A Weekend with Bernie Sanders
07/06/2017
Senator Bernie Sanders, internationally renowned for his decision to run against Hillary Clinton for the position of Democratic candidate for President of the United States, and popular for his progressive policies that would completely overhaul the way many think about politics, is arguably one of the most motivating and inspiring speakers of our time. I …
Andrew Jackson, Donald Trump, and the populist reshaping of reference
29/03/2017
‘Jackson was an American hero, first as a brilliant general … and later as the seventh President of the United States, when he fought to defend the forgotten men and women from the arrogant elite of his day, does it sound familiar?’ – President Donald J. Trump, Weekly Address 18/03/2017 Since Donald Trump announced he was …
The End of the World as We Know it? US Foreign Policy under President Trump
16/11/2016
Donald Trump’s successful bid for the White House was marked out by a call to put ‘America First.’ In many quarters, Trump’s sound bite was interpreted as harking back to an isolationist mantra that had gained popular currency within the United States in the years leading up to Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor in December …
Sail On, L. Cohen
15/11/2016
I was thinking of Leonard Cohen on the night of November 8th, aka Election Day in the US. His song “Democracy,” from his 1992 album The Future, was playing on a loop in my head. I had just finished high school in the summer of 1993 when I saw Cohen in concert, the very last …
The 2016 Election: A Seismic Shift to the Right
09/11/2016
The stunning upset victory of Donald J. Trump over Hillary Clinton in the U.S. presidential election signifies a seismic shift to the right in American politics. After January, when the family of Barack Obama cedes the White House to the Republican billionaire, Republicans will also control both houses of Congress and the Supreme Court. It …
Regime Change in Canada: Trudeau MK2
05/11/2015
While news of North American politics in the UK has lately focused on Donald Trump’s perplexing Republican presidential nomination bid, another campaign was unfolding north of the border, culminating in Canada’s 42nd federal election on 19 October. After nine years of government by Stephen Harper’s Conservatives (two minority governments followed by a majority in 2011), …
Charlie Hebdo editors double down on their principles in first issue since attacks
23/01/2015
The latest edition of Charlie Hebdo is nothing out of the ordinary. Today’s response to the attack on its offices on January 7 is precisely what sets it apart from other newspapers. The front cover, a cartoon of a weeping prophet Muhammad holding a sign reading “Je suis Charlie” that was released in advance, is …
Sarkozy sets his sights on 2017 election as rivals flounder
08/12/2014
Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has been re-elected as leader of the opposition party the UMP. His candidacy for the 2017 presidential election is still not certain but his rivals are in a state of disarray and may not be able to stop him standing in 2017. On the eve of the presidential election in …
How the far right landed in the French Senate
14/10/2014
As if the French president, François Hollande, didn’t have enough woes, elections for the senate have dealt him another blow. Three years after Hollande’s socialists won the first ever majority for the left in the upper house, the right wing has taken back an assembly it believes to be its own. And worse still, among …
Portuguese Masterpiece Destroyed in Christmas Eve Fire
24/02/2014
A painting of the Holy Family by Josefa de Óbidos (1630-1684), the greatest Portuguese painter of the seventeenth century, was destroyed in a fire in the church of the Holy Cross Monastery in Bussaco, near the university town of Coimbra, on Christmas Eve. The fire is believed to have been caused by an electrical short …
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