WOW

Imagine the quintessential English countryside. It is a beautifully sunny day. Birds flit along the hedgerows. A farmer, in shirt and flat cap, steers a plough pulled by a sturdy Shire horse. He stops and wipes his brow with the back of his hand. Church bells quietly peal in the …

Part 1 Russia famously was described by Winston Churchill as “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma”. What is less frequently noted is that Churchill went on to solve his riddle. The key to understanding Russian actions was to look at Russian national interest. But is this not …

You’re sitting there watching TV when a commercial comes on for the new 2005 Pizzazzmobile V8. As the narrator extols its styling, its power, and its luxurious interior you yawn and flip the channel. A few days later, however, you’re at the movies when Tom Cruise comes racing along a …

If I ever get an autograph card printed up, it’s going to be like the one I got from Prince Leopold von Bayern. The card depicted the amiable heir to the throne of Bavaria in a bright red, flame-retardant Nomex racing suit, his long blonde hair curling at his collar, …

“Those who sacrifice essential liberty for temporary safety are not deserving of either liberty or safety.” — Ben Franklin, 1776 In the wake of 9/11 and subsequent terrorist attacks around the world, there is a real temptation to allow the government to take away some of our most precious rights …

  Where did this terminal cancer, which has weakened American society for over 10 years, come from?  How did we get to the point where our 1st Amendment rights are literally being eroded out from beneath us?  And why are we intelligent, average, sensible Americans allowing it to happen? Bill …

As 1899 dawned, the Era of Imperialism was at its height, yet Britain had already begun the process of winding down its Empire. It began with the granting of Responsible Government to many of its colonies. The majority of these colonies were settler-colonies such as South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, …

Where are the zealots of democracy, the fanatics of liberty, the taliban of the rule of law, pounding the internet and social media with their passion and selfless dedication to their cause – democracy and freedom, equal rights for women? These ideals are hopefully common across most nations. The distinctions …

In this, the third article of the series on the Commonwealth, we will discover how the grow of the British Empire following the victory in the Napoleonic Wars shaped and folded what would become the Commonwealth. Key to this was the development of a national feeling in many of the …

Will the New Britain survive? Despite the absence of consent to the 2014 referendum, the country went to the polls in 2015 knowing that the SNP had received a surge of support since losing the independence referendum. When the referendum result was announced, Alex Salmond said the independence issue had …

The Every Vote Counts system is simplicity itself. Voters go to the polls and vote for their candidate exactly as they do now. The MP is elected by winning the most number of votes in their constituency exactly as they do now. As far as the voter is concerned they …

We have seen that the winner of the Referendum was Westminster itself. The Bubble was strengthened and inflated with its own satisfaction at its victory. Parliament had gambled that the Scots would say No; gambled that the rest of the UK would simply assume that there was a mandate tucked …

To understand any issue, it is often key to understand where it has come from; the history that has created the issue or organisation often sheds light on what the goals of the organisation are. For the Commonwealth of Nations, this is also true. As it has developed out of …

As so many brave men and women of our armed forces in Afghanistan and their families have found, sacrifice remains a very real part of British life. For too many, the inescapable inevitability of sacrifice comes as an unexpected shock when they first become a parent or when a family …

In the wake of “Trojan Horse” scandals, where schools in Birmingham were accused of plots to run them on radical Islamic lines, Cameron’s government decided to define and educate our schoolchildren in British values – “to create and enforce a clear and rigorous expectation on all schools to promote the …

It is no mere point of academic interest to assess when it is right for Britain to go to war. In World War II, conscription had been re-introduced some months before war was declared. Not so in World War I. Volunteering for the army in World War I was a …

A military crossing of a border uninvited, unauthorised by the UN, not in pre-emptive defence of an imminent attack is an invasion. It is illegal. The sanctity of internationally recognised borders is the most fundamental rule of international law. Putin did not stop with the Crimea. The significant Russian population …

For years, Russia, bordering on bankruptcy and in social chaos following the collapse of the Soviet Union, had been ignored in international affairs. Its former allies in Eastern Europe such as Poland and the Baltic States had not only become part of the European Union but also joined the former …

The ambiguities inherent in a moral foreign policy became all too clear over Syria. Syria, the once-mighty military hard man of the Middle East, erupted into civil war in 2011. Syria was Russia’s only ally left in the region after the overthrow of many of the dictatorships by popular uprisings, …

The Iraq war of 2003 was a different matter altogether. In Tony Blair’s eyes, this was the epitome of moral foreign policy. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the decision to invade Iraq, Britain was deeply divided. That, in itself, is sufficient to condemn Blair. As with the Boer War, …