Politics

By Andy Irwin This week will be one of the most significant in British history. Three days out from the vote on Scottish independence, there is much to celebrate and admire from the process. An unprecedented number of Scots are expected to go to the polls on Thursday. Even those who don’t know how they are going to vote (and they are many) will be making their way to their local voting station. Sixteen year olds will vote in the...

By Michael Duffy The vulnerable Muslims of Burma, Bangladesh, Assam and Gujarat and Ahmadabad and Kashmir, have a new saviour, one that has been two years in the making, Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri’s recent announcement of a new affiliate Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) came with little fanfare, but its implications, particularly for India, are disconcerting. Reportedly comprised of various mujahedeen from the Indian subcontinent it’s aims, as expected, are similar to those of its parent organisation, to wage...

By Jack Peat, Editor of The London Economic  The vote for Scottish independence seems to have raised a few eyebrows in God’s County. If a country that is less populous and has a relatively similar economic fabric wants to go at it alone, shedding the out-of-touch heart of England that is London, why shouldn’t we? There’s 5.3 million marvellous souls in Yorkshire that share a common identity and almost patriotic pride in their county and there are endless reasons why...

By Andy Irwin Andy Irwin argues that social change isn’t going to come from Westminster, we (the people) have to drive it. He talks to an activist in Staffordshire about a new environmentally responsible social enterprise designed to alleviate fuel poverty and reliance of fossil fuels in the area. The steamroller of unrest ignited by austerity and widening social inequality that some predicted would come chugging through the streets of England in the midst of the London riots in 2011...

With just over a week until one of the most hyped referendums in British history, newspapers across the country today lead with the headline: 'Ten days to save the UK'. According to a weekend poll the "Yes" to independence campaign is two percentage points ahead of their Better Together adversaries sending ripples across Fleet Street as the notion of a Scottish split takes a step closer to reality. Alistair Darling says he's still confident the NO vote will win, but Alex Salmond says the latest...

By Gregory Taylor For most university students the next few years will be the best years of their lives, but although the university experience is life changing, I feel it does not prepare a student for the outside world of work. Far too often you hear employers moaning about university graduates not having the right skills for the work place and graduates not having good work ethics. So how do you solve a problem like this? Well, we should look no...

By Stephen Angus Peter Junor The independence referendum takes place on the 18th of September and as the debate has evolved and engaged the population, it is becoming clear that politics in Scotland and perhaps even the UK has fundamentally changed. It has politically awakened the entire nation. UK election turnout in 2010 was around 65 per cent while the turnout for the Scottish Parliament elections in 2011 was only 50 per cent, but there is reason to believe that...

 By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor As Pressure grows on South Yorkshire's police commissioner Shaun Wright to resign in the wake of a damning report into child abuse in Rotherham, a leading academic claims denial too easily became part of the culture. Many of the figures - including Wright , who was the Labour councillor in charge of children's services at Rotherham Council from 2005 to 2010 - during the 16 years of abuse (involving at least 1,400 victims) ignored the warning...

By Bismah Ali James Foley and the need for consistent international approaches to hostage situations. Before his brutal murder, James Foley’s masked executioner explained that his death was in direct response to recent United States airstrikes in Iraq against ISIS. However, after his kidnap from Syria in 2012 and until recently, ISIS had different criteria for the release of Foley, as well as other kidnapped American and British citizens, including Steven Sotloff, a Time magazine journalist and the second hostage...