By Haridos Apostolides, US Correspondent The negotiations that no one, especially American leaders, ever truly believed would happen are, indeed, happening. On January 20th, Iran will enter into negotiations to reduce their nuclear practices with the United States, Great Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia. The new, “more liberal” Iranian president,...

By Pieter Cranenbroek – International Politics Blogger On New Year’s Eve, French President François Hollande announced a series of liberal reforms that meant a move away from socialist thinking. Although the socialist president’s alleged liaison with an actress may have overshadowed his astonishing flirt with liberalism, he would do well to...

By Joe Mellor, In house Reporter  “I am not a saint, unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying.” - Nelson Mandela. When the world revisited the great man’s quotes after his death, this one seemed to resonate with a lot of people. Mandela’s words...

A No Strings Puppet Workshop For Children From Syria By Rosie Waller, No Strings International  No Strings International makes puppet films that bring to life crucial messages for children in disasters, poverty and war around the world, with their current focus on Syria. Here, Rosie Waller, one of the UK team...

By Jim Colella, freelance journalist and blogger, resident in Turkey since 2005  The epic corruption scandal currently gripping Turkey, not to mention international headlines, is nothing less than the collapse of the entire set on a theatre stage. With that elaborately painted background suddenly gone, so too goes the context...

By Tomás McGoldrick, Ireland Correspondent Northern Irish talks - Ulster says No The failure of  Northern Irish parties to reach agreement on Richard Haass’s proposals is hardly surprising. Trying to resolve the issues of parades, flags and events of the past in six months was simply too much to ask for...

By Jack Peat, Editor of The London Economic  Al Arish Road winds along North Africa’s north coast from Cairo, the largest city in the Middle-East and the nucleus of the Arab Spring. From Tahrir Square it’s a five hour drive to the Israeli border, passing through Arish, the capital of...

By Luca Foschi The bus I am riding in has come from Jerusalem, the occupied capital. It stops in front of Shuhada Street, where a rain of stones are lobbed towards the check point which has separated Hebron into two sections from 1997: H1, under the rule of the Palestinian...

What’s right with the left, is what’s left of the right, right?   By Joe Mellor, In house Reporter  When I was a child growing up watching political programmes on a Sunday morning (I know, I should have got out more) I believed that Labour and Tory politicians would not...

By Cagri Cobanoglu – the foreign news editor of Akşam – a national Turkish daily After more than a decade in power, the AK Party of Turkey is facing its biggest crisis yet. After a massive corruption scandal involving sons of three cabinet ministers broke out on 17 December, the...

By Drew Nicol 2013 has been a historic year for women’s sport. TV presenter Clare Balding, prophesised back in January that: “When the history of sport is written in 100 years’ time they will look back at 2012 and the Olympics and Paralympics and see the impact in 2013.” –...

By Pieter Cranenbroek – International Politics Blogger It has been an eventful year for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community (LGBT). Germany recently became the first European country to add an extra gender box on forms, which gives recognition and expression to intersex and transgender people, whereas same-sex marriage laws...

By Joe Mellor, In house Reporter  When the smoke turned white from the chimney perched above the Sistine chapel I and many others thought “here we go again”. Another Pope who hates homosexuals, cosies up to the wealthy and ignores sexual abuse claims within catholic clergy. How wrong we were....

By Jack Peat, Editor of The London Economic The British army employs more than 400,000 people to protect our small island, almost two people for every square kilometre in the country. Compared to say, jobseekers’ allowance (£4.91 billion) or housing benefits (£16.9 billion), the cost of fielding our soldiers abroad...

By Drew Nicol Britain’s education system is failing thousands of young people every year by neglecting to emphasise the importance of learning a foreign language, according to the British Council. The British Council’s ‘Languages for the Future’ report conclusively states that “it is a widely held – if not undisputed...

By Adam Walker, Economics Correspondent  Follow @adamwalker8715 Last Thursday’s 2013 Autumn Statement heralded a “responsible recovery”. With signs of a brighter economic future in 2013 the chancellor was quick to note that there are still difficult decisions to be made and the UK economy was by no means in the...

By Joe Mellor, In house Reporter  Nelson Mandela on Trafalgar Square's Fourth Plinth By now everyone in the world should know Mandela died, except maybe Joey Essex regardless of whether he is in the jungle or not. My family were and still are avid political activists...

By Joe Mellor, In house Reporter  Ol’ Blue eyes himself, Frank Sinatra sung the girl from Ipanema about the allure of the fifth-biggest country in the world and its ample assets. Let’s be honest, he was referring to a scantily clad women rather than its bumper soybean crop. Setting aside Frank’s ignorance...

By Pieter Cranenbroek, International Politics Blogger Follow @Pinter_13 Living a sheltered life distorts your view of the world. This is not a scientific fact, just an educated guess based on recent comments by David Cameron and Boris Johnson who seem to be fond of creating their own facts. Despite an abundance...

By Rachel Wilson, Political Reporter In a rich country such as the UK, there should be certain minimum standards below which no one should fall. In 2010, for the first time ever, the government set itself the target to end childhood poverty for good. Households Below Average Income (HBAI) is...

By Phil Benton  Follow @paolobento The UK is not a cycling country. Well not yet, at least. In 2012, just two per cent of all journeys were made by bike according to government statistics. In August of this year, David Cameron unveiled ambitious plans to start ‘a cycling revolution’ with the...

By Joe Mellor, In house Reporter Dangerous immigrants are in this country to sponge from the state, devour royal swans and car jack pensioners.It’s a fact, deal with it.And soon an influx of Bulgarians and Romanians are coming to pester you for change outside your local Pizza Express.But that’s not until...

By Pieter Cranenbroek – International Politics Blogger Music has always been a stage used to criticise the political order, but in the past week Morrissey and Billy Bragg both decided to air their grievances on politics and society off stage. Both singers stressed the problem with the lack of accountability in...

By Jack Peat, Editor of The London Economic The Madeleine McCann story offers the most potent example of what makes British media tick and what British people want to read. Although crimes and atrocities occur every day, there are criteria which land them on page nine and conditions which qualify...

Ahh Hull, the eternal city of love. Well, not really, but my parents met there, so take that Paris, Rome and Venice. Also, in my murky past I worked in the city as a Regeneration Consultant (don’t ask me what one is, I’m still not sure), so I have spent...

Behind the scenes with Ben Gelblum TV outside the box Today at 5pm GMT on the eighth floor of a high-rise block in Wembley, broadcasting history will be made. Over the past six months, an enthusiastic crew spearheaded by sports presenter and Green Party spokesman turned anti-establishment maverick David Icke...