The media is making news, not reporting it

Labour’s cabinet reshuffle has been dominating the news for the past few days. What really ended up becoming an underwhelming restructuring of the party was portrayed as a watershed moment for it. While this really wasn’t the case, it seems that the media has tried its best to make it one (more on that later). What’s the…

The rise of China and its consequences

“China is a sleeping giant. Let her sleep, for when she wakes she will move the world.” – Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon was correct with his prognosis made over 200 years ago – China is no longer sleeping she is awakening, she has not yet fully awoken and thus is yet to reach full economic and…

America’s religious right is destroying the GOP

It seems that nowadays everyone has an opinion on the Republican Party. In fact, how could you not when you look at its current state? You have Donald Trump leading the pack and dominating the headlines by making bombastic remarks, while on the other end of the spectrum you have people like John Kasich who are willing…

2015: The political year reviewed

As the year is drawing to a close, it is only right that we look back and reflect on everything that has happened since January. In the runup to the general election, there was a tense time where the hot political issue being debated was how political issues should be debated. Cameron refused to take part without…

Ted Cruz is dangerous

As Ben Carson and Marco Rubio’s  poll numbers begin to dwindle, commentators are now beginning to point at Ted Cruz as the favourite to usurp Donald Trump and become the Republican Party’s nominee elect. If this is the case, and (in the highly unlikely case) if he goes on to win the presidency, all it spells…

France is on a slippery slope

I find it very disconcerting that the far-right National Front (FN) has won the first round in France’s regional elections. While the second and third rounds have not yet commenced, the likelihood of the party winning the election appears now to be quite likely unless Francois Hollande’s incumbent Socialists and the Republicans led by former…

Syria is a lost cause until its underlying issues are addressed

When the government tells you that we can destroy Daesh by bombing them, do not take them at their word. Think about how Daesh came to exist. A group of dissatisfied Muslims who were not happy with the way the West had interfered in the Middle East and created chaos by setting up a group…

Airstrikes in Syria are wrong

Imagine you’re a teenage Syrian. You’ve been displaced from where you used to live, separated from your friends, and uncertain about what the future holds. Life in a refugee camp can barely be called a life. News arrives that the bodies of your parents have been found; they were “collateral damage” in what was an…

The government needs to stop patronising us

Parliament. Not that parliament, the Youth Parliament. You’d be forgiven for not really knowing much about it. In theory, a parliament run by young people dealing with issues sounds like an excellent idea. Surely having a bunch of GCSE students decide on the new GCSE system is better than having Michael Gove sitting in his…

Paris is the tragic symptom of a wider problem

The deplorable events which took place last night need no restatement. They were repugnant and any kind of point these terrorists wished to project was automatically discredited by the sheer massacre they inflicted on over a hundred innocent civilians. But upon further inspection there was no statement worth hearing from these people. After all, this is…

The fallen did not die for us to go to war

Yesterday, we saw politicians and military figures descend upon the Cenotaph for another Remembrance day memorial. They paid tributes to all the soldiers who had given their lives to protect the United Kingdom. They were brave in a way that we cannot possibly imagine, giving up their lives for us. It is correct that we…

The unsurprising popularity of Donald Trump

With recent Republican polls placing Trump once again on top, his popularity continues to increase. Trump’s rise seems to signal a fundamental change in the American populous, with his voters split between those who want him to damage/change American politics, and those who truly believe in his policies. One key reason for his increased support…