As an Arabic speaker hailing from a family with Muslim, Hindu and Sikh ancestors, Afzal Amin has been able to bring a unique perspective to his service in the British Army and, as PPC for Dudley North, hopes to do so again in Parliament. Following his recent trip to Bosnia, Paul Nizinskyj speaks with him about history repeating itself in the Middle East. “Those who do […]
Recently promoted in the cabinet reshuffle, Gavin Barwell is the model homegrown activist MP but, with a majority of less than 3,000 in Croydon Central, he tells Paul Nizinskyj he is far from complacent about next year’s election – and how ethnic minority voters will be key. Gavin Barwell is passionate about Croydon. In fact, it’s probably not an exaggeration […]
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 […]
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 […]
“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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
