United Kingdom

Brexit: Britain’s Commonwealth pivot is nothing new
Brexit: Britain’s Commonwealth pivot is nothing new
In the midst of Britain’s painful extraction from the European Union, a saga which deepened this week with a second parliamentary defeat for Theresa May’s Brexit deal, key figures…
Fisheries and Brexit – a slippery affair
Fisheries and Brexit – a slippery affair
Despite accounting for a mere 0.12% the UK’s overall economic output, fisheries is one of the most contentious issues in the Brexit jumble. Highly politicised, negotiations on the…
Learning from Brexit in Donald Trump’s America
Learning from Brexit in Donald Trump’s America
For those of us with an internationalist viewpoint, watching the Brexit process unfold in the context of the Trump Presidency has left us demoralised and despondent. In both cases…
How did the United Kingdom get itself into such a political mess?
How did the United Kingdom get itself into such a political mess?
In March 2017 the British government invoked Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty and gave itself two years to organise an orderly withdrawal from the European Union. Now, with the…
Repatriating female foreign fighters: political not personal
Repatriating female foreign fighters: political not personal
The Islamic State is on the verge of total defeat. As a result, many of the remaining foreign fighters who travelled to the caliphate are coming out of the woodwork. One of…
Film Review: Brexit – the Uncivil War
Film Review: Brexit – the Uncivil War
A workable divorce deal hasn’t even been inked, yet already one of the most seismic episodes in British political history has been scripted, dramatised, and broadcast to an…
Brexit: British people vote with their feet
Brexit: British people vote with their feet
With Prime Minister Teresa May’s Brexit withdrawal deal rejected this week by the House of Commons, the future of the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union remains as…
Brexit barneys and three big questions
Brexit barneys and three big questions
As the tick-tock of the Brexit clock moves toward a deadline of 29 March, the ramifications are fast unfolding. The UK parliament has now comprehensively rejected Prime Minister…
Aid mergers: no unscrambling the egg
Aid mergers: no unscrambling the egg
Britain’s former foreign secretary Boris Johnson has called for the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) to be rolled into the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO…
Brexit deal debate reveals dark side to EU diplomacy
Brexit deal debate reveals dark side to EU diplomacy
The saving grace of a nasty divorce is durable insight into the true values of the parties involved. And so, with Brexit. The Withdrawal Agreement – which has triggered rancorous…