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 […]
From the Manchester Evening News – 11th June 2014: Revealed: How GMP officers and staff fell foul of social media More than 40 officers and staff have been disciplined over their use offensive Facebook images, tweets about on-going incidents and misjudged jokes on YouTube over the last five years Today the M.E.N. can reveal the shameful catalogue of social media […]
So Lutfur Rahman has once again been re-elected as mayor of Tower Hamlets, a borough I have only recently moved to. Since moving from west Berkshire, I have had something of a culture shock, in a good way though. The borough is alive, bustling, young, ethnically diverse and highly politically charged. This feels a thousand miles away from the pleasant, but […]
Originally published in The Times newspaper on Tuesday June 10th 2014 The number of police officers facing disciplinary action for offensive or inappropriate commentary on social networking sites such as Facebook has increased up to fivefold, figures show. Police officers have tweeted or posted comments about ongoing criminal investigations or revealed details of police operations, while some made derogatory comments […]
Last week marked the final Queen’s Speech of the current parliamentary session: the Government has set out its remaining legislative proposals before we all head to the polling stations in May 2015. Like the proverbial curate’s egg, it is good in parts, but my heart sank when I saw that Her Majesty’s Government has decided to proceed with an idea […]
After successfully defending Newark and seeing a better than expected result in the European Parliament elections, Conservative activists have every reason to be optimistic about the prospects of a majority in 2015 as they hit the doorsteps over the next 11 months. But with UKIP riding high in the polls, Daniel Hannan is a little more sceptical. It’s difficult to […]
The Alliance of European Conservatives & Reformists – the political bloc the Conservative Party sits in the European Parliament – has carried out an extensive study of voters from fifteen European countries. The voters and non-voters were asked about the degree of awareness of the political parties and candidates at European level directly after the recent elections. Eurocrats and Brussels functionaries […]
The proposed takeover of British-based pharmaceuticals firm, Astra Zeneca, by US rival Pfizer is now off the agenda: the board of the former has rejected Pfizer’s “final” bid of £69bn to buy it up. This deal has been much in the press in recent weeks—partly due to the size of the would-have-been combined entity—but principally because it would have meant […]
One of the Conservative Party’s most loyal stalwarts is the former Member of the European Parliament for the North East of England and Tyneside councillor, Martin Callanan. He’s been the leader of the Conservatives in the European Parliament and latterly was the respected and largely successful President of the European Conservatives & Reformists Group (ECR). Before last week, he won […]
The recent spate of terrorist attacks across Africa have shaken the very foundations of several optimistic countries, replacing hope with fear. From the capture of 200 schoolgirls in Nigeria to the latest round of brutal bombings in Kenya’s capital Nairobi killing over a dozen people and wounding 70 more, the pattern is sporadic but the frequency consistent. This atrocity followed […]
