The UKIP Bogeyman
By Tony Diver The PR moguls will tell us that any publicity is good publicity, but in the case of UKIP, they’ll have to make an exception. It’s not just that image is really important for any party, but when the publicity is so relentlessly awful that every major news outlet condemns and mocks UKIP on a daily basis, it’s just not a campaign that screams ‘legitimacy’. So many people ask why voters would opt for UKIP – mostly their...
Boko Haram – A history
By Luca Foschi It is not the case that “Jama'atu Ahlul Sunna Lidda'awati Wal Djihad” chose the abduction of almost 300 Christian girls to gain global attention. “People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet's Teachings and Jihad” now also has its most successful slogan,”Western education is sinful,” beamed into the front rooms of the developed world. On April 14, 293 schoolgirls have been taken away from Christian schools in Chibok, a village in the north-east region of Borno. Their kidnapper’s...
Who wants to be an European? We do
By Valentina Magri European elections are coming and fear is growing. The terror is called UKIP (UK Independence Party). The party who wants Britain exit from the EU and tougher immigration laws may gain 25-35 per cent of votes, according to the latest polls, pushing PM Cameron’s Conservatives in third place. But the situation is not as tough as it seems for the EU. This is the conclusion of a recent survey by the PewResearchCenter, conducted from March 17 to...
The Future for Digital Music
Phil Smith Founder http://www.soundtracktoyour.com It’s remarkable to consider what has happened to the business of music. From Apple reportedly buying Superstar Rapper, Dr Dre’s Beats, Headphone Company for $3.2Bn, to Lily Allen making mention of earning a very modest £8,000 for the John Lewis single ‘Somewhere Only We Know’. To news that artists like Rihanna earn huge sums of money for personal appearances and endorsements, - it’s rumoured that to get the divine Bajan chanteuse to appear at a fashion...
The Horrors of Fracking (2) . . . Could it devastate our food supply?
Author J T Coombes www.globalmagnacarta.com @GMagnaCarta The Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) is to announce a new round of on-shore oil and gas exploration licensing with about two thirds of Britain potentially on offer to exploration companies. – Source Sunday Times 11/05/2014 Welcome to the National Parks Britain's breathing spaces “There are 15 members of the National Parks family, beautiful areas of mountains, meadows, moorlands, woods and wetlands. They are areas of protected countryside that everyone can visit, and where people...
Premier League Team of the Season
By David de Winter - Sports Writer The 2013/14 Premier League season has been one of the most exciting in recent memory. A title race that went down to the wire, a Houdini-style escape by Sunderland, Alan Pardew going a bit loco, and Manchester United finished in 7th. What’s not to like? Here are the eleven players who excelled themselves this term. Goalkeeper: David Marshall (Cardiff City) It’s almost unheard of that the goalkeeper of the league’s bottom club is...
Life after Death in North Korea
By Ashley Etchells-Butler A fundamental problem I have with any religious organisation is that it not only asks for complete obedience throughout this life, but for eternity after you die. If you are good, you go to a nice place. But if you are bad you are likely to suffer unimaginable torture – forever But at least this manner of spiritual exploitation is essentially speculative on the part of the parties involved. The blood-cult of North Korea employs a rather...
It’s still about the economy, stupid
By Andy Irwin On their own, opinion polls offer little more than a fleeting glimpse of a point in time, a snapshot of the immediate thinking of a sample of the electorate – they are dated before the ink is dry. Different polls have their own biases depending on the sampling methods they use and, dare I say, the association of particular media outlets or individuals associated with the polls. These differences are often slight, and looking at a number...
The Blame-Game, Double Standards & Fast Food: A Tale of the United States Economy
By Haridos Apostolides, US Correspondent The end of April saw the proposed federal minimum wage increase to $10.10 per hour defeated by a Republican-led filibuster in the United States’ Senate, all because it is claimed not to be the job of the federal government to decide salaries. The vote, however, wasn’t about giving millions of working Americans a pay raise but rather to decide if the Senate should merely discuss whether they deserve one. Democrats and Republicans live for divisive, partisan...