WOW

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, …

Twelve thousand merchant seamen gave their lives in the Great War, or so said the memorial that the author stumbled upon walking back to the hotel in London one warm November night. As a self-proclaimed obsessive on most-things-historical and with a particular reverence for World War One, to still encounter a chilling …

Again, the country has never been asked. Is Great Britain any less a nation than Scotland, Wales or England? Does Great Britain not have a clear identity – clear enough to this writer at least as will be discussed later – with a long (300 years is a reasonable chunk …

The right of self-determination is enshrined in international law. Should it even be allowed to be put as a question before the British people? After all, referenda were held in Gibraltar (1967 and 2002) and the Falkland Islands in 2013 on whether these territories wanted to remain overseas territories of …

The country has never been asked. The precedent of Northern Ireland There is a precedent. In March 1973 a referendum was held in Northern Ireland. The electorate was presented with two proposals: 1. Do you want Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom? or 2. Do you want …

Without this principle of democratic consent, Parliament is empowered to make fundamental changes to how Britain governs itself. Parliament overturned the practice of the past fifty years; it crossed a constitutional Rubicon. Unless this is checked, the real winner of the Referendum was Westminster itself. The surprisingly large vote for …

It doesn’t matter how much you network if you’re incapable of speaking well about yourself. There’s a gray area between being humble and bragging. An elevator pitch lives in that state of limbo.  To quote The Help: “You is kind. You is smart. You is important.” Each person has a unique story …

1. The flag Many argued that the result of the independence referendum was irrelevant to the continuation of the name and flag for the current United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. If Scotland became independent, it had promised to retain a “Social Union” with the rest of the …