Politics

By John Simm There was a certain degree of shock after the recent European elections. Joey Barton's not too tactful sentiments on Question Time summed it up quite adequately. Popular opinion often shifts to the right during recessions with people blaming "others" for their current poor fortunes. They always look back to the past "before those guys showed up" and see things through rose tinted spectacles. But a great deal of UKIP's current success is due to image and perception...

By Bradley Allsop     The fact that my newsfeed and television screen are increasingly taken up by Nigel Farage’s smiling, smug face enrages me for so many reasons. Perhaps the biggest reason though, is that he’s parading himself as a panacea for societal woes, when really he’s just another facet of the problem, cut from the same mould as the rest of the political elite, albeit with a bit of added venom. So why is he seemingly doing so well,...

By Oliver Ward The Chinese built their High Speed Rail (HSR) in less than two years. In Britain we have been debating the subject for two years, members of all political parties have been stroking their chins in backrooms and passing memos between themselves but its expected completion date is still speck in the distance at 2026. And that's providing initial targets are met, which inevitably will be extended while the counties wrestle for their interests to be heard like...

By Philip Benton The local and European elections seem to have revolved around one key issue. The Daily Mail reading British public have had enough of failed promises from the Government to keep net immigration under control and have made their views known by voting for anti-EU parties like UKIP. A key policy for all the main parties fighting for power is to potentially revise Britain’s relationship with Europe. There have been calls for a renegotiation of the EU powers...

By Nikita Gush #Bringbackourgirls You have probably seen on your Twitter feed the trending hashtag #bringbackourgirls. This hashtag is referring to the horrific kidnapping committed by the Boko Haram Islamist militant group in which over 200 young Nigerian women were abducted from their school in Chibok, Borno State. These young women have been missing since April 15, 2014 and it is feared that some of the group have died or been sold into sexual trafficking. Presidents, politicians, and people with...

by Luca Foschi “My night time lessons via Skype are followed by thousands of disciples around the world”, sheik Omar Bakri said in the austere parlour of his residence in Tripoli. He lived in the UK between 1984 and 2006 when pressure from the government after the 7/7 terrorist attacks forced him to return to Beirut, where he was born 55 years ago. He is one of the most important figures in the British Islamic community and fought in Bosnia,...

By Pieter Cranenbroek This September Scotland will finally have a chance to decide whether it wants to keep or leave the Union in its referendum on independence. In recent years, more and more power has been devolved to Scotland and Wales, whereas the English question has been largely ignored. But in a time of political disillusionment and an increasingly dominant capital, devolution to its regions might be exactly what England needs. The Blair government established the Scottish Parliament and the...

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...

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...