The confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh concludes a month of partisan rancour in the United States arguably not seen since the 2016 election. At stake at the ‘job interview’ of the century were not only the careers and reputations of Christine Blasey Ford and Kavanaugh, but long-term trends in American politics and society including the centralising […]
Politics
Sweden’s Stability Quake and Blow to the Left
One of Europe’s most stable left-wing governments, Sweden, has taken a blow following the national elections on the 9th of September, resulting in a hung parliament between the Social Democratic Party (SDP), and the centre-right ‘Alliance’ bloc. The result led to a confidence vote regarding the current Prime Minister’s position within the Swedish Riksdag. Stefan […]
Post-Colonial Guilt: Macron Recognises French Torture
President Macron has officially recognised, on behalf of the French state, the crimes carried out during the seven-year Algerian war of independence. Macron, the first president to be born after the conflict lifted the veil on 56 years of denial. Macron chose to visit 87-year-old Josette Audin, the widow of Maurice Audin who was tortured […]
OOD – Figuring out the Freshers’ Fair
I may not have found a grey hair yet – only an oddly yellow one from my disastrous attempt to go ginger – but this year marks my third, and presumably final Freshers’ Fair. Instead of wandering around as hopelessly as a cloud in a June sky, it would have very much helped my first […]
Zimbabwe’s Presidential Election
Even by post-colonial standards, Zimbabwe is a young country. Prior to 1980, the region was known as Southern Rhodesia after the British colonist Cecil Rhodes. Like South Africa, political power was controlled by white supremacist parties, but a gorilla war waged by the African Nation Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu PF) during the 1970s resulted in British […]
Local elections who?
I’d like to start this with a confession – I didn’t vote in the recent local elections. This was not a choice born out of ignorance, but certainly came from some place of apathy. I had fully intended on voting. It was scheduled in for the evening, right after my busy day of hopping between […]
Boris Johnson’s Charm Offensive of Latin America
The Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, has returned from his five-day Latin American tour of Peru, Argentina and Chile that was conducted from the 19th to 23rd May. The tour gave Prime Minister Theresa May some much needed breathing space to attempt to affirm her government’s position regarding what form the UK’s exit from the European […]
Emmanuel Macron: A Centrist Myth?
Last April, France elected their youngest leader since Napoleon, Emmanuel Macron. A year on, the President of the Republic’s popularity is waning as his approval ratings continue to fall. Some critics say Macron’s centrist platform is a fallacy and correlate his actions, perceived to be far from centrist, to be the reason why. However, the […]
Review: Brexitannia
On March 24th, as part of their ‘Right Now’ season of documentaries, the Phoenix screened Brexitannia. On the same day, an anti-Brexit really, ‘Devon for Europe’, was taking place on the streets of Exeter town centre. In response, a number of pro-Brexit citizens took to the other side of the road in counter-protest, creating what […]
Uncomfortable Truths: Anti-Semitism in the Labour Party
That Jeremy Corbyn is an anti-Semite seems unlikely. That Jeremy Corbyn has anti-Semitic friends seems closer to the truth. He has been a long-time ally of Ken Livingston, who memorably claimed Hitler was a Zionist “before he went mad”, been linked to Hamas and its supporters, who seek the destruction of Israel, and met with […]