The latest British parliamentary spat was a further ripple from the scandal about MPs" expenses that first splashed into our headlines in 2009. In December 2012, it was discovered that up till the wider scandal's outbreak, the Culture Secretary had been wrongly claiming expenses for the ...
Last week, Turkey decided to ban Twitter. The move was a reaction to supposed evidence that had spread on the website purporting to corroborate allegations of corruption within Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄan's inner circle and family. He has been in a combative mood for a few weeks ...
Last week saw the passing of two prominent figures on the extreme left wing of British politics: Tony Benn and Bob Crow. Politicians of all persuasions have made the inevitable polite tributes to their memory. They were remarkable men. Crow was a key figure in the trade union movement, a radical ...
In just under 200 days, Scottish voters will face a referendum on whether or not to leave the United Kingdom. The milestone was marked by ongoing arguments about whether an independent Scotland would be able to join the European Union as well as a currency union with England. In both cases the ...
Britannia, we proudly and rather wistfully proclaim, rules the waves. Over the last couple of weeks, however, it has seemed that the waves are ruling Britannia. Reading the UK newspaper headlines or watching the news, one might have been forgiven for thinking that the country was becoming a second ...
I suppose the biggest topical subject of the moment is the Winter Olympics. Unfortunately, sport has never been my thing. I can"t catch, throw, or hit, have precious little sense of balance, and run like a duck on ice. As for skiing, I"ve tried it, but bowlegs and splayed feet don"t ...
The latest political spat in the UK is over income tax. Well, let me qualify that. It would be terrific if there really were a debate about the existence of income tax. After all, it was only brought in as a temporary measure. By William Pitt the Younger. In 1799. To pay for the Napoleonic Wars. ...
Dr. Watson's description of London"" that great cesspool into which all the loungers and idlers of the Empire are irresistibly drained""has never been more apt. Admittedly the Empire has gone, but walk down any street in central London and you"ll come across a bar or restaurant ...
MISSING: global recession, 6 billion careless owners. No, really, why do I see thousands of people milling around in the shops as though the credit crunch was nothing more than an abdominal exercise machine with a built-in payment plan? Alastair Darling, in his budget, forecasts a "return to ...
