speculation of how and when votes on pivotal constitutional change…
I had better declare an interest: it’s that sort of week. I co-edit a journal called Interest Groups and Advocacy. This is of no interest to HMRC, but the journal’s name merits examination in the context…
David Cameron’s new taskforce to combat extremism met on Monday to address what Tony Blair calls a “problem within Islam” that he blames for the terror plots which have caused such distress and given rise…
If you were in a fix and looking for a lawyer, would you think of bringing in haulage contractor, Eddie Stobart, to argue your case? Or Tesco, for that matter? And while G4S may be experienced at running…
You would have thought, by now, that our politicians might have developed a finer intuitive sense when it comes to being offered fairly large sums of money for doing what appears to be very little in return…
The recent news that Westminster School has opted to raise money by auctioning off internships at merchant banks and law firms should come as little surprise. Internships are such a valuable way of getting…
Sepp Blatter, the 77-year-old president of FIFA, the international governing body of football, has put his foot in it – again. Having made suggestions in 2004 that women in sport should wear tight shorts…
This year’s annual report of the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns, focuses on what it calls “lethal autonomous robotics and the protection of life…