Global Political Insight

For decades, the political systems of southern Europe have closely matched that of the United Kingdom’s, characterised by two dominant parties of Left and Right competing with each other for power and influence. Events of the last few years, however, have called into question the survival of the traditional two-party systems along the southern cone […]

South African President Jacob Zuma has, late Friday (October 24th) night, cancelled a trip to the UK because Prime Minister David Cameron refused South Africa a courtesy call commonly afforded to visiting heads of state. Zuma was supposed to have been in the UK from Saturday to Wednesday and scheduled to attend the 3rd Annual […]

Over the past several months the British public has been exposed to issues concerning fracking (Hydraulic Fracturing), though some argue in favour of this method of extracting shale gas. Where there is the argument that fracking has horrendous environmental repercussions, there is also the argument that it prevents reliance on other countries’ energy sources. Many maintain that this […]

The West’s increasing involvement in Iraq to combat the Islamic State (IS) insurgency has placed significant dilemma on its stance towards  Bashar al-Assad. The virtual none existence of the border between Iraq and Syria, and the apparent lack of Iraqi government authority in the Sunni dominated lands, has allowed the formation of the Islamic State and the […]

Unbeknown to most people, there exists a particular – and slightly peculiar – research domain in the discipline of consumer behaviour called; The Socio-Cultural Patterning of Consumption.  It addresses the question of how systematic consumption behaviours are precipitated by institutionalised social structures.  A nexus of these social structures is; Social-Class.  The provenance of this now […]

The date on which Scotland will decide its faith in the 307 year old union is approaching fast. Despite that, neither the nationalists nor pro-unionistic British government are making any dramatic moves, keeping their best cards hidden. The recent stipulation of Alexander Salmond, the First Minister of Scotland, that Scotland will keep its pound, mildly […]

Almost four years into his leadership of the Labour Party, and with just 10 months to go until next year’s election, Ed Miliband has yet to persuade the electorate that he has the personal qualities needed to lead Britain. As a result, Labour is only narrowly ahead of the Conservatives, instead of enjoying the double-digit […]

The European elections results have left the establishment shocked. It was expected that Euro-sceptics would do well, but not many predicted that, in Britain, their success would result in UK Independence Party (UKIP) becoming the party of choice for nearly a third of voters. This is the first time since 1906 that a party other […]

Alex Salmond’s white paper, entitled ‘Scotland’s Future’, seems to have attracted a lot of media coverage – but it whiffs of both (self-)importance and an sense of underwhelming implausibility. There are two issues that Salmon has tackled in this white paper. Firstly he tackles the elephant in the room, Scottish independence from the UK. He […]

A year is a long time in economics. As 2013 dawned, many were expecting the worst since the financial crisis of 2008 the UK had suffered two recessions and a third was apparently just around the corner, ready to take the country into unchartered territory – the triple dip. Yet the picture began to brighten […]

In 2003, Tony Blair gave a speech to the Fabian Society on the subject of public sector reform.  He argued that after years of Tory underfunding and privatisation, Labour had – and would continue – to reform public services to make them work for a modern society.  The speech was largely spin and guile (he […]

Following the unverified claims that chemical weapons were used in Syria, British Prime Minister David Cameron was ready to take military action against the Syrian state within days of the incident. The media and the public were certain that Britain was about to embark on another military campaign, to add to the recent tallies of […]

The opening years of the Conservative and Liberal Democrats coalition government provided few opportunities for the self-congratulation that comes so naturally to the present generation of Conservative politicians. The economy barely grew, the NHS was left in chaos by Andrew Lansley’s reforms and the coalition government’s promise of a new politics was tainted by repeated […]

It is an irony of modern politics that the more the political class proclaims its commitment to social mobility, the more exclusive it seems to become. As is widely known and repeated, the Prime Minister, the Mayor of London and the Archbishop of Canterbury were all educated at the same school, Eton (where the basic […]

On Friday 3rd of May, the results of the local elections in Britain were announced. Political commentators were predicting that the Conservatives would lose a substantial number of councillors, Labour would gain some and UKIP would also do fairly well. The first two predictions came out correct; however the third one was wrong. UKIP did […]