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 the US diplomat considering the roots of these disagreements go back to the Ulster Plantations of the seventeenth century. Unionists were not willing to accept a code of conduct 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 North Sinai and arriving at the gates of Palestine and into one of the most volatile regions in the world. Israel lies to the South East and Jerusalem, Hebron and...

By Pieter Cranenbroek – International Politics Blogger The new year has only just begun but whatever optimism people may have had at the turn of the year, it most likely will have vanished into thin air thanks to our wonderful Chancellor, George Osborne. Although Britain is slowly showing signs of economic recovery, the success of the next 20 years highly depends on whether the British government decides to counter the ongoing social polarisation. Overtaking the French and German economies will be...

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 Authority of Ramallah, and H2, controlled by Israel. 150,000 Palestinians live in H1. In H2 there are 60,000 Palestinians, a small mass trapped by the Oslo ‘93 agreements within the...

By Drew Nicol  The US state of Colorado has taken centre stage for the first controversy of 2014 by declaring the legalisation of cannabis for recreational use. The decision has followed the new trend of a liberalising of attitudes towards cannabis, which began when Uruguay became the first country to legalise the full cycle of cannabis production and use in December 2013.  In the US, the successful launch of this reformed drugs policy has led other states, such as Washington...

Four ways in which the digital stratosphere will be altered by business in 2014. By Adam Walker 1) Businesses will Continue to Ruin Social Media (particularly YouTube) In a similar way to how Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are now stuffed full of advertising, the same destiny is awaiting this year’s trending platforms. Vines are already being mass produced by corporations and businesses looking to shove their brand name in your face in all aspects of your online journey. YouTube estimate...

By Valentina Magri Signs of life are stirring from Britain’s labour market after several years of stagnant growth. That’s the conclusion of the latest CBI-Accenture employment trends survey, conducted between September and October 2013. The respondents - senior executives from firms of all sizes and sectors - reported there is light at the end of the tunnel for the jobs market, with 51 per cent of employers expecting their workforce to be larger this year and only 12 per cent...

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 talk, let alone socialise together outside of work. I imagined Neil Kinnock would elbow drop Nigel Lawson in the cloisters of the Houses of Parliament, after the Chancellor’s autumn statement....

By Valentina Magri Languages and China European languages are no more rewarding than those from further afield. At least, that’s the opinion of prime minister David Cameron, who said on his return from the trip to China: “By the time the children born today leave school, China is set to be the world’s largest economy. So it’s time to look beyond the traditional focus on French and German and get many more children learning Mandarin”. The reason is simple: Britain...