Showing 1 - 10 of 129
No, Brexit Britain doesn't want its empire back
News, John Lloyd, Published on 14/01/2019
» Britain is moving towards an exit from the European Union on March 29, possibly with no agreement, and thus courting – according to the Bank of England – an 8 percent drop in GDP and a 7.5% rise in unemployment. A drear prospect, attended by matching drear commentaries on the stupidity of the 52 percent of the British electorate who voted for Brexit in 2016.
Australia's turn in the muck of political tribalism
News, Daniel Moss, Published on 22/02/2018
» Australians who thought the disruptions that have led many to view North Atlantic politics with disdain wouldn't reach their corner of the world can no longer ignore reality. The urban-rural divide that drove Brexit and the election of Donald Trump is now reverberating closer to home, and it's not a good look.
It is what it is … whatever it might be
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 29/05/2022
» An expression which is increasingly heard these days on television and in political comment is the rather cryptic "it is what it is". Not exactly an illuminating observation, and it prompts the question, "But, what is it?" Apparently it means a certain situation that cannot be changed however much you want and carries an element of resignation.
Well, after that things can only get better
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 27/12/2020
» What a dreadful year. We found ourselves having to tackle a whole new vocabulary and most of the words were enough to make even the most optimistic among us depressed. It all began in March with "self-isolation", a horrible expression inferring you have become a hermit, hidden away, exiled, incommunicado, which in fact is exactly what we were.
Wreath gaffe puts Corbyn in hot water
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 17/08/2018
» It sounds like a tempest in a teapot, but it could bring down Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of Britain's Labour Party -- and that could end up meaning that Britain doesn't leave the European Union after all.
Asean nears its Thucydides trap turning point
News, Published on 14/10/2019
» In the whirlwind of the 554 officially listed events which marked the start of the UN General Assembly debates in New York two weeks ago, the concern raised by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres -- that the world is moving towards a Great Fracture -- was understandably lost in the cacophony.
Modern world leaders are just walking cliches
News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 30/07/2019
» One of the most striking things about Boris Johnson, who became UK prime minister, is how precisely he fits the stereotype of the eccentric upper-class Brit. With his elevation, Britain joins several major nations led by people who embody their national stereotypes and not the best of them at that. However, it could be argued that it's leaders defying such cliches who take their countries forward.
From Trump to Europe crises, what to watch in 2018
News, Peter Apps, Published on 29/12/2017
» Professional forecasters like to say that making predictions is difficult, particularly about the future. As we reach the end of 2017, however, here are some of the key themes -- and questions -- that look set to shape global events next year.
Muslims do fit in, though more slowly
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 30/04/2018
» 'Every Continental [European] under the age of 40 -- make that 60, if not 75 -- is all but guaranteed to end his days living in an Islamified Europe," wrote polemicist Mark Steyn in 2006. "Native populations on the continent are aging and fading and being supplanted remorselessly by a young Muslim demographic."
Time to put brakes on immigration
News, Published on 04/01/2024
» No politician can be expected to tell us all of the truth. If they did so, they would lose an election even for town dogcatcher. Nonetheless it doesn't seem too much to suggest, in this season of hope, that 2024 might go significantly better than 2023 if more of our leaders around the world acknowledged realities about some of the troubles that beset us.