Politics

Mike Deverell discusses five reasons why those with less end up paying more In Terry Pratchett’s “Men At Arms” there’s a passage which neatly encapsulates why it’s so expensive to be poor: “The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money. “Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort...

By Elsa Buchanan, International Politics reporter They have been labelled "Nazis in pinstripes" by members of the government and rally by the thousands against asylum-seekers and the supposed threat of the "Islamification" of Germany. Yet, they are desperate to prove they are not racist to attract a wide range of supporters. Welcome into the world of the fast-growing "Patriotic Europeans against the Islamisation of the West”, best known under its acronym PEGIDA. In its most recent show of strength, the German-born far-right populist movement attracted...

By Elsa Buchanan, International Politics reporter After initial news reports relayed pictures of the oil spill “catastrophe” in Bangladesh last week, the media have fallen somewhat silent. Disasters are so common in Bangladesh that they go unnoticed. Children covered in fuel oil up to their waist are trying to gather the sticky slick using buckets. Local fishermen, trudging in dark waters, are using pots and sacks to collect the viscous fuel. Yet, it is in the quasi indifference of the international community that an...

By Anna Power, Film Editor Update Tuesday 23rd Dec: Sony in another U-turn have decided to release The Interview on December 25th. Bowing to presidential and public opinion the company have decided to go ahead with the release but to a limited theatrical audience.  Sony have announced that they are planning a simultaneous VOD release though they have yet to name the online streaming service.  UPDATE: CNN reports that Sony has now pulled the Christmas Day release of The Interview after...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor For the Tories today there was some early Xmas cheer (at economic news) and Xmas groans (at some lacklustre Xmas puns, which I hope to emulate during this article). Wages are now growing faster than inflation. It was the final piece of the jigsaw (that Auntie Janice got you) for the Conservatives. Now Labour couldn’t even attack on the cost of living crisis. Everything seems to be going the Tories way, so Labour decided to...

By Jack Peat, Editor of The London Economic  The last capitalist we hang shall be the one who sold us the rope.”  ― Karl Marx If there was ever an example of 21st century Marxism, the open letter fiasco between Russell Brand and Jo 'the disgruntled RBS worker' would be it. Brand's people's revolution has been widely rejected by the very people he's looking to represent. The reason why lies somewhere between the media oligarchs, the fat cats and politicians that...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor of The London Economic  Before the News at Ten began, David Dimbleby flashed onto the screen to push the biggest question time since Nick Griffin was thrown to the wolves. He mentioned Farage and Brand but didn’t bother to mention the Labour or Tory representative this evening (or the Times journo for that matter). It appeared mainstream politics is even irrelevant on Question Time. I think the Sunday Times hack must have seen the advert preceding...

By Jack Peat, Editor of The London Economic Terrorism is an ugly word. Unlike the act of war that evokes connotations of heroism and fighting for a cause the act of terrorism is lumped with entirely negative overtones and for good reason. But when you fight fire with fire, war with more war, the line between what constitutes terrorism and what justifies war becomes blurred. Jus bellum iustum is one of the earliest doctrines to address the justification of war....

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Nick Clegg and Harriet Harman stood in for David Cameron and Ed Miliband at PMQs today. The Deputy Leader had to represent a coalition he has been trying to distance himself from all week. He also had to defend the distance he was from the chamber last Wednesday. Clegg told the House he was in Cornwall last week on the day of the autumn statement, but “Labour had spent the last five years in cloud...