How is it that a presidential candidate can win the presidency without a majority of the population’s votes? Why are pollsters obsessed with New Hampshire? Why is Ohio known as the “bellwether state”? WTAF is the electoral college voting system? If, like many of us, you have been struggling to keep up with the daily…
Category: Politics
2020 Presidential Debate: The best America has to offer?
Last night, the first presidential debate between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden took place, after a year marked by larger polemics such as the coronavirus pandemic and rising protest in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. Biden was predicted to attack Trump on his handling of the coronavirus response and history…
The latest Lib Dem leadership election is too safe a choice
By Oliver Toms The election of Sir Ed Davey as leader of the Liberal Democrats by the largest margin since Paddy Ashdown in 1988 shows that the membership has rejected Layla Moran’s progressive movement in favour of the safety of continuity. After two months of campaigning, acting leader Ed Davey comfortably defeated Layla Moran by…
Power to the people: What does the future look like for Belarus?
By Sam Baker Civil unrest rages the streets of Belarus following the country’s most contentious election in decades. Abhorrent displays of police brutality against peaceful protesters and horrifying scenes inside prisons have triggered Amnesty to declare a state of widespread torture in Belarus, citing naked beatings and rape threats of nearly 10,000 detainees. President Alexander…
Statelessness, forgiveness and a fair trial: Shamima Begum is returning to the UK to fight for her citizenship
Today, the Court of Appeal ruled that Shamima Begum, the London schoolgirl who left the UK to join the Islamic State back in 2015, should be allowed to return to fight for her British citizenship. A threat to the nation, or a reformed woman? In 2019 when Begum attempted to return to the UK the response…
Trump’s self-imposed brain drain: why immigration bans do not “free up jobs”
By Harriet Habergham It’s an innate sense of self-preservation that makes it easier for humans to blame others rather than themselves when things go awry. Whilst this may assuage temporary feelings of embarrassment, in the long run it changes nothing. Whatever caused the problem remains unchanged. Time and time again, this has been the case…
Glasgow stabbings reveal how the UK fails asylum seekers
By Iona Holmes Just a few weeks ago, reports concerning the appalling conditions that asylum seekers were being subjected to in Glasgow hotels started to trickle through media outlets. When a stabbing occurred at the city’s Park Inn Hotel on the 26th June, the news instantly hit the headlines. Following some initial misreporting, the facts…
Raab vs rights: What is going on with the UK’s new human rights sanctions?
On Monday, our beloved foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, dropped a bombshell of new human rights sanctions comprising of asset freezes and travel bans against human rights abusers in Saudi Arabia, Russia, Myanmar and North Korea. According to Raab, the sanctions will target 25 Russians involved in the death of Sergei Magnitsky, 20 Saudis involved in…
An Ode to Hong Kong(ers): Recent developments in the Hong Kong protests
By Natalia Slomczykowski Two years ago, I spent two and a half months living and working in Hong Kong. I was lucky enough to make many close friends who have been protesting bravely for the last year for freedom which they may never get to experience. Particularly, a recent discussion with my good friend Jeremy…