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…
Torture, not treatment: Guantanamo Bay detainees have been force fed using this kit. US department of defense.
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…
This is about more than a bus pass.
EPA/Marcelo Sayão
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…
Servant of all the people: Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Charles Roffey via Creative Commons
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…
Odd one out: why only one woman on the Supreme Court?
John Stillwell/PA Wire
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…
Lethal force: will more weapons increase the chance of a peaceful solution in Syria?
Freedom House via Creative Commons
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…
The grim cost of conflict.
Freedom House via Creative Commons
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…
Devastation: Homs in Syria was leveled by government artiillery.
Bo Yaser via Creative Commons
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…
How many MPs? Don’t rely on the citizenship test for an answer - you’ll fail.
PA Wire
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…
The revolution will not be televised.
Alan Hilditch via Creative Commons
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…
Word of god: the Qur'an is the source of much of the Sharia..
Crystalina via Creative Commons
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…
Is Doctor Who in need of a 50-year service?
Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire
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…
Protest vote: the 2009 presidential elections were marred by violence after mass demonstrations followed allegations of electoral fraud.
Katie Collins/PA Wire
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…
Hard hats at the ready: a Johnson-Osborne clash over transport funding may be a dress rehearsal for a much bigger fight ahead.
Matt Dunham/PA Wire
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…
Greek protestors take to streets after the ERT shutdown.
Yanis Varoufakis
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…
Centre of attention: Aung San Suu Kyi was a key figure at last week’s World Economic Forum in the Burmese capital.
World Economic Forum via Creative Commons
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…
Hear ye, hear ye: keep your hands off our hospital.
PA/Lewis Whyld
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…
Old Labour: Those on stage rattle your jewellery, the rest of you wave your flat caps.
PA/PA Archive/Press Association Images
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…
Girls as young as 12 have been groomed for exploitation by gangs of older men.
Martinak15 via Creative Commons
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…
1066 and all that: Britain’s early relationship with her European neighbours has long been fraught with difficulty.
The Bayeux Tapestry
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…
The law and your laptop: extreme porn legislation goes both too far and not far enough.
Nelson Biago Jnr
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…
Testing times: getting rid of coursework will be a bigger advantage for boys than for girls, experts think.
Chris Radburn/PA Wire
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…
Syrian rebel troops in a firefight in Aleppo.
Freedom House
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…
Victims: Ndiku Mutua, Paulo Nzili, Gitu Wa Kahengeri, Jane Muthoni Mara and Wambugu Wa Nyingi at Downing Street in 2009.
Stefan Rousseau/PA
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…