Author: Christopher Gooding Editor: Prachi Saraf The constitution; two words that tend to send both politicos and ordinary voters alike into a state of idle stupor. And yet two words that in many respects reveal the Achilles heel at the heart of much of Westminster’s current ills. The fact that the United Kingdom has no formal written constitution means that the UK is, in paleontological terms, a dinosaur. In fact, Britain, along with New Zealand and Israel, is unique among m

Author: Ruth Lucas Editor: Shachi Gokhale Political leadership in the United Kingdom is diversifying at an unprecedented rate. In the last year alone, the United Kingdom has had its third female Prime Minister, first Asian Prime Minister, and now its first-ever Asian Scottish First Minister. These appointments shine a light on a new era of inclusivity in British Politics, but also the increasingly tricky rules of representation. Because of their historical exclusion from the

Author: Pratham Maheshwari Editor: Antara Basu In 1959, the Dalai Lama and his followers fled Tibet following an invasion by China and were welcomed by the then-Indian Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. Since then, many Tibetans have come to India attaining a count of 150,000 in 2011 . However, a recent survey conducted by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in India, in association with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) found that only 72,312 Tibetans

Author: Christopher Gooding Editor: Ruth Lucas Two articles caught my eye recently. The first, a piece in The Telegraph by Madeline Grant titled, ‘ The Centrist Dads are back – and they’re smugger than ever’ . There, she decries the hypocrisy and self-righteousness of self-proclaimed centrists: “smug and intellectually lazy, they assume that the middle position must automatically be correct”. The second, Andrew Marr’s politics column in the New Statesman . There he details

Author: Conor Walsh Editors: Siddharth G. Khare and Soline Germond Politics in Northern Ireland is complicated; in a nation already burdened with a troubled history, Brexit became an additional— and unwanted —nuisance. The new Windsor framework , announced by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, is the best deal the UK can expect from the EU. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) should support it if they have the interests of the N

Author: Kamilla Kovacs Editors: Antara Basu and Hannah Westfallen Over the last decade, the United States has seen several notable cases which reflect the unsustainable and injudicious nature of its policing practices. Police brutality, as demonstrated by the tragic cases of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tyre Nichols and many more is interlinked with systemic racism and discrimination. Black people are disproportionately affected by police violence, and such cases are glarin

Author: Kamilla Kovacs Editors: Antara Basu and Hannah Westfallen Three years ago, during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic, we called them “essential workers”. Those who delivered our mail ran our hospitals and kept needed services running while the rest of the country was under lockdown. During the pandemic, we realised how crucial these workers are for a well-functioning society. Despite this, we have failed our essential workers. Since November 2022, the UK has be

Author: Conor Walsh Editors: Antara Basu and Hannah Westfallen In the Western world, immigration is a salient issue. It is hard to escape the tsunami of anti-migration headlines: either too many people are leaving , forcing a brain drain—depletion of skills—on an already struggling economy; or too many people are entering , allegedly stealing our jobs, our homes and our healthcare. Our man-made borders—and those who cross them—form an integral part of our nation-states. But m

Author: Oliver M. Editors: Ruth Lucas and Prachi Saraf The drive for transgender equality has been associated with the proliferation of a supposedly controversial “woke” agenda. But conversion therapy is an independent matter. 2022 has been a difficult year for the LGBTQ+ community. On the 31st of March , a leaked document revealed that the government planned on ditching its long-promised ban on conversion therapy. Outrage from activist groups and supporters quickly followed,

Author: Clara Margotin Editors: Ruth Lucas and Prachi Saraf (Bakhan, 2022) On the 16th and 17th of January 2023, the Eiffel Tower in Paris lit up and displayed the slogan “ Femme, Vie, Liberté ” (“Women, Life, Freedom”), as well as the hashtag “# StopExecutionsInIran ”, in support of protesting women in Iran. On the 16th of January, more than 5,000 protesters gathered and marched to the EU Parliament located in the French city of Strasbourg, to express their support for the o

Author: Victoria Aarons Editors: Ruth Lucas and Prachi Saraf Xi Jinping is a significant threat to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and this might ultimately lead to its downfall. Xi Jinping’s leadership of China’s authoritarian regime is the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) most significant threat, due to the lack of succession planning, silencing of the opposition and suffocation of the economy. The regime’s obsession with control reached new heights at the CCP’s 20th Nati