How poverty impedes the cognitive function
What must be understood is that mental bandwidth is a limited resource which is used for everything. So what happens if we can make some things, like banking, easier for the poor ?Okonkwo, the...
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Lukashenka as Machiavelli
For those who assume that the Belarus strongman Alexander Lukashenka long ago lost his freedom of action vis-a-vis Moscow, his recent bout of assertive behaviour was unexpected. It delivered the...
View ArticleWhat can the case for Scottish Independence learn from the Irish example?
The nationalist movement developed in the two countries at about the same time, in the late nineteenth century, gathering momentum in a campaign for Home Rule in the years leading up to World War I,...
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Winning the Class War: a ruling class perspective
Liam Barrington-Bush reads Susan George’s new book, ‘How to Win the Class War: The Lugano Report II,’ and, while impressed by its breadth of information, is left wondering if more intellectual...
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Russia’s shiny new weapons
‘Drones are not toys,’ says Vladimir Putin, and ‘we are not going to operate them as other countries do. It is not a video game.’ Maybe so, but military men the world over love their hardware… ‘Drones...
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El Sisi: the revolutionary president?
If Sisi decides to run for president, it might provide a breath of life to a revolutionary movement that has been badly damaged and splintered since the coup of June 30.Over the weekend there were some...
View Article2014, a climate emergency
The accelerating pace of extreme weather events is an acute challenge to political leaders.Two months ago, on 8 November 2013, a devastating typhoon struck south-central islands in the Philippines....
View ArticleCorruption? Delusion? Britain's botched privatisation of asylum housing
UK spending watchdog confirms mismanagement in outsourcing to G4S and Serco. Report casts doubt on public servants' ability to scrutinise powerful contractors.Another day, another example of what...
View ArticleEight years of Thai madness: make sense, not war
Rightly or wrongly, finally the people of my generation are now all for public participation, talking about "Thailand's future," and debating the meaning of democracy. Politics has indeed become a part...
View ArticleLocal surveillance since 2001
The almost exclusive focus on the NSA obscures the degree to which surveillance has become integrated into almost every level of government. For most of us, the first point of contact with the...
View ArticleSyrian women demand to take part in the peace talks in Geneva
There are over fifty Syrian women in Geneva this week. They are demanding a ceasefire in Syria and to be part of the planned peace talks in Geneva, January 22. Supported by international women's...
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The many crises of Erdogan: have we come to an end-game ?
This piece is an attempt to revisit some of the key crises afflicting the AKP and its leader, and in light of this analysis, investigate some claims that foretell the AKP’s doom. Never has the end...
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British press poisons minds against asylum seekers
How the Daily Telegraph twisted an official audit of a botched privatisation . . . to smear and defame asylum-seekers.Last week government auditors published a report on Britain's botched privatisation...
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Deported from Japan: until death do us part
Next month will see the final judgment on the case of Abubakar Awudu Suraj, a Ghanian national who died whilst being deported from Japan. An interview with his widow highlights States’ powers to...
View ArticleThe Modern Slavery Bill: does the British government really care?
If we are really serious about abolishing slavery in the west today, Rahila Gupta argues that we have to abolish immigration controls so that people can take action against their abusers without...
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The slippery slope of bigotry
A star of US reality TV and born-again Christian compares homosexuality to bestiality. His views defy the teachings of the central figure of Christianity.“Duck Dynasty” star Phil Robertson. Credit:...
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Now I'm a union man
In both Soviet and more recent times, Russia’s trade unions have tended to be an arm of the regime, but Grigory Tumanov argues that a growing independent movement is becoming a significant force in the...
View ArticleLobbyists - what alcohol and gambling learnt from tobacco
The Lobbying Bill being debated this week will do nothing to expose corporate lobbying. If we are going to diminish their influence in government, we need to understand their tactics better and call...
View ArticleUK: will the Lords see through the Transparency of Lobbying Bill?
A Bill supposedly designed to restore trust in Parliament will obstruct the work of those who campaign for the disenfranchised, while allowing powerful corporations and industry lobbyists unscrutinised...
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Beyond a self-fulfilling prophesy: religion and conflict in the Middle East
Primordialism is back with a vengeance when it comes to analysing conflict in the Middle East. However, Libya and Egypt help us put religion in its proper place.Speaking on BBC radio on 12 October...
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