SPOTLIGHT

Economy

Labour Economics: Economy in 2020

Jeremy Corbyn’s ‘Economy in 2020’ is admirable for the working class in its principles but ultimately has its flaws. Battered and bruised, with knees rocking after a haymaker, Labour’s current predicament within British politics resembles that of a boxer that has been tactically outclassed for ten rounds, it’s close to a stoppage. Granted, politics has […]

Europe

The UK response to the “refugee crisis” is theoretically sound but practically counterproductive

The UK Conservative government has a strategy for tackling the current “refugee crisis” that is theoretically convincing but practically contradictory. The strategy consists of letting as few refugees onto UK soil as it can get away with, whilst increasing efforts to tackle the source of the crisis. The former is implicit in the numbers: until […]

Sport

Athletics’ Quick Fix: How the politics of doping is taking athletics to the brink of ruin

June 2003 As most sport-crazy 9 – 90 year-old boys do, I began reading my copy of the Mail on Sunday from the last page to the first. But on this particular day, my eyes were strangely captivated by the side column rather than the main headline. “World’s Fastest Couple give birth to baby boy”. […]

Green

The fall of oil and the environment


The Fall of Oil and the Environment Bane or Blessing? The recent rapid decline of the price of oil, from around $115 per barrel in mid-2014 to below $50 per barrel by August 2015 (Brent Crude), has prompted widespread concerns about negative impacts of cheap oil on the environment. These concerns can be roughly divided […]

Human Rights

Rufgee crisis: Lessons David Cameron can learn from Lebanon’s example

In the midst of the current refugee crisis it’s easy to get caught up in numbers. Germany is expecting 800,000 by the end of the year – and 500,000 annually for years to come. Australia says they’ll let in 12,000 and David Cameron announced that the UK will accept 20,000 of the most vulnerable Syrian […]


 
 
 

 

Presidents, Oligarchs and Potash: Russia’s Trade War With Belarus

At first glance, there are no truer friends than Russia and Belarus. The two states are united by a common history and have strong ethnic and linguistic links. Russia has long subsidized her neighbor with cheap oil and gas, wh...
by Daniel Kennedy
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Russians Wary Of Snowden Asylum

After spending six weeks ensconced in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport, Edward Snowden was finally permitted to leave the airport “transit zone” after he received temporary asylum in Russia for the period of one year. Slipp...
by Daniel Kennedy
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Subsidiarity, or the Conflict between Scale and Community in the EU

A while ago, I read an article saying that we should reconsider the division of tasks in the EU. It was a good article. The author essentially proposed to apply the principle of subsidiarity, which says that each policy area sh...
by Gilles Pittoors
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China-Japan Dispute: No Need For Alarm

On September 22, The Economist asked “Could Asia really go to war?” The article concerned the potential ramifications of recent protests in China concerning the Japanese government’s recent purchase of the Diaoyu (or Sen...
by Matthew Barnes
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2014 Olympics & Anti-Gay Sentiment In Russia

Discriminatory behavior and recent anti-gay laws are sparking controversy in Russia, who is set to host the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. Human rights activists are outraged at the horrific outpouring of violence culminating gay rig...
by Bre Cruickshank
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International Political Forum

The Cult Of Saint Death: When Jesus Can’t Help.

The Vatican rarely acknowledges the various cults which spring up from time to time around the world, so when Cardinal Ravasi travelled to Mexico City to speak at several specially organised events in the Metropolis, it became ...