Jam Travels/Shutterstock As the UK reports its worst excess deaths since the second world war and the NHS is stretched to breaking point, critics of lockdowns have largely gone quiet. Despite this, previous experience shows that we’re never far from an anti-lockdown backbench rebellion, mainstream opinion piece, open letter orContinue Reading
In the midst of an unprecedented peacetime national emergency, the UK government is using valuable parliamentary time proposing a change in the law so that anyone seeking to remove or alter a statue, monument or plaque must first seek planning permission. Far from making decisions of this kind more democratic,Continue Reading
Cash crop: Peruvian farmers looking over a field of coca seedlings. Thomas Grisaffi, Author provided A slump in world coffee prices has pushed farmers in Peru’s central jungle to rip up their plants and replace them with coca leaf – the raw material used in cocaine. This countrywide trend hasContinue Reading
We live in an age of narcissistic leadership. Around the world, we are witnessing the rise and fall of narcissistic leaders – people who hold grandiose views of themselves, who believe laws and regulations don’t apply to them, and who crave the respect and admiration of their followers. Could narcissisticContinue Reading
Delivering his first major foreign policy speech since taking office on January 20, US president Joe Biden has sent a strong signal to the rest of the world that they will see a very different America on his watch. In a wide-ranging address at the US State Department in Washington,Continue Reading
We live in an age of narcissistic leadership. Around the world, we are witnessing the rise and fall of narcissistic leaders – people who hold grandiose views of themselves, who believe laws and regulations don’t apply to them, and who crave the respect and admiration of their followers. Could narcissisticContinue Reading
The question of Donald Trump’s relationship with the Kremlin has surfaced once again, this time in a new book by veteran US journalist Craig Unger. The book, American Kompromat, claims that the former US commander-in-chief was cultivated as a Russian intelligence asset for more than four decades. It’s not theContinue Reading
Shutterstock In the 1920s and 1930s of buttoned-up Britain, homosexuality was an illicit act, and would remain that way until 1967 when the law changed in England and Wales. Even though gay culture was vibrant, it existed mostly underground, its community forced to socialise with a certain degree of covertnessContinue Reading
Non-binary and trans people have always been here, not least in every recorded society from the ancient world onwards. Why is it then that they’re often absent from the tales and lists of historical figures we hear about? The answer lies, in part, with how history is recorded and whoContinue Reading
Since the presidential elections in Belarus in August 2020, hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the street to oppose Alexander Lukashenko’s regime. According to official figures, the longstanding president won the election with a vote share of 80%. But widespread reports of electoral fraud and large-scale mobilisation againstContinue Reading
