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A Gathering Storm? The struggle for power and territory in the South China Sea

A Gathering Storm? The struggle for power and territory in the South China Sea

Something is stirring in the Far East. A dormant nationalism has awoken. Emboldened by economic growth and success at home, the decline and retreat of the West, and the weakness of their neighbours, China has claimed nearly the entire South China Sea as its own and is seeking total regional dominance. Faced by a rapacious, expansionist power, the other countries […]

Too many voices: the bane of Israel’s electoral system

Too many voices: the bane of Israel’s electoral system

Despite wanting to steer away from a dreary debate on electoral systems, there does seem to be quite a lot of venom directed at the classic First Past the Post system in the UK. Right at the other end of the spectrum lies the party list proportional representation of Israeli elections. With the second-lowest electoral threshold in the world (currently […]

by and · 28th July 2014 · Foreign Affairs
Why is Red Ed criticising the very image he is trying to present?

Why is Red Ed criticising the very image he is trying to present?

“Politics is not about putting the photo opportunity first” to quote Ed Miliband. What platform does he use to voice his disapproval of the image conscious political class that he is part of, none other than the Andrew Marr show. However, it’s not the media outlet nor the bacon sarnie or Wallace jibes that represents the real comms headache for Labour. After all, […]

by · 28th July 2014 · Home Affairs, Blog
Israel: The A-Z of how NOT to do apartheid

Israel: The A-Z of how NOT to do apartheid

One of the great crimes of the Left is its corruption of language. Long ago, socialists realised they could at least influence the way people thought by changing the meaning of the words they used, by outlawing certain phrases to make discussion of serious issues – such as immigration – almost impossible and constantly shifting the goalposts regarding what minority […]

by · 27th July 2014 · Defence & War
Trojan Horse teachers should be jailed

Trojan Horse teachers should be jailed

By Steven George-Hilley Under the previous Labour government, a culture of political correctness meant Islamic extremism was allowed to spread unopposed and unchallenged at every level of society. Those days must now come to an end. The revelations that radical Islamists were able to infiltrate and effectively control at least 21 schools in Birmingham is a reminder of just how […]

by · 21st July 2014 · Home Affairs
Toby Young: UKIP strike a chord – but they’re not serious

Toby Young: UKIP strike a chord – but they’re not serious

With free schools already coming under attack even from within the Coalition, Toby Young speaks to Paul Nizinskyj about why the European Court of Human Rights is on their side, why PGCEs are a waste of time and why he’s going off UKIP. With the venom they elicit from the left and the suspicion (or is that opportunism?) they engender within the breasts of […]

by · 6th July 2014 · Tory Thought, Interviews
Charles Tannock – Iraq is a domestic issue

Charles Tannock – Iraq is a domestic issue

This week, Dr Charles Tannock MEP will be meeting the European Union’s representative in Baghdad to discuss the civil war taking place in Iraq and the Union’s response. However, while he will do so as a member of the European Parliament’s foreign affairs committee, he makes it clear there is also a dangerous domestic angle to the conflict. “It’s no […]

by · 22nd June 2014 · Tory Thought, Interviews
How combining international aid & social media can transform Africa

How combining international aid & social media can transform Africa

Social media is impacting life in Africa at breakneck speed, and it is not just the usual suspects Facebook and Twitter. Parliament Street’s Clare George-Hilley explores. I have participated a number of high profile relief effort campaigns in Kenya, The Gambia working with The Glove Projectand Sierra Leone on the Street Child project. A common challenge for all these humanitarian […]

by · 18th June 2014 · Foreign Affairs, Blog
Passport to Pimlico?

Passport to Pimlico?

The economy is gathering up a head of steam, more people can afford holidays abroad, more passports are being renewed and HM Passport Office has a backlog. But is this 500,000 or just 30,000 passport applications in the backlog? The figures differ greatly depending on who you believe but the truth remains that a backlog exists. We have learnt that […]

by · 17th June 2014 · Home Affairs
Obama pays the price for early withdrawal in Iraq

Obama pays the price for early withdrawal in Iraq

By Steven George-Hilley On Iraq, what is unforgivable is knowingly withdrawing from a country still struggling to defend itself from extremism and effectively leaving it vulnerable to those extremists. The alarming revelations that the Sunni militant group, Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIS) is aiming to launch an offensive on Baghdad after toppling government forces in Tikrit and Mosul is […]

by · 14th June 2014 · Defence & War